Leverage Maps #9: Rethinking the 40-Hour Workweek

I recently got back from a trip to Mexico and came home thinking differently about U.S. work culture.

It wasn’t a vacation. It was something more meaningful. I visited to ask for my fiancée’s family’s blessing.

While I was there, I couldn’t help but notice the rhythms of life around me:

Slower mornings. Shared meals. Time that felt like it belonged to people, not productivity.

Now, back in the U.S. during my self-funded sabbatical, I’m finally exploring a question I hadn’t let myself ask seriously before:

What if the 40-hour workweek isn’t the right default?

Not just in a “four-day workweek” kind of way (though I’m testing that too). But in a deeper, structural sense:

What if six shorter days a week creates more consistency and less burnout?

What if four days at 32 hours really is enough if your work is structured well?

What if our obsession with “full-time” is rooted more in industrial-era defaults than actual output or well-being?

What if having generous time off policies provides a competitive advantage in the medium to long run?

During this sabbatical, I’m running experiments on myself:

What kind of schedule makes me most thoughtful, not just most productive?

When do ideas surface, and when does burnout sneak in?

How much structure do I need to keep momentum—without resentment?

The goal isn’t to find the perfect schedule. It’s to listen for alignment.

I don’t think U.S. work culture is bad. But I do think it’s often imbalanced. It's tilted toward urgency, availability, and hours worked as proxies for value delivered.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, I saw something different: More respect for rhythm. More patience with transitions. More space between output and identity.

Maybe there’s something we can learn from that. We don't have to copy blindly, but we can adapt intentionally.

This is part of the larger Leverage Maps project I’ve been building:

To question defaults. To build systems around energy, not just effort. And to design a working life that leaves room for reflection and not just execution.

If you’ve ever tried restructuring your workweek, intentionally or by necessity, I’d love to hear what you learned from it.