He explained his own usual work schedule
Martin Lewis has commended a particular way to create a work-life balance. He spoke about a wide array of topics on a recent edition of his BBC podcast.
The consumer expert spoke about recent changes to the broadband and mobile tariff market, the best bank accounts on offer and getting home insurance. He also posed a question to his listeners, inviting them to send in their words of wisdom. The question from Mr Lewis was: “How do you balance work and life? Which do you prioritise, and how do you get enough enjoyment while getting enough earnings? Has it changed over the years?”
Mr Lewis read out a message that had been sent in from a fan of the show. Their reflection was: “The less you want, the richer you are. It’s about finding how much you can live with, or live without, and truly being happy with your lot.”
He had high praise for this philosophical take, saying: “What a wonderful way to think about it.” But Mr Lewis did add a word of caution: “I’m not sure how you would put that into practice, but it is a good way to think about it.”
Another listener wrote in to with a rather more blunt approach. They said: “The second I leave work, I leave everything to do with work at the office and switch off completely and go home. You’re a long time dead, and if I die tomorrow, I’ll be replaced at work without too much fuss. So life comes first.”
Mr Lewis was keen to know how the listener achieved such a feat. He said: “How do you do that? I’d like to listen to your podcast on how you manage to leave work at the office and switch off. I am hideously bad at that.”
Another person said that they’d had some success by switching up their work schedule. They explained they had gone back to work after having a surprise baby at the age of 45, but couldn’t stand working full-time.
But they dropped a day and switched to compressed hours, working three longer days and finishing for the week at 11am on Thursday. Mr Lewis said: “I love (that) people are mentioning compressed hours here. There are a lot of people doing those really long days, but for far fewer days a week.”
Martin Lewis explains his own work schedule
Mr Lewis said that this idea of compressed hours “came up a lot” in the responses sent in by his fans. Another person said they had gone for this schedule, working three 13-hour shifts a week.
The founder of Money Saving Expert said that his own schedule somewhat resembles this compacted approach. He said he often starts work on a Sunday evening.
He then writes his weekly email on Monday, has his ITV show on Tuesdays, and does meetings with his team on a Wednesday and prepares for the podcast. This means that by Wednesday evening he has done some 37 hours of work.
He said: “Then Thursday, I have a bit of an easier morning, I come in, I do the podcast, I do lots of stuff and prep afterwards, and then on Friday, I do a half day. I suppose in a way I work compressed hours.” He said he nowadays works a 50-hour week, which doesn’t feel too intense compared to working 70 or 80 hours a week as he did when he was building his website.
