WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.800 Okay, I want you to just picture your yesterday 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:03.660 for a second. Uh -oh. No, no. Not the version 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:05.120 you tell your friends. I mean, the real messy 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.759 one. Okay, I'm with you. You probably woke up, 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:09.640 maybe checked email before your feet even hit 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.439 the floor. Guilt. Did some work, then maybe you 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:15.300 ran an errand or, I don't know, unloaded the 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:17.320 dishwasher while you were sort of half -listening 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.199 to a meeting. Oh, 100%. Yeah. And then you worked 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.399 late to catch up on what you missed. Exactly. 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:25.140 I mean, that old idea of the nine to five, the 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:28.190 punch -in, punch -out block, it's... It's basically 00:00:28.190 --> 00:00:31.269 a relic. It's like using a fax machine. We all 00:00:31.269 --> 00:00:33.409 know it exists, but you're like, why are we still 00:00:33.409 --> 00:00:35.770 doing this? Right. But here's the thing. We've 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:38.509 replaced it with something else. And it has this 00:00:38.509 --> 00:00:40.609 fancy new name in the research we're looking 00:00:40.609 --> 00:00:43.390 at today. It's called microshifting. Which sounds 00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:46.170 incredibly high tech, like something you do to 00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:49.429 a Formula One car. Right. I'm just going to microshift 00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:52.210 my gears. But it's really just about time. The 00:00:52.210 --> 00:00:54.710 definition is, well, it's pretty simple. Instead 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:57.770 of one big chunk of work, you break your day 00:00:57.770 --> 00:01:01.090 into these small distinct blocks. Yep. Scattered 00:01:01.090 --> 00:01:04.890 across the entire 24 -hour cycle. Maybe 7 to 00:01:04.890 --> 00:01:08.189 9 a .m. Then a gym break. Then 11 to 2. Pick 00:01:08.189 --> 00:01:10.310 up the kids. Then, you know, 8 p .m. to 10 p 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:12.890 .m. to finish it all off. On the surface, that 00:01:12.890 --> 00:01:15.150 sounds amazing. That sounds like the ultimate 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:17.329 promise of flexibility. It's customizing your 00:01:17.329 --> 00:01:19.469 work to fit your life, not the other way around. 00:01:19.769 --> 00:01:22.230 Exactly. And that is precisely why we're doing 00:01:22.230 --> 00:01:26.840 this deep dive. because we have a whole stack 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:29.560 of articles and some pretty heated op -eds that 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:31.780 suggest this dream schedule. It might actually 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:34.040 be a nightmare in disguise. So that's the mission 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:36.560 today. That's the mission. Is microshifting the 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.680 ultimate hack that saves our sanity? Or is it 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.319 a trap that just leads to total burnout? It's 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:45.500 a really valid question. And looking at the material, 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:49.299 the tension is it's palpable. One of the researchers 00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:51.060 puts it so bluntly. I actually laughed when I 00:01:51.060 --> 00:01:53.290 read it. What did they say? They asked if this 00:01:53.290 --> 00:01:55.769 trend is a long overdue correction to an outdated 00:01:55.769 --> 00:01:58.750 system or if it's simply, and this is a killer 00:01:58.750 --> 00:02:02.170 phrase, cognitive fatigue with better PR. Cognitive 00:02:02.170 --> 00:02:06.530 fatigue with better PR. Wow, I feel seen. It 00:02:06.530 --> 00:02:09.110 hits a little too close to home. And that's the 00:02:09.110 --> 00:02:11.789 debate right there. The sources are pitting the 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:14.830 ideal of energy management against the reality 00:02:14.830 --> 00:02:17.759 of what they call permanent readiness. So. To 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:19.360 everyone listening, whether you're squeezing 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.379 this in between meetings or it's midnight and 00:02:21.379 --> 00:02:23.979 you're finishing a deck, I want you to ask yourself 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:28.139 this. Does breaking up your day make you feel 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:30.039 free? Or does it feel like you're on a leash 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:32.780 that just got a whole lot longer? To answer that, 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:35.379 we have to start with the defense case because 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:37.919 the pro side of this isn't just about convenience. 00:02:38.099 --> 00:02:40.680 No, it's rooted in some pretty heavy duty biology. 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:43.319 OK, this is the part that always sells me. The 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:46.280 argument that the traditional workday is, well, 00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:49.330 biologically stupid. Stupid is a strong word, 00:02:49.729 --> 00:02:52.030 but yeah, it's pretty accurate. I mean, if you 00:02:52.030 --> 00:02:54.229 look at the physiological data in our sources, 00:02:54.909 --> 00:02:57.310 humans are just not designed to think or create 00:02:57.310 --> 00:02:59.629 for eight uninterrupted hours. It's impossible. 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:01.569 Totally impossible. Is this that thing where 00:03:01.569 --> 00:03:04.169 your brain just like completely shuts off around 00:03:04.169 --> 00:03:06.490 3 p .m.? That's exactly it. It's tied to something 00:03:06.490 --> 00:03:09.349 called ultradian rhythms. We all know circadian 00:03:09.349 --> 00:03:12.719 rhythms, the 24 -hour sleep cycle. But ultradian 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:15.139 rhythms are these shorter cycles, maybe 90 to 00:03:15.139 --> 00:03:18.300 120 minutes, where our focus peaks and then it 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:21.180 crashes. So after about 90 minutes of real focus, 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.560 your brain just needs a reset. It needs a break. 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:26.539 But the traditional office says, nope, you sit 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:28.539 at your desk and you look busy. Right, you're 00:03:28.539 --> 00:03:30.139 fighting your own body. You're fighting your 00:03:30.139 --> 00:03:32.419 own biology, you're staring at a spreadsheet, 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:35.479 but your cognitive output is basically zero. 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:38.919 The argument for microshifting is that it stops 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:41.039 fighting these rhythms. It works with them. It 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:43.960 says, OK, you're sharp at 8 a .m. Work then. 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:47.219 You're useless at 2 p .m. Go for a walk. Get 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.599 a second wind at 8 p .m. Write that report then. 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:52.259 See, when you put it like that, I'm in. I am 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:54.819 ready to sign up. It just makes so much sense. 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:57.460 It's the ultimate work smarter, not harder. It 00:03:57.460 --> 00:03:59.659 really feels like we're finally hacking the system 00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:01.960 to work for us. Ideally, that's what's happening. 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:05.099 You're matching your high value tasks to your 00:04:05.099 --> 00:04:07.539 high energy windows. That's the dream. But I 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:11.479 can hear a but coming. It's a massive butt. And 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:14.680 this is where we have to pivot. Because while 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:19.540 the biology is sound, the psychology, that's 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:22.000 where it gets really messy. OK. The sources highlight 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.980 this concept they call the brain rest deficit. 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:26.240 A brain rest deficit. Break that down for me. 00:04:26.259 --> 00:04:28.560 If I'm taking a break at 2 PM to go to the gym, 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:32.360 isn't that interesting? Physically, yes. Mentally. 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:35.220 Maybe not so much. Ah. See, the problem isn't 00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:38.100 the work blocks. It's the gaps in between. The 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:39.899 research points out that when work is scattered 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:42.819 across the entire day, your brain never fully 00:04:42.819 --> 00:04:44.800 disengages. It's the difference between being 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.540 off and being on standby mode. That's a perfect 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:49.759 way to put it. Oh, I know this feeling. It's 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:53.019 that anticipation anxiety. Exactly. So you're 00:04:53.019 --> 00:04:55.860 cooking dinner at 6 p .m. You are not working. 00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:58.779 But you know you have to log back on at 8 to 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:01.339 finish that report. Are you really relaxing? 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.339 No, there's a background process running in my 00:05:03.339 --> 00:05:05.000 brain, just counting down the minutes. It's like 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.720 the Sunday Scaries, but you're micro -dosing 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.959 them throughout every single day. That's a terrifying 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.220 thought. And then you add the technology layer. 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:14.160 You're chopping onions, and you hear the slack 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.040 ding from the other room. My heart rate just 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:19.060 spiked just hearing you say that. Right, that 00:05:19.060 --> 00:05:21.620 cortisol spike is real. Even if you don't answer 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.480 it, you heard it. You know it's there. That's 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.170 this idea of availability. The sources argue 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:29.410 that you might not be working constantly, but 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:31.870 you are available constantly. And that state 00:05:31.870 --> 00:05:35.470 of permanent readiness just destroys your ability 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:37.889 to recover. So that phrase cognitive fatigue 00:05:37.889 --> 00:05:40.509 with better PR, it's basically saying we've just 00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:44.170 rebranded being on call 247 as autonomy. Bingo. 00:05:44.750 --> 00:05:47.290 And here's the absolute critical distinction 00:05:47.290 --> 00:05:49.829 from the source material. OK. This whole biological 00:05:49.829 --> 00:05:52.009 argument, the idea that you can rest and recharge. 00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:55.589 Yeah. It only holds true if the worker has 100 00:05:55.589 --> 00:05:58.529 % control over the schedule. Agency. Agency is 00:05:58.529 --> 00:06:00.930 everything. If you decide to work at 8 PM because 00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:03.110 you want to see a movie at 2 PM, that's flexibility. 00:06:03.209 --> 00:06:05.670 Right. But if your boss expects you to reply 00:06:05.670 --> 00:06:07.870 at 8 PM because that's when he's micro shifting, 00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:10.329 well, now it's not flexibility anymore. It's 00:06:10.329 --> 00:06:12.750 just pressure. And that leads us to the phrase 00:06:12.750 --> 00:06:14.889 that just stopped me in my tracks when I read 00:06:14.889 --> 00:06:17.259 it. What was it? Micro -shifting without power 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:19.819 control is just permanent readiness. It's the 00:06:19.819 --> 00:06:22.279 modern version of the factory whistle, except 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:24.980 this whistle never actually stops blowing. It 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:27.560 just gets quieter. So if the schedule isn't the 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:30.620 problem, because in theory splitting up the day 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:33.560 is good for you, then the problem has to be the 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:35.819 people managing that schedule. Which brings us 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.060 right to the broken organization theory. Yeah, 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:40.759 I found this part fascinating. One of the articles 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:43.019 argues that micro -shifting doesn't actually 00:06:43.019 --> 00:06:46.399 create toxic work cultures. It just exposes dysfunction 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:49.100 faster. It's an accelerant. Exactly. Think about 00:06:49.100 --> 00:06:51.939 an insecure manager. In an office, they can see 00:06:51.939 --> 00:06:54.740 you. You're in your chair. They can assume you're 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:57.519 working. It's a lazy metric, but it calms them 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:01.379 down. Buts in seats. Exactly. But now, take that 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:03.540 same manager and put them in a world where you're 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:06.699 offline from 2 to 4 p .m. They panic. They panic. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:09.019 They don't know how to measure results, so they 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:11.240 start measuring availability. And this is where 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.120 we get into the green dot game. The dreaded green 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:17.540 dot game. Yeah. Who's online? Who replied the 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:20.899 fastest? Who was visible in the chat at 9 p .m.? 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:24.519 The sources describe this, this specific anxiety 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:27.079 that just ripples through teams. It encourages 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:29.899 leaders to monitor response time instead of actual 00:07:29.899 --> 00:07:32.379 output. Oh, I've had friends tell me they've 00:07:32.379 --> 00:07:35.180 installed mouse jigglers. Just to appear online 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:37.560 while they're, like, doing laundry. And that 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:39.279 right there is the definition of dysfunction. 00:07:39.819 --> 00:07:42.379 The source uses some very strong terminology 00:07:42.379 --> 00:07:45.100 for this. What's that? They call it digital surveillance 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.500 dressed up as culture. Oof. That is damning. 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:51.040 Digital surveillance dressed up as culture. It 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.660 is because the company says, hey, we're so flexible, 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:56.839 work whenever. But the unspoken rule is you better 00:07:56.839 --> 00:07:58.600 answer that DM in five minutes or we're going 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.439 to think you're slacking. It forces an ultimatum. 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:03.959 Either you trust your people to deliver or you 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:06.160 reveal that you never really did. It feels like 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:07.980 micro shifting just strips away the illusion. 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:10.519 You can't fake trust when you can't physically 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.240 see the person. Precisely. Strong leadership 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:15.319 looks at the report you submitted and says, great 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:17.600 work. They don't care if you wrote it at 4 a 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.500 .m. or 4 p .m. Poor leadership looks at the timestamp. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:22.339 Exactly. OK, but let's play devil's advocate 00:08:22.339 --> 00:08:25.120 for a second. Let's say you have a great boss, 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:29.620 a total saint. They trust you implicitly. The 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:31.959 sources point out that even in that perfect scenario, 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:34.360 there are still costs we're not talking about. 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:37.740 The hidden social costs. Yes. This is the stuff 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:41.139 that gets glossed over in the glossy future of 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:43.240 work brochures. That's the erosion of shared 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:47.009 time. It's the cost of desynchronization. We 00:08:47.009 --> 00:08:49.590 focus so much on the individual benefit. I can 00:08:49.590 --> 00:08:51.629 go to the dentist without asking for permission. 00:08:51.750 --> 00:08:54.870 Right. But we forget the collective cause. When 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:58.529 everyone is on their own unique rhythm, the idea 00:08:58.529 --> 00:09:03.049 of a team sort of ceases to exist. Yeah. The 00:09:03.049 --> 00:09:05.730 sources list the casualties. Mentorship declines 00:09:05.730 --> 00:09:07.889 because the senior person and the junior person 00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:10.330 are never online together. Informal conversations 00:09:10.330 --> 00:09:12.649 just vanish. Those water cooler moments where 00:09:12.649 --> 00:09:14.450 you solve a huge problem in two minutes just 00:09:14.450 --> 00:09:15.950 because you happen to bump into each other. It 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:17.870 becomes a really lonely way to work. You're basically 00:09:17.870 --> 00:09:20.490 a freelancer just renting space in a slap channel. 00:09:20.629 --> 00:09:22.590 You're passing ships in the night with your own 00:09:22.590 --> 00:09:25.450 colleagues. And I imagine this must hit new hires 00:09:25.450 --> 00:09:28.350 the hardest. How do you learn a culture if the 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:30.809 culture is just a series of asynchronous comments 00:09:30.809 --> 00:09:33.470 on a Google Doc? You don't. And that leads to 00:09:33.470 --> 00:09:36.070 isolation. And here's where I need to add a nuance, 00:09:36.169 --> 00:09:37.429 because I don't want to sound like I'm arguing 00:09:37.429 --> 00:09:39.169 for everyone to go back to the office. Right. 00:09:39.610 --> 00:09:42.490 The source argues this isolation isn't inevitable. 00:09:43.350 --> 00:09:46.669 It only happens when teams fail to protect overlap. 00:09:47.169 --> 00:09:49.570 Protect overlap. So, like, anchoring the day. 00:09:49.909 --> 00:09:52.409 Exactly. Flexibility doesn't have to mean chaos. 00:09:53.090 --> 00:09:56.370 It just requires intention. So you decide as 00:09:56.370 --> 00:09:58.789 a team, okay, we're all going to be online from 00:09:58.789 --> 00:10:01.509 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. That is our shared time. 00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:03.990 We collaborate, then. The rest of the day is 00:10:03.990 --> 00:10:06.669 yours. But if you don't do that, if you just 00:10:06.669 --> 00:10:09.100 let it be a total free -for -all. Yeah. You run 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.179 into what the source is called the equity issue. 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:13.120 And honestly, this was the part of the research 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:15.559 that made me really stop and think. This is the 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.960 access versus burden dynamic. And it's so crucial. 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:21.779 So on one hand, microshifting can be a total 00:10:21.779 --> 00:10:24.200 lifesaver for certain groups. Oh, absolutely. 00:10:24.820 --> 00:10:27.980 Think about caregivers or parents or people with 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:31.100 chronic health issues or neurodivergent professionals 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.679 who find eight hours in an office impossible. 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:37.240 For them, microshifting isn't a perk. It's not 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.279 a luxury. It's access. It's what allows them 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:42.580 to even participate in the workforce. It literally 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:44.860 keeps them employed. If I have to pick up my 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:47.679 kid at 3 p .m., microshifting lets me do that 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:50.399 without quitting my job. Correct. And that is 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:55.440 a massive positive shift for equity. But... There's 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.480 a dark side to all this flexibility. The source 00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:00.440 says access for some can quietly become a burden 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:02.700 for others. Let's just play out a scenario. You 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.039 have a team. Half of them are micro shifting. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.700 One person needs to meet at 9 p .m. That's when 00:11:07.700 --> 00:11:09.980 their kids are asleep. Another person prefers 00:11:09.980 --> 00:11:12.919 7 a .m. Who ends up bending? The person who feels 00:11:12.919 --> 00:11:15.649 the least secure. or the person who is just naturally 00:11:15.649 --> 00:11:19.029 more accommodating. And the data shows this invisible 00:11:19.029 --> 00:11:22.090 labor of just scheduling things disproportionately 00:11:22.090 --> 00:11:24.750 falls on women and caregivers. They're the ones 00:11:24.750 --> 00:11:26.830 who say, oh, it's OK. I'll just log on late to 00:11:26.830 --> 00:11:29.210 catch you. Because they feel guilty or grateful 00:11:29.210 --> 00:11:31.360 for the flexibility in the first place. They 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.759 feel like they have to pay for it by being available 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:36.580 at absurd hours. That is a chilling realization. 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:39.179 The very people who need the flexibility the 00:11:39.179 --> 00:11:42.159 most end up absorbing the most inconvenience 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.980 to make it work for everyone else. It's the accommodator's 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:47.779 tax. If you don't have boundaries, the most helpful 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:50.259 people burn out first. They end up working the 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:52.899 longest, strangest hours to accommodate everyone 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:55.639 else's freedom. So flexibility without boundaries 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:58.419 just redistributes stress downward. That is the 00:11:58.419 --> 00:11:59.879 takeaway. It takes something that's supposed 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:02.940 to be an equalizer, and without any structure, 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:05.220 it turns it into another source of inequality. 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:08.340 OK, this got heavy. We went from cool productivity 00:12:08.340 --> 00:12:11.700 hack to engine of inequality. So how do we fix 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:14.059 it? Because we're not going back to 1950. No. 00:12:14.259 --> 00:12:16.620 The genie is out of the bottle. And we shouldn't 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:19.299 go back. The solution, according to these sources, 00:12:19.779 --> 00:12:22.799 is to move from chaos to a tool. Micro -shifting 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:25.600 isn't a culture. It's a tool. And tools need 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.840 safety manuals. So what's in the safety manual? 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.740 First, structure. It sounds counterintuitive, 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.100 but to have flexibility, you actually need rules. 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:37.000 You need clear response expectations. You can't 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.120 have a culture where an email sent at 9 p .m. 00:12:40.519 --> 00:12:43.960 implicitly demands a reply at 9 .05. Right. Just 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:45.600 because you're working late doesn't mean I have 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:47.679 to be. There's a great specific tactic mentioned 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:50.919 for this. The 24 -hour warning. Or just explicit 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.129 permission. Leaders need to actually write, I 00:12:54.129 --> 00:12:56.509 am sending this now because it works for my schedule. 00:12:56.809 --> 00:12:59.950 I do not expect you to read or reply until you're 00:12:59.950 --> 00:13:02.889 working hours and actually mean it. Not that 00:13:02.889 --> 00:13:04.370 passive aggressive thing where they say it, but 00:13:04.370 --> 00:13:06.809 get mad if you don't reply. They have to actually 00:13:06.809 --> 00:13:09.330 mean it. Yeah. And that applies protected off 00:13:09.330 --> 00:13:12.970 hours. Real flexibility has to include the flexibility 00:13:12.970 --> 00:13:15.529 to be unavailable. Right. If your schedule doesn't 00:13:15.529 --> 00:13:19.029 include blocks where you are 100 % offline, no 00:13:19.029 --> 00:13:21.549 notifications, you aren't micro shifting. You're 00:13:21.549 --> 00:13:23.649 just working a really long, broken day. There 00:13:23.649 --> 00:13:25.450 was a warning in the text that stood out. It 00:13:25.450 --> 00:13:27.990 said, in the wrong hands, this becomes a 24 -hour 00:13:27.990 --> 00:13:31.190 workday disguised as freedom. Yes. That's the 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:33.330 danger zone. But let's look at the flip side. 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:36.610 In the right hands. In an organization that values 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:39.169 output over optics. Then what? It becomes one 00:13:39.169 --> 00:13:41.870 of the first systems that truly respects human 00:13:41.870 --> 00:13:45.330 energy, autonomy, and trust. So it's really not 00:13:45.330 --> 00:13:47.929 about the calendar at all. It's about the values. 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:50.659 Completely. The schedule is not the problem. 00:13:51.139 --> 00:13:54.139 The intent behind it is, are you breaking up 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:57.639 the day to recharge and be a better human? Or 00:13:57.639 --> 00:14:00.779 are you breaking up the day to squeeze more extraction 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:03.340 out of every single waking hour? That distinction 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:05.700 is everything. You know, if we connect this to 00:14:05.700 --> 00:14:08.710 the bigger picture. We're in this massive transition 00:14:08.710 --> 00:14:12.129 period. We're leaving the industrial age factory 00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:14.330 floor model of work. But we haven't quite figured 00:14:14.330 --> 00:14:17.269 out the rules for the digital age yet. And microshifting 00:14:17.269 --> 00:14:20.629 is us trying to figure it out. It's messy because 00:14:20.629 --> 00:14:23.389 we're the guinea pigs. We're the beta testers 00:14:23.389 --> 00:14:25.570 for the future of work. We are. But that also 00:14:25.570 --> 00:14:27.870 means we have the power to set the norms. If 00:14:27.870 --> 00:14:29.509 you're a leader listening, you have a choice. 00:14:29.809 --> 00:14:31.850 You can measure hours or you can measure impact. 00:14:32.269 --> 00:14:34.529 And if you're an employee? You have to be vigilant 00:14:34.529 --> 00:14:36.870 about your own boundaries because the old structure 00:14:36.870 --> 00:14:38.429 isn't going to protect them for you anymore. 00:14:38.769 --> 00:14:41.129 That's the scary part, isn't it? The old nine 00:14:41.129 --> 00:14:43.490 to five was rigid, but it was a container. When 00:14:43.490 --> 00:14:45.990 you left, you left. Now the container has dissolved. 00:14:46.149 --> 00:14:48.389 We have to build our own walls. And building 00:14:48.389 --> 00:14:50.909 walls requires discipline. It's actually harder 00:14:50.909 --> 00:14:54.750 work than just clocking out. You have to actively 00:14:54.750 --> 00:14:57.389 choose to stop. You have to choose to ignore 00:14:57.389 --> 00:14:59.690 the ping. So as we wrap this up, let's bring 00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:02.169 it back to the person listening. Maybe they're 00:15:02.169 --> 00:15:03.830 nodding along. Maybe they're feeling a little 00:15:03.830 --> 00:15:05.669 guilty about that email they sent last night. 00:15:05.789 --> 00:15:08.289 What's the final synthesis? I think it comes 00:15:08.289 --> 00:15:11.389 down to honesty. Don't mistake fragmentation 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:14.830 for flexibility. If you are micro shifting, you 00:15:14.830 --> 00:15:17.330 just need to be honest about why. I want to leave 00:15:17.330 --> 00:15:19.490 everyone with a final thought to mull over. You've 00:15:19.490 --> 00:15:21.669 talked a lot about logistics, but let's get personal. 00:15:22.049 --> 00:15:24.269 If you're checking emails at 10 p .m. or answering 00:15:24.269 --> 00:15:28.149 slacks at 6 a .m., ask yourself why. Is it because 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:30.570 that's your energy peak? Is that when you're 00:15:30.570 --> 00:15:32.830 truly at your most creative? Or are you doing 00:15:32.830 --> 00:15:35.909 it to remain perpetually available? And does 00:15:35.909 --> 00:15:39.429 your calendar reflect your actual output? Or 00:15:39.429 --> 00:15:41.529 does it reflect your insecurity about being seen? 00:15:41.710 --> 00:15:44.690 That is the question. Because if you're doing 00:15:44.690 --> 00:15:47.409 it to be seen, you're playing a game you just 00:15:47.409 --> 00:15:49.570 can't win. There's always someone who will stay 00:15:49.570 --> 00:15:51.909 up later. There's always someone who will reply 00:15:51.909 --> 00:15:54.570 faster. Don't play that game. Play the game where 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:58.220 you actually get to rest. Amen to that. All right, 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:01.440 that's it for this deep dive. Protect your overlap, 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.779 protect your rest, and maybe just maybe close 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:06.799 that laptop completely for a few hours. We'll 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:07.919 see you next time. Bye, everyone.