How smart companies work less, embrace flexibility and boost productivity

Shorter

Forget the old concept of the 9-5. In a changing world, companies around the globe are redesigning the working week to increase efficiency, health, productivity and happiness in their employees. Now you can do the same. 
 
A growing number of businesses are shortening their working weeks to address problems with low productivity, poor mental health and unequal working opportunities. Workers are still paid the same salary for a four-day week and the results are revolutionary; so much so that a pilot scheme has recently launched in the UK, based on this model. 
 
In Shorter, bestselling author of Rest Alex Pang studies these trailblazing businesses working fewer hours, where managers are reporting their teams to be: 
 
- More creative in their problem solving 
- Happier and with lower stress and anxiety and cases of burn out 
- More productive 
 
Pang will reveal step by step how they have gone about making these changes, the challenges and solutions and, most importantly, how you can do the same.

This is one of the most hopeful books I have read about the state of modern work. In Shorter, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang shares not only the stories of the creatives and visionaries around the world who are pushing back against always-on burnout culture, but he gives a practical, step-by-step guide for how they did it, why it matters-for all of us-and how others can follow their lead. A must-read for anyone who cares about the now or the future of work

Brigid Schulte, award-winning journalist, author of the New York Times bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time, and director of The Better Life Lab at New America

It's time to question everything we think we know about work, starting with how long we need to do it. Shorter makes a strong case for working less, showing us how any business can profit from giving their workers more free time. Pang provides a step-by-step guide for leaders who are ready to liberate their people from the tyranny of the 40-hour work week

Carmen Medina, coauthor of Rebels at Work and former director of the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence.

Who said a full workweek has to be five days? What if less is actually more? In Shorter, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang inspires us with a powerful vision: A shorter, but more productive and enjoyable workweek. I hope this book sparks a revolution in how-and how much-we work!

Valorie Burton, founder and CEO of the Coaching and Positive Psychology (CaPP) Institute and bestselling author of Successful Women Think Differently

In Shorter, Soojung-Kim Pang, the author of Rest, looks at companies who have done just that - got their entire workforce to cut their working weeks. The result was an increase in productivity and often, profit. The practical study looks at what works and what doesn't. Do you want to hear the best news? Most companies that reduce their hours tend to cut meetings right back. If that isn't an incentive to read this book, I don't know what is.

The way we work is changing at an incredible pace. This invaluable book offers a clear way forward: we don't need to burn ourselves out, we can work less and get more done, and we can all, wherever we are in our careers, get our lives back.

Rebecca Seal, author of SOLO: How To Work Alone (And Not Lose Your Mind)

A must read for anyone interested in the 4 day week. Not only does the book provide detailed accounts of how the 4-day-week was implemented across a wide range of companies across sectors and across countries, the book also provides answers to any doubts you may have about whether implementing a 4 day week is realistic. The answer is yes.

Heejung Chung, professor at the University of Kent and author of The Flexibility Paradox

Read this book, stop with the long hours and get a life!

Henry Stewart, author of The Happy Manifesto and Founder and Chief Happiness Office at Happy

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is a Silicon Valley-based consultant who has worked with hundreds of companies to implement 4-day weeks without cutting salaries, services or revenues. His book, Shorter: Designing the 4-Day Week summarizes his experience, and continues an exploration of the relationship between working time, rest, and creativity that began with his earlier books Rest and The Distraction Addiction. Alex received a Ph.D. in history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Forget the old concept of the 9-5. Companies around the world are redesigning the work week to increase efficiency, health, productivity and happiness in their workers. 
 
A growing number of businesses are shortening their working week to address problems with low productivity, poor mental health and unequal working opportunities. Workers are still paid the same salary for a four-day week and the results are revolutionary. 
 
In Shorter, bestselling author Alex Pang studies these trailblazing businesses where managers are reporting their teams to be: 
 
- More creative in their problem solving 
- Happier and with lower stress and anxiety and cases of burn out 
- More productive 
 
Pang will reveal, step by step, how they have gone about making these changes, the challenges and solutions and, most importantly, how you can do the same.

Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

Rest

"Take a break and read Rest: you'll make smarter decisions, have better relationships, and be happier and more creative" James Wallman, author of Stuffocation 
 
 Do you regularly find yourself too tired after a long day at your desk to do anything other than binge TV, or scroll mindlessly through social media? Do you go on holiday and still compulsively check your email? Do you work through your lunch-break, often not even leaving your desk to get some fresh air? 
 
 For most of us, overwork is the new norm, and we never truly take the time to rest and recharge. But as Silicon Valley consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang explains in this groundbreaking book, rest needs to be taken seriously and to be done properly, because when you rest better you work better. 
 
 Drawing on emerging neuroscience, Rest is packed with easy practical tips for incorporating rest into our everyday: 
 
 - Go for a long walk to stimulate and sustain creativity 
 - Schedule deliberate active rest periods into your diary to try out new activities like painting or learning a language 
 - Stop working on a task when you know what the next step will be, this will make it easier to get started the next day 
- Establish clear boundaries between work and rest time 
 - Take a nap during the day to increase alertness, boost your concentration and decrease fatigue 
 - Get good quality sleep at night to stay healthy, solidify memories and generate new ideas 
 
 When you rest better you'll find that it won't just be your work which improves - you'll have more time for hobbies, stronger relationships and you'll sleep better, too. 
 
 "An incredibly timely read for my own increasingly rest-starved life. This might be the book to finally persuade us that downtime isn't in conflict with good work; rather, it's an essential ingredient of it" Oliver Burkeman, Guardian

Take a break and read Rest: you'll make smarter decisions, have better relationships, and be happier and more creative.

An incredibly timely read - for this moment in history, but also in my own increasingly rest-starved life. This might be the book to finally persuade us that downtime isn't in conflict with good work; rather, it's an essential ingredient of it.

Oliver Burkeman, Guardian columnist and author of 'The Antidote'

If work is our national religion, Pang is the philosopher reintegrating our bifurcated selves

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang shows us how much more productive we can be by spending less time in noisy open-plan offices . . . It should be compulsory reading for office managers everywhere

Read this book, and you'll see how time off helps us learn and create better

Ferran Adria, 3-Star Michelin chef and founder of El Bulli

Want to be creative and get more done? We used to think only hard work was the answer. This beautifully researched book debunks the "work till you drop" myth by describing how intentional rest is crucial for being your best. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including neuroscience, the arts and psychology, Rest will fundamentally change the way we see work in the years to come. Give it to your boss! Give it to your work-obsessed spouse! Give it to your frazzled office buddies! A new paradigm of work is emerging and this fascinating book will be an indispensable guide

Peter Fleming author of 'The Mythology of Work'

I love Rest. It places rest back on the pedestal it so clearly deserves and generously points out - through great stories and acute insight - things to reflect on and build into our own lives.

Rohan Gunatillake, Founder of  Mindfulness Everywhere and creator of the bestselling buddhify app

Good books are interesting and valuable; but the best books reframe the way you see the world, getting you thinking differently about everyday situations and assumptions. Rest does just that. With a fascinating combination of research and historical examples, your view of rest - as what you do when you are not working - is turned upside down. A thoroughly enjoyable, insightful and life-enhancing book.

Tony Crabbe, International Business Psychologist

In his Fascinating, well-researched and highly readable new book, Dr pang makes an excellent case for the critical importance of rest in our lives. You will consider how and why you rest in a completely new light after reading this book.

Wendy Suzuki, Professor of neural Science and Psychology, author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life

It's high noon for the global economy's thinking class, who are locked in a losing battle for clarity in a crowded, clickable world. This book is a science packed call to arms: it's time to claim rest as a right and pay close attention to the needs of our beleaguered brains.

You're holding some terrific advice in your hands on the virtues of walking, napping, and playing. Pang has written a delightful and thought-provoking book on the science of restful living.

Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think

Pang offers original and often inspired ideas

San Francisco Chronicle (on The Distraction Addiction)

Washington Post (on The Distraction Addiction)

Skeptical without pandering to technophobia or neuroscience

The New Yorker (on The Digital Distraction)

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, PhD, has spent two decades studying people, technology, and the worlds they make. A Silicon Valley-based futurist and consultant, he has worked with gov- ernments and Fortune 500 companies; spoken at venues ranging from CIA headquarters to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to the Googleplex; and held academic positions at Stanford and Oxford universities. His last book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, is available in a dozen languages. Follow @askpang on Twitter and Instagram, or visit strategy.rest.

"Take a break and read Rest: you'll make smarter decisions, have better relationships, and be happier and more creative" James Wallman, author of Stuffocation 
 
 Do you regularly find yourself too tired after a long day at your desk to do anything other than binge TV, or scroll mindlessly through social media? Do you go on holiday and still compulsively check your email? Do you work through your lunch-break, often not even leaving your desk to get some fresh air? 
 
 For most of us, overwork is the new norm, and we never truly take the time to rest and recharge. But as Silicon Valley consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang explains in this groundbreaking book, rest needs to be taken seriously and to be done properly, because when you rest better you work better. 
 
 Drawing on emerging neuroscience, Rest is packed with easy practical tips for incorporating rest into our everyday: 
 
 - Go for a long walk to stimulate and sustain creativity 
 - Schedule deliberate active rest periods into your diary to try out new activities like painting or learning a language 
 - Stop working on a task when you know what the next step will be, this will make it easier to get started the next day 
 - Take a nap during the day to increase alertness, boost your concentration and decrease fatigue 
 - Get good quality sleep at night to stay healthy, solidify memories and generate new ideas 
 
 When you rest better you'll find that it won't just be your work which improves - you'll have more time for hobbies, stronger relationships and you'll sleep better, too. 
 
 "An incredibly timely read for my own increasingly rest-starved life. This might be the book to finally persuade us that downtime isn't in conflict with good work; rather, it's an essential ingredient of it" Oliver Burkeman, Guardian

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Work Less, Do More

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