I did 4-days-a-week for a few years at a startup. I was as-productive, or potentially moreso (difficult to determine, since I started the job on that schedule)

I did 4-days-a-week for a few years at a startup. I was as-productive, or potentially moreso (difficult to determine, since I started the job on that schedule). Initially I intended my day off to be flexible, but it was easiest for me and people I worked with, to be off the same day every week. I tried a few things, and Friday worked the best, for consistent 3-day weekends. Wednesday did not work for me, as it broke up my week too much and made it difficult to get into the flow. I remember having a realization one Tuesday early on, that I "only" had 2 more days until the end of the week, so I better get cracking! This was a striking contrast to the 5-day workweek, in which I would take more breaks and goof off more. Also, with a 2-day weekend, I feel like I spent 1.5 days recovering and doing life errands, and only by Sunday evening did I have any energy for my personal projects, and then of course it's hard to get into anything because I only had a few hours and had to get reasonable sleep before the workweek started the next morning. With consistent 3-day weekends, I would still need the same 1.5 days to catch up on life, but errands were easier to squeeze in on Fridays, and I would have the same energy for personal side projects...but starting on Saturday evening instead. Now I could get into something for a few hours on Saturday evening, stay up late hacking if I wanted, and spend all Sunday continuing with it. Enough time to make some real progress. The difference in my personal satisfaction between 4- and 5- day weeks was night-and-day. The common assumption for someone who wants to work 4-day-a-week is that they want to work as little as possible, and 4-days is what they think they can get away with (either socially or salary-wise). Well, I tried 3-day weeks briefly, and it wasn't really that great. 3 days wasn't quite enough to get fully absorbed into my paid work each week, and I felt like (and was treated more like) a part-timer. I also tried 32 hours over 5 days (~6 hours a day, or 3x 8 + 2x 4), and it felt more like an "easier" traditional work schedule, but it didn't leave me the same capacity for my personal endeavors, even though the hours should have been similar. (Maybe because I'm a night owl, so being able to stay up late and sleep in completely changes the tone of the day for me.) 4-days a week with consistent 3-day weekends was definitively the best work schedule I've ever had.