Why I Took a 20% Pay Cut to be More Innovative

Google allegedly gives its employees 20% of their time to work on whatever they want.

I heard about this idea a long while ago and it seemed like a wonderful, silly, fun idea, in a business suicide kind of a way. Immediately, I decided that it was something I wanted for myself. But how?

There wasn't a clear way to get paid for this, so 4 years ago I took a 20% pay cut; I made the decision to work four days a week, funded by myself.

Why did I do that?

I had a feeling that I wasn't giving sufficient attention to aspects of my life that were potentially most important. The list of 'things I really wanted to do but never got around to' was growing longer, so I decided to take control.

Since then I've worked a day a week without pay. I don't work less hard on that day (I often work harder and longer). As a result, I'm more productive, more creative, and have been able to nurture new ideas and projects into realities, rather than just ideas on a todo list. 

Google's 20% time didn't make any sense to me until I realised how much I achieved on my 'day off'. It now makes perfect sense to me - by giving some time away, without the usual pressures of time, cost or deadline, 20% time has allowed the creative part of my mind to flourish - improving my daily work immensely.

Ironically, by giving up 20% of my salary, I feel more energised, more purposeful and engaged, not only with my daily work, but with my life. Why? Because autonomy, mastery and purpose are what drives us, not just dollars.

What do you think? Would you give up 20% of your salary to be better at your job?