The author of a new book about the 4-day work week breaks down 3 myths about achieving your goals - and outlines one simple step towards working fewer hours

• Joe Sanok is the author of a new book about the four-day work week.
• Changing your weekend plans can be a good first step towards a four-day work week, he said.

Joe Sanok, the author of a new book about productivity and a four-day work week, says there are three myths about achieving your goals that everyone should be aware of.

The first is that there is a universal blueprint for fulfilling your goals - instead, people need to learn what works for them, he told Insider.

The second myth is that you need to work all hours of the day, seven days a week, to find success. People who advocate hustle culture are not making best use of their time, he said.

The third myth, Sanok said, is that "our egos need to be wrapped up in our jobs." Doing something that rewards you is important - but as a society, we overvalue work and undervalue family time, Sanok said.

Sanok is a private consultant and host of the "Practice of Practice" podcast. His book, 'Thursday is the new Friday: How to work fewer hours, make more money and spend time doing what you want," is a self-help book that makes the case for the four-day work week.

For some, the hardest bit is getting comfortable with the very idea of working less

The book is not about changing company culture, Sanok writes. Not everyone can cut their work days down as much as they want after, all - bad managers can be a barrier, for example, he writes. A lack of financial freedom, or limited access to childcare support, can also hold people back.

But there are lots of practical hacks to make you more productive and cut down your working hours, some of which Sanok lists in his book.

Some CEOs who have made the swap say that one of the hardest parts is simply becoming comfortable with the entire concept of working less.

This is because the idea of a 40-hour plus, five-day week created by "industrialists" is still how many structure their work lives, which in turn shapes people's identities, Sanok writes.

It's important, therefore, to first to find value in other parts of your life, according to Sanok.

He has a few tips for how to prepare yourself to make that change.

The simple technique for starting: make your weekend work for you

Sanok has a simple, practical technique for anyone who wants to take a step back from work but is finding it hard to do so - start adding more value into your weekends.

Envisage your weekend plans, then add something that will make it better, such as giving yourself permission to read a book, or going for a hike, for example.

At the same time, remove something from your plans that makes you feel stressed.

That could mean, for example, ordering groceries online instead of spending a morning doing them in person, or not meeting a "toxic" person just because you feel like you need to.

Most people live their weekends as a reaction to a stressful week, Sanok said - instead, "be proactive on our weekends to think about what could this future week be if I entered into it fully recharged."

Take small steps

If you have the luxury of taking Fridays off for a period of time, go for it, Sanok said. But for some people, just leaving a few hours earlier is progress.

To begin with, stop and work out when you're most productive and what you want to achieve - then draw up a plan for trying to achieve it, he said.

"Having the mindset that slowing down is the key to then killing it on the other side," he added.