Work Less Live More

Our North American/Anglo American society has a tendency to glorify sacrifice and hard work and I for one am fed up! Someone should bury this lousy Protestant work ethic once and for all. I just watched a story on 60 Minutes about it. They interviewed a number of white collar workers at different businesses. Most put in 70 hour weeks regularly. They explained that if they did they were rewarded and if they took time for themselves they were chastised (such is the modern office--most of this pressure came from co-workers). A hardworking couple, raising a little girl, communicated by instant messenger and email when at home and considered this normal. All had Blackberries. One CEO had even set up a phone, TV, and internet station in his shower. Some of the workers were offered the flexibility to work from anywhere and have their productivity be measured by their results. They still put in 70 hour weeks. What the heck is going on?

My major problem with workaholics/lunatics is that they ruin life for the rest of us. When someone is willing to work 70 hours a week in a job, why the heck would a company or organization hire me? So my choice is to put in 70 hours a week or be unemployed. Of course it's not that simple. Not all organizations demand so much of their employees but when people are willing to surrender themselves to this gruelling work schedule do you think they're going to turn them down?

I only would want and expect to be asked to work a maximum of 40 hours a week at any job. And even that is pushing it. I don't see why people wouldn't want to work say 25 or 30 hours a week. If you did you could take a three-day weekend all the time. You'd have time to spend time with your kids, fix up your house, engage in your community, take up a hobby. Think of the possibility of all that time spent on improving oneself and one's community. You don't have to just accept working 40 hours a week because it's what everyone does (imagine that).
Right now I'm working full-time at 40 hours a week but my plan is get this down to a four day week very soon. My work thankfully is very flexible and this choice wouldn't be considered revolutionary. I'll make a bit less money but that pales in comparison to the upside. I only wish this was an option for my self-employed and workaholic father. My mother is already there thankfully.