John Cox

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The New Yorker

Elizabeth Kolbert: Why Are We So Busy? : The New Yorker

Keynes predicted in 1928 that by 2028 economic growth would be so abundant that people would work only fifteen hours a week, freeing humanity to enjoy leisure and culture—yet today Americans work longer hours than ever despite vastly increased wealth, a puzzle that economists attribute variously to unlimited consumer desire, cultural conditioning toward consumption, the meaning derived from work itself, and the specific incentives facing high earners who sacrifice leisure to maintain competitive advantage. The article surveys these competing explanations while following journalist Brigid Schulte's investigation into contemporary "overwhelm," particularly how women shoulder disproportionate housework and childcare alongside paid employment, suggesting that the failure of Keynes's vision reflects both our inability to stop wanting more material goods and our unwillingness to fundamentally reorganize how we value work and leisure.

Permalink productivityworkeconomics

us.sunpower.com

NPR.org

What Americans Actually Do All Day Long, In 2 Graphics : Planet Money : NPR

Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data from the American Time Use Survey, this piece breaks down how full-time American workers allocate their 24 hours, showing that work itself consumes about 8.8 hours while commuting, eating, and personal care fill much of the remainder. The visualization includes detailed sub-breakdowns of categories like work-related activities and leisure time, with the caveat that these are national averages that mask significant variation depending on family structure and other individual circumstances.

Permalink work

Salon.com

Bring back the 40-hour work week - AlterNet - Salon.com

Drawing on 150 years of historical research and business data, this article argues that the modern expectation of 50-60+ hour workweeks is economically counterproductive and based on false assumptions about productivity. Knowledge workers have only about six productive hours per day, and working beyond 40 hours per week consistently produces fatigue-related errors, safety hazards, and reduced output that negates any gains from extra time in the office. The article traces how this consensus—accepted from the 1930s through 1960s by major corporations including Henry Ford—was abandoned in the 1980s when Silicon Valley's startup culture romanticized "passion" and extreme hours, a mentality that spread across industries despite research showing that brief overtime sprints lose their productivity advantage after eight weeks and create lasting burnout that takes weeks to recover from.

Permalink productivityhealthworkbusiness

pieratt.tumblr.com

Varsity Bookmarking In Praise of Quitting Your Job

You argue that some people—particularly creative types—experience depression and burnout in jobs where they lack genuine ownership and agency over their work, and that this isn't a personal failing but a mismatch between their nature and their environment. You contend that creativity requires the ability to see tangible results from your efforts and make meaningful decisions without constant compromises, and that staying in a job where you can't exercise these capabilities wastes both your talents and your employer's resources. Rather than viewing the desire to leave as entitlement, you reframe it as self-awareness about where your strengths actually lie, suggesting that the cultural norm of "just stick it out" is increasingly at odds with how creative work actually functions.

Permalink workmental healthcreativityadvice