My brother was in Japan for a few months at the turn of the year where habits of working way exceed our own.  Where else but Japan has a word (Karoshi) for ‘death by overwork’?  The International Business Wiki reports estimates of 10,000 deaths a year from Karoshi in an article on Japanese Work Ethic.  So prevalent is this issue that some companies are warned to reduce the number of hours worked by their employees.

So I was intrigued, a few months back, when the Harvard Business Review’s Morning Advantage included a brief article entitled Want to Play?  It included the reminder that, in 1930, John Maynard Keynes made two predictions about economic growth:  that living standards in “progressive countries” would be four to eight times higher by 2030 (he was right) and that workers would enjoy a 15-hour working week (…mmm… didn’t he get that one wrong?)  Morning advantage points to an essay in Jacobin by Mike Beggs, who offers a number of explanations for Keynes’ miscalculation.  Here’s what they say:

“Theoretically, we could spend our increased wages by choosing to work less, as Keynes predicted, but we don’t.  Instead, we choose to spend our excess cash on commodities – which seems irrational since all of us complain about our lack of free time.  So why don’t we make choices that maximise our pleasure? Well, it’s not so easy, especially since our work habits – productivity over play – are the result of social norms.  A shift to more free time can happen, Beggs notes, but only if it’s a ‘collective one’.”

HBR also points to the possibility of a different future:

“Take HBR author Leslie Perlow, whose research shows that productivity increases at companies that make planned and uninterrupted time off a top priority.  Everyone wins, right?”

I notice how much I resonate with the idea that many of us spend more money on commodities even whilst yearning for more free time.  And yes, it is irrational, because we are not, fundamentally, rational beings.  We don’t always know why we are working so hard – or we have an idea of our reasons for doing so which does not stand close examination.  Equally, we don’t always know why we buy what we buy.

So, on the eve of this Bank Holiday, you might like to take a moment to reflect on the hours you are working and notice – really notice – why.  Notice the things you are telling yourself.  Go deeper and ask yourself, and what does that do for me?  And again, and again, and again… if you do this with openness and curiosity you may be surprised at the needs you are trying to meet and at the emotions – tender, vulnerable, sweet emotions – that accompany new insights…