Debunking the Myth of Work-Life Balance
In the blue corner, weighing in at 47 hours per week, it’s the average American full-time job!
Why do we all seem to work so damn hard? Is this even a bad thing and, if it is, can we do anything about it? Do content creators and solopreneurs ever really stop working? One thing is certain: the debate on where to draw the line between work and life isn’t new.
Why it feels more like work-life imbalance
In the 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren,” economist John Maynard made the prediction that our generation might only be working 15 hours per week. His prediction was based on the effect of technology on labor productivity. Keynes suggested that the same economic output would, over time, require fewer and fewer human hours of input. And while improvements in machines and rising automation have driven greater efficiency, we haven’t exactly dropped down to two-day workweeks as predicted.
Keynes’s idea behind the 15-hour workweek was that we, human beings, would take the free time from technological efficiencies and fill it with leisure. Efficiencies came, but leisure (at least as Keynes defined it) did not. 2014 Gallup polling suggests that the U.S. full-time load is closer to 47 hours per week…
