There's never enough time

There's never enough time ... at least not enough to really do what we want. It seems the more "advanced" our society becomes, the less time we have for things, important things, like family, friends, rest, relaxation, reflection. All our conveniences and labor-saving devices have failed us. How many of you feel like you're working more than ever, even if it's only because your mobile (cell) is on making you "on call". When I travel -- which is way too often -- I see people of all ages, glued to their devices, be they smartphones, tablets, or laptops. Some very few are listening to music or playing games, but most of what I see looks like work: lots of spreadsheets, lots of calendars, lots of email windows with long, long lists, and serious-looking PDFs. There are some Luddite-likes on board; that is, people working on paper. But these, too, often look like printed versions of what others have on-screen. Sure, during normal working hours this doesn't strike me as odd, but I'm talking about evenings and weekends. I hate it when I have to do business travel at these times, and I avoid it as much as possible. But even when I must, I certainly see no reason why that should obligate me to do business then as well. Sometimes, we simply need some time to ourselves.

You see, our modern, average work week is somewhere between 35 and 40 hours. It seems to me that if this is what we are paid for (and granted, here in Europe, many employers have general-time and/or comp-time accounts for their employees, most of which I've ever heard about have upward limits ... and oddly enough, everyone I've ever talked to was always pushing those limits as it is), this is what is expected of us. I'm the last one to advocate just letting your pencil drop at 4 or 5 or whenever the working day is over, and there may be exceptions to the rule, but what happens when the exceptions become the rule? This is what I'm seeing too much of, and it bothers me. A lot.

What I see are too many parents who are either working or going back and forth to work, so the children are too often on their own or with a baby-sitter. I see men and women consumed by their jobs and unable to switch gears for the family. I see kids who are shuffled from school to sports activities to music lessons to tutoring sessions to who-knows-where-else so they'll have greater opportunities in life. But what opportunities are we talking about? It's clear: a life of work-work-work with little family and if you end up with one, not knowing what to do with it, because you never learned how, because you never experienced one growing up.

But here's the real issue: why do we work so hard and so long? Because we need (and there are some who want) the money. We do it for the money. In the end, it's about money. The house, the car, the alma mater, the boat, the plane, the power weekend in the Caymans ... but money, well, there's are some things it just can't buy, like peace of mind, love, friendship, compassion.

Recently I read that some US law firms started offering dual career paths for incoming associates. You could choose a modest, but decent salary, a 40-hour (only) week, and no real chance for advancement; or, you could opt for the standard career path: long hours, big bonuses, and a chance at becoming a partner one day. The encouraging news was they were having trouble finding recruits for the partner path. Maybe, just maybe, younger people are realizing how ridiculous our generation has made the world. At least it's reason for hope.