I’m writing this blog post on Labor Day 2023. I usually publish posts on Tuesday mornings. So, by the time you read this, we’ll have blown past Labor Day. You’ll all be in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a typical school and work day. Or, if you’re like us, it’ll be the first week of school. A time that’s even more soaked in busyness with shopping, new teachers, and new activities ramping up at the exact same time.
Labor Day is supposed to be this bastion of relaxation at the end of summer, marking the return to “normalcy”. A tiny pause that we all “deserve” in the middle of all that back-to-school and back-to-the-grind craziness. It’s supposed to be a long weekend of camping and friends. But for most of us, is it?
Labor Day Weekend is Labor
Whether you’re traveling or getting ready for school, labor day seems to involve a lot of…labor. It’s one of the least-relaxing three-day weekends of the year. Then again, do any of our weekends really feel relaxed? We spend so much time meeting society’s expectations during the week. Go to work, work overtime to show your dedication, make sure the kids get to school on time, drive them to activities, keep up with their due dates, run errands, put food on the table, catch up with your spouse, walk the dog, go to that networking event, exercise, plan some distant family vacation, and don’t forget to relax! (Relaxing is very important for your mental health.)
No normal human can fit all of that into a five-day workweek. So when we get to the weekend all those errands spill over into it like oatmeal spills out of the bowl and into a clean microwave when you forget to change the cook settings to “low”. We spend that extra time checking off the last remaining errands. By the time we get to the “relax” line item, we’ve got about 15 minutes left before we have to turn around and start another workweek.
What Could You Do With Extra Time?
No one’s really making us do all this work per se, but our workaholic culture influences us, especially here in the United States. Last year, I read a fascinating book called Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working From Home by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen. In it, they argued that without all that in-office chit chat, we can usually get our work done in a fraction of the 40 hours we’re all conscripted to work. And what could we do with that extra time? Volunteer and make the community better? Spend more time with our spouse, kids, or aging parents? Start our own company or blog or podcast that does something that actually makes the world a better place? The answer is all of the above, potentially.
Our Culture Optimizes For Work
I’ve recently realized something that depresses me a tiny bit. The culture we have in the United States seems to optimize for money and corporations. We seem to believe that if we just foster business and capitalism that everything else will fall neatly into place. Did we care about liberty and freedom in the beginning? Nope. Slavery is baked right there into the Constitution. Instead, we were founded so a bunch of restless 20-something white guys could get out of paying taxes. We were founded on the freedom to make as much money as we can and not share it.
And so, we’ve been writing laws for centuries that make it (relatively) easy for people to start and grow their businesses and to keep the workers that we need to run those businesses. We tend to ignore other ideas that might make society objectively better. Ideas like free education, more time with families, help for new mothers, inexpensive childcare, and universal healthcare.
Wait, why don’t we have Universal Healthcare? Honestly, if we’re optimizing for corporate growth, why wouldn’t corporations want to stop paying for their employees to have healthcare? And why wouldn’t we want to make it easier for people to leave their jobs and start their own businesses?
I believe the answer is because the need for healthcare keeps us working and businesses need people to work. The fear that one disease could wipe out all of our savings is one of many forces that makes it hard for people to retire early or work part time, which might lead to other intangible societal gains, like more volunteers or new start-ups. The lack of healthcare is like a set of handcuffs tying us to our jobs. Pundits will tell you that healthcare through the Affordable Care Act is so expensive, you’d never want to have to use it. Well, I looked into it this year and if I made a decent but not extravagant wage, it would be just slightly more expensive that what I’m paying now, with my company subsidizing 75% of it.
This Year Optimize for Fulfillment Not Money
And that brings me back to Labor Day. I believe the treadmill we’re all running on is the wrong one. We, as a culture, are so busy optimizing for wealth that we’re forgetting what really matters. None of the stuff we fill our time with is doing us much good. Some of our jobs are fulfilling. Most of them aren’t. Most of them could probably be done in a lot less time, leaving us time to do things that really mattered to us. Many of us could probably work a four-day workweek and be just as, if not more, productive. A host of recent studies and trials will back me up on that. Three days off at the end of summer isn’t enough, but three days off each week might be.
The Stop Doing List
I guess what I’m trying to say is that we should all be a little more skeptical of the culture we’re surrounded by this Labor Day. There are little things you can do. For instance, when your kids want to add yet another activity to your packed weekly schedule, it’s OK to say no. When your boss asks you to take on just one more project, say no or ask to be more fairly compensated. Your time is more important than that project.
If any of this has resonated with you, you may be ready to create a “stop doing” list. Right alongside that to do list of yours, should also be a “stop doing” list of items that you won’t do anymore to free up more of your time for the things that matter. This simple action can make a big difference. And maybe next year on Labor Day, you won’t feel like I do today: exhausted from another packed weekend and not at all ready for the workweek ahead.