It’s been over a century since the Hours of Work Convention occurred when several countries instituted and adopted the so-called 8-hour work day. Until 2013, 52 countries ratified the pact, and New Zealand denounced it 32 years ago.
Today, there are places on earth where it can be worse. Some companies in China still go by the 996 working hour system. The gist is you work from 9 am until 9 pm, 6 days a week. Just as someone else was quoted in that Wiki article, it’s just “modern slavery”.
I find it hard to imagine a 21st century where people dedicate their entire life to someone else just to be able to provide food on the table for their loved ones. Yet, here we are.
Over the past century, our lives have changed so much. Technology has become a part of our daily life. Almost every household has electricity. We have the Internet. We use smartphones, washing machines, and ATMs. We travel more than ever before. But our work schedule stayed the same. A large majority still have to wake up, commute, clock in, work for hours, clock out, then spend what’s left with their loved ones, go to sleep, and repeat.
We’ve invented many smart devices that should save more time, but at the end of the day, we still don’t have time for ourselves.
Researchers suggest that we should get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. Well, it still seems like a luxury to this day. I get it. We’re all busy, but most people try to cut some extra time from the one thing our body needs the most to recover: sleep. Some even came up with all sorts of techniques to reduce the number of hours slept per night, but then you just end up in a perpetually depraved state of mind. Your body probably won’t feel the burden until you’re in your 30s or 40s, depending on your genes and lifestyle. The body can still work in this overburn state for a while, but you won’t be able just to relax and enjoy your life after all those decades of pushing your body to the max.
One hundred years of finding ways to save time through all the smart devices, yet, we don’t put effort into finding a better way to do the thing that occupies another third of our day: work. If countries would just redact the Hours of Work Convention to set the norm to 4-day work weeks or limit work to a maximum of 30 hours per week, we would make a huge step in the right direction for us and our future generations.
We have so much potential to create on our own time, but after 8 hours of work, who has some energy left to do the stuff that’s truly important to us? We all know that we put our interests last. Work comes first, family second, and ourselves last. And maybe a shift is required.
All this reminds me of a recent conversation between me, my wife and one of my best friends about meditation and how much time we get to meditate. Now let’s see how most of our lives unfold: sleep, work, family time, repeat. And as far as meditating goes, that means time for one’s self, if we ever get to that. Most often, we don’t.
Ever since I started working at Gumroad, my meditation has consisted of dedicating the first part of the day to myself and my interests. If that means going climbing, going for a run, reading, writing, or cleaning around the house, this is what I want to do, what energizes me, clears my mind, and puts me in a good mood to then be able to start my workday, take care of my family or meet with my friends. I don’t know any other company with the work culture we have at Gumroad, but there should be more if we want a better way of living.
Society was built for thousands of years on the premise that first, we rent our time to others and, if there’s some time left, we focus on ourselves. Though it’s funny because if we don’t take care of ourselves first, how do we expect to give our best to others?
Today, there are places on earth where it can be worse. Some companies in China still go by the 996 working hour system. The gist is you work from 9 am until 9 pm, 6 days a week. Just as someone else was quoted in that Wiki article, it’s just “modern slavery”.
I find it hard to imagine a 21st century where people dedicate their entire life to someone else just to be able to provide food on the table for their loved ones. Yet, here we are.
Over the past century, our lives have changed so much. Technology has become a part of our daily life. Almost every household has electricity. We have the Internet. We use smartphones, washing machines, and ATMs. We travel more than ever before. But our work schedule stayed the same. A large majority still have to wake up, commute, clock in, work for hours, clock out, then spend what’s left with their loved ones, go to sleep, and repeat.
We’ve invented many smart devices that should save more time, but at the end of the day, we still don’t have time for ourselves.
Researchers suggest that we should get between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. Well, it still seems like a luxury to this day. I get it. We’re all busy, but most people try to cut some extra time from the one thing our body needs the most to recover: sleep. Some even came up with all sorts of techniques to reduce the number of hours slept per night, but then you just end up in a perpetually depraved state of mind. Your body probably won’t feel the burden until you’re in your 30s or 40s, depending on your genes and lifestyle. The body can still work in this overburn state for a while, but you won’t be able just to relax and enjoy your life after all those decades of pushing your body to the max.
One hundred years of finding ways to save time through all the smart devices, yet, we don’t put effort into finding a better way to do the thing that occupies another third of our day: work. If countries would just redact the Hours of Work Convention to set the norm to 4-day work weeks or limit work to a maximum of 30 hours per week, we would make a huge step in the right direction for us and our future generations.
We have so much potential to create on our own time, but after 8 hours of work, who has some energy left to do the stuff that’s truly important to us? We all know that we put our interests last. Work comes first, family second, and ourselves last. And maybe a shift is required.
All this reminds me of a recent conversation between me, my wife and one of my best friends about meditation and how much time we get to meditate. Now let’s see how most of our lives unfold: sleep, work, family time, repeat. And as far as meditating goes, that means time for one’s self, if we ever get to that. Most often, we don’t.
Ever since I started working at Gumroad, my meditation has consisted of dedicating the first part of the day to myself and my interests. If that means going climbing, going for a run, reading, writing, or cleaning around the house, this is what I want to do, what energizes me, clears my mind, and puts me in a good mood to then be able to start my workday, take care of my family or meet with my friends. I don’t know any other company with the work culture we have at Gumroad, but there should be more if we want a better way of living.
Society was built for thousands of years on the premise that first, we rent our time to others and, if there’s some time left, we focus on ourselves. Though it’s funny because if we don’t take care of ourselves first, how do we expect to give our best to others?