The Toronto Star has an article this morning, "We work too much compared to Europe." That is a sentiment that is near and dear to my heart. I seriously doubt that when any of us are gone we will be remembered for that extra hour at the office. It is so easy to slip into the mode that the work needs doing so I'm going to stick around until I get it done. We all do it and often there are good reasons to do so. However, we should not make a life of doing it.
Clearly we all need to draw a line somewhere. All work leads to a lack perspective. The article in the The Star has this to say.
Canada ought to cancel the May long weekend.
These words may sound like the rant of a deranged workaholic, but they actually do a pretty good job of describing our society's values when compared with those in many other wealthy countries. The average Canadian worked 1,751 hours in 2004. That's about 300 hours — or 43 seven-hour days — more than the Dutch, Germans, French or Danes.
European societies are at one end of the spectrum while Canada, the United States, Australia and Japan are at the other.
Of course we have lots of tangible things to show for all of our work. The question each person needs to weigh is, "What are the intangible loses for ever increasing work?" We work hard so we can relax in retirement. Maybe we work in retirement so we don't have to work so hard. The outlook according to the article isn't good.
Will Canadians or Americans ever start working less?
The past 25 years suggest not.
Between 1980 and 2000, European countries added, on average, six vacation days or statutory holidays, totalling 36 per year.
Meanwhile, according to Huberman's numbers, Canada actually dropped a day, to 24, while the United States lost two days, to 20 days off.
What does it mean to me? Well I think I'll plan a few vacation days off. The water should be still cool enough for some fishing down on the coast.
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