Why the 40 Hour Work Week is Not Sustainable

I personally don’t think that the 40 hour work week is sustainable from a health, wealth and happiness perspective. Well, not for me, anyway. Additionally, as we start working over about 20 hours per week, our environmental footprint is substantially increased.

If you want more opinions on this topic, just type "the 21 hour work week" into an internet browser and you will get a wealth of information. This, however, is my story.

When I was working a regular 40 hour week job, I was always stressed and in a hurry. I wasn’t really content and didn’t feel that I had proper balance. First, for me, in addition to the 40-hours of work that I had to put in, I had an additional 5-10 hours per week of commuting and getting ready for work. I never felt that I was ‘catching up’ on my sleep, which I now understand never happens anyway. You can’t really ‘catch up’, you need proper sleep every day. I hated the feeling of being jolted out of a deep sleep by my alarm. It never felt natural. I would drag myself out of bed while it was still dark and then rush around in the morning to get on the road before traffic hits. Then, when I left the office after sitting for 9 hours, I had to sit in traffic. The frustration and feelings of restlessness were getting worse and worse every day. Even when I worked from home, I might not have the commute, but I was still jolted out of bed every morning and I felt chained to my computer for far too long every day. Caffeine was my energy source. This was a very unsustainable cycle for me.

My 40 hour a week job did come with a big salary and great perks, but at what time cost? We can always make more money, but we can’t ever get back lost time. And, what fun is a lot of money without good health? To me, this didn't really seem like what most people would consider 'success' or 'the good life'.

I decided I had had enough and I quit my job for other reasons, but one thing that I do know, is that now I have experienced true freedom. With this taste of freedom, I do not want another 40-hour-a-week-chained-to-a-computer-sitting-in-a-cubicle job for a very long time. I need a break and that is why I decided to semi-retire at 39. Note, that I call this being semi-retired. I am not planning to just golf and travel, but I do have the flexibility, to pursue more meaningful work while keeping a healthy work/life balance for optimum health, wealth and happiness.     

What would you do if you had an extra 20 hours a week to yourself?

For me, I was able to sell my car because I now have the time freedom to bike, walk and take public transportation wherever I need to go. That was one of the most freeing feelings for me, and no more traffic jams!

I am also able to go to Farmers Markets four times a week to buy fresh foods and take the time to prepare meals from scratch. This means less packaging waste and no chemicals to be concerned about.

I regularly get in two or more hours of physical activity every day. I take long, relaxing walks. I get to stay up late and sleep in if I want. I don’t use an alarm clock. I quit caffeine.

I am able to pursue my passions and work on independent projects for future income potential. I work when I am feeling creative, and I don’t if I am not. I don’t have to watch a clock and look busy when my work is done.

I get adequate sunshine and fresh air every day. I get to nap. I meditate. I read… a lot. I write every day. I always have a clean, neat house. I’m never in a hurry.

My stress level has plummeted to a level of contentment that I don’t think I have ever felt in my life. I have realized that it is the simple things in life that make me happy. This is success. I am living the rich life now (see previous post).

So, how did I get here? It is a very simple formula: Start slashing expenses and building up residual income. That’s it. The next post I will first talk about reducing expenses and then the second post will be about creating residual income.

I recommend visiting the website “Center for a New American Dream: More of What Matters”: www.newdream.org

I also recommend “The Joy of Not Working” and “How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free” by Ernie Zelinski

 

Turning off the cable TV…

I have been cable free for one year now and I love it! There were a few reasons why I decided to rid myself of this addiction:  I felt that it was dumbing me down; every program seemed to be a “reality” program of some sort with so much drama and negativity, not to mention ‘staged’; I felt that I was on the couch too much instead of exercising or cleaning; I sometimes even found myself revolving my schedule around certain shows.

So, I thought, why would I actually pay someone to dumb me down, put confrontation in front of me, and reduce my time available for exercise, household chores, and creative pursuits?!?!? 

When I first got rid of cable, I still had access to the basic TV stations, so I was still able to watch the news (filled with negativity, sensationalism and fear), PBS (not much to complain about there) and a few of my favorite sitcoms (hey, laughter is healthy!). However, I still found myself on the couch with the TV on most of the time, even if I was doing something else like writing or reading. Well, one day, the basic channels just disappeared. I didn’t do any investigation to find out why or try to remedy the situation. Instead I took it as an opportunity to go completely without TV.

Well, the first few days, I admit, were kind of strange. I found that to be an incredible revelation to realize how much TV had become a part of my life… wow. The silence was very strange at first. I realized that the reason that I always had the TV on, was to have the background noise. Maybe this was an attempt to feel less lonely? Maybe I wanted to live through the lives of the characters on TV, even though there is no “reality” about it? So, to combat this feeling of loneliness, and maybe even boredom, I started walking, running and bicycling, a lot. I started getting to know my neighbors better and talking with them more. I spent much more time cleaning and gardening. I started walking to the grocery store and riding my bike to the library. I started reading a ton of informational non-fiction, some weeks I might have read up to four books.

I was saving over $100 per month, plus saving on the cost of gas since I had more time to walk, run or bike my errands. Plus, I realized that I can get free movies, documentaries and even my favorite sitcoms at the library, so if I got the urge for TV time, I could find quality programs and watch them on my schedule. I also started listening to the public radio station more often, which aired very unique and high quality music and talk shows. This had a bit of a snowball effect, because when I started realizing some of the unnecessary, and quite frankly unhealthy, financial drains of our modern culture, I was able to find many other ways to reduce my expenses to the point where I could semi-retire before 40. I will elaborate more on that in another post.

All of a sudden, I found myself with a clean, neat house and yard, a lot more free time for creative pursuit, leisure time with friends and neighbors and an overall feeling of improved energy, finances and content, or should we say improved health, wealth and happiness. It was the best decision I ever made, well, tied with selling my car (see previous post).

[I want to digress for a moment and mention that during this initial time of no TV, I also did not have personal internet access. I had a smart phone for work which gave me internet access to work from home, but I did not use it for personal use. I think that was the key to becoming more physically active and engage in more reading. If I had internet, I might have found myself sitting on the couch just as much and not doing much reading of actual books. Internet can be a real drain if you let it, but it can be incredibly useful tool also. Internet can also be an unnecessary expense considering there are so many free options, but more on this topic in another post. ]

So, back to the present…. when I decided to quit my job and move to another state where my partner was working, I begged him not to get cable TV or even the local channels. He agreed that it was the best for both of us. We do have a very small TV, probably 13 inches, and we do watch documentaries and movies from the library. I still sometimes find myself putting a good documentary on for background noise, but hey, it is a process and I am on my way to TV addiction recovery!

A note on the environment: Electronics are very hard on the environment and we are consuming them at such a fast rate as technology gets better and products get cheaper. There are problems along the entire life cycle from extraction of the resources to the constant energy draw from use, to the disposal. When we start realizing the benefits of less electronics in our lives, as described in this post, then we will also be helping to alleviate environmental problems.

I understand that some people may not want to go entirely without cable TV, however, do we really need a TV in every room? Families would reduce time spent watching TV and gain much more family time if they all shared only one TV and chose quality programming to watch together.

Why I Ditched the Car and Regained My Youthful Freedom

Most of us equate owning a car as having ‘freedom’: freedom to go where we want, when we want. We couldn’t wait to turn 16, to have the freedom to drive ourselves where we wanted to go instead of rely on our parents or older siblings. That was the ultimate feeling of getting close to adulthood. Well, what we failed to realize, was that in most situations, it was mom and dad that made that ‘freedom’ possible. Even if we had to pay for gas and insurance, we most likely borrowed a car from our parents. Even if someone did save up money to buy their own car, it was usually because at 16, a person typically doesn’t have many other bills such as rent, groceries or utilities. However, fast forward to college graduation and everything changes. That same car that symbolized freedom now has many of us chained to a 40 hour a week job with no real true freedom in our schedules. We are given an hour lunch, and some of us may be lucky to get four weeks of vacation per year, but only to be used with permission from the boss. Is this really freedom? I prefer another kind of freedom: the freedom that comes from giving up a car. I recently sold my car and, along with getting rid of many other unnecessary expenses in my life, I was able to feel comfortable to quit my job and pursue the things that I really want to do in life. But most importantly, I wanted to take back freedom of my schedule. In future posts, I will go into more detail about how I downsized my life in other ways for a truly freeing feeling and how to pursue residual income so that you will not feel obligated to have a car for a ‘job’. And if you do like your job, or are not ready to leave yet, this post will highlight how going car free does not mean sacrifice or less money earned, but rather how it provides tremendous benefits to our optimization of health, wealth and happiness. 

First off, as stated in previous posts, this blog is not about reducing our environmental impact, but rather obtaining a higher quality of life, through the simplicity concept, which will naturally have us treading lighter on the planet.

With that said, however, I feel it is necessary to point out that, driving use aside, the physical roads themselves are an environmental and human health nightmare, from destruction of ecosystems and habitats, to incredible amounts of pollution (water/air/noise/light) and a runaway urban heat island effect. Not to mention the excessive embedded energy, water and waste contents.  I won’t go into the details, but you can do an internet search for “environmental impact of roads” for more information. Secondly, the manufacturing and disposal of vehicles, even the supposedly “eco friendly” hybrids and electric vehicles, is also completely unsustainable and we are nowhere near a solution to reduce the environmental and social impacts of this process.  That is why this post is about going car-free or car-lite, not just trading your hummer for a hybrid, while your driving habits stay the same. Technology will not bring us eco-bliss, behavior changes will. To be truly sustainable, we need to reduce the miles driven and put more drivers into each car, rather than worry about miles per gallon. If we can achieve this, then we might be able to reduce sprawl, abandon roads and restore habitats.

[Note: For brevity, I will use car-free for the remainder of the post, but for all practical purposes it is interchangeable with car-lite and that might be a more reasonable balance for most people anyway.]

So, with the environmental acknowledgment out of the way, let’s talk about how going car-free can bring about a more care-free life for optimum health, wealth and happiness.  

Going car free has a tremendous benefit to our health. Probably the most beneficial and obvious is that we can get more exercise by walking, biking or running in place of using a car. I have only been car-free for a month and my boyfriend already notices that I lost weight and toned up! Also, I have no stress from long commutes or traffic jams. Instead, I am getting fresh air, sunlight and exercise, which makes me feel great! Carpoolers are also much less likely to have traffic related stress because they are engaged in friendly conversation. Lastly, and sadly, a car accident can take away your freedom of personal mobility in the near term, or possibly even for life.

Going car free can be an excellent path to financial independence! The typical yearly maintenance costs associated with owning a car can run upwards of several thousands of dollars. That does not even take into account the car payments or depreciation.  Accidents also cost a lot with the obvious insurance deductibles, but there could also be lost productivity time which can cost money, whether missing work for an employer or even if you are self-employed. Walking, biking or running as a way to commute can save on monthly gym fees, diet supplements and personal trainers. This improved health also means money saved on medical expenses in the long term. The worst financial pitfall of car ownership though can sometimes be the spontaneous shopping that takes place with the convenience of a car. If we have a whim to buy something, we can just hop in the car and go. Additionally, cars make us more likely to shop at big box stores, rather than a quaint mom and pop shop on Main Street, so there is the added enticement to purchase more 'stuff' than intended. This can be a huge drain on the wallet. Since I am car-free, I really need to plan my purchases, which means less impulse purchasing and better budgeting. Lastly, roads cost local governments a lot of money to maintain, so certain municipalities are now considering taxing drivers by miles driven, so preparing now for car-free living, could be money ahead in the future.  

The added exercise while commuting keeps us happy because endorphins are released and because we are getting fresh air and sunshine. But, the real benefit, in my opinion, is no road rage! Getting exercise while we commute also provides a huge time savings advantage because we are completing two necessary tasks at once. This gives an instant productivity boost to our days! Also, when we get out of the car, we spend more time aware of our surroundings and in the present moment. We may also get to know our neighbors better since we are not isolated in a car. Lastly, commuting by bike and foot reminds me of my playful, care-free childhood days.

So, with this said, why are we so fascinated and tethered to our cars? Why do we use cars to ‘identify’ ourselves? Have cars created an unintended ‘busyness’ that is unsustainable? For true health, wealth and happiness, we need to think outside the metal box.

If you want more in depth strategies on going car-free, I highly recommend the book "How to Live Well Without Owning a Car", by Chris Balish.

My Journey From the Good Life to the Rich Life

Most of us see ‘the good life’ as abundance… big houses with lots of stuff, fancy cars and all the food we can eat from around the world and around the clock. The paradox though is that ‘the good life’ has created an abundance of lives filled with stress, obesity, and debt. What ‘the good life’, may not be abundant in is family time, strong community ties and affordable healthy lifestyles. I think ‘the good life’ should be redefined and called ‘the rich life’.  The rich life is: rich in time, rich in community, rich in health, rich in contentment. Additionally, when we focus on the things that bring us a truly happy and healthy lifestyle, we need less money, spend less money and save more money for a richer bank account.

Many of us living the ‘the good life’ are living to work instead of working to live. The hours spent working easily go into overtime with the additional time spent getting ready for work, commuting to work and any extra work duties that arise, whether in the office or via electronic connection at home.  

This leaves us with very little time to shop for fresh food and prepare meals from scratch, so we end up eating out or buying prepared or packaged food, with high sodium content and questionable chemical additives. We don’t have the time or energy to commute with our own two feet, so we end up with much less exercise. Some people will even drive a mile to go to the gym for cardio! This is an incredibly inefficient way to offset rising gas prices.

We also are creating an unintended ‘busyness’ to our lives that isn’t really necessary. We have ourselves on tight schedules and we have our kids on even tighter schedules. What happened to unstructured play time for the kids? And I’m not talking about the time spent in front of a computer or TV screen. For that matter, what happened to unstructured time for adults? When we are not at work, we are counting calories, counting reps or running ‘errands’.  We leave ourselves very little time for contemplation, reflection and spontaneous creative pursuits.  

We need to lighten our loads - in our closets, in our garages, at work and with family - for a less burdensome life.   In future posts, I will go into more detail about simple strategies that I used to improve my health, wealth and happiness for a truly richer life.    

A good website I would recommend is www.theminimalists.com.  

Redefining Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line (TBL)

Welcome to my blogspot. I created this blog in an effort to redefine sustainability. This word has been so heavily used in recent years and many people still don’t really understand what it means.  Also, many people directly correlate sustainability as ‘tree-hugging’ or being ‘green’. However, the true meaning of sustainability is to optimize the triple bottom line of social, economic and environmental benefits, or what is also commonly referred to as the three Ps: People, Profit, Planet. As someone who was a sustainability program manager, I know that there is great difficulty in getting people to want to do what is right for the environment. And, also there are differing opinions about what is truly good for the environment, or good enough. It is not that we are selfish or greedy, but by nature, we instinctually want to take care of ourselves and our families first. We evolved to fear things that were instantly threatening, like a bear chasing us. We did not evolve to fear the slow changing of the environment, although it is equally as threatening to our survival. I want to reiterate that second part… An unhealthy environment is threatening to us, not just the planet. The planet will kick us off and still be a planet; it is humans that will suffer in the process. So, my idea is to take the environment out of the statement as a separate ‘piece’ and educate and engage people to integrate practices that will actually provide an immediate and long term benefit to their well-being, finances and level of contentment.

So, I propose a new Triple Bottom Line to optimize health, wealth and happiness. Then we will naturally tread lighter on the environment with everything we do. This is a truly integrated approach, and without balance and integration, nothing is sustainable. We can’t be truly happy without good health or a healthy perspective of our finances. Wealth won’t be as desirable if we are not healthy and happy or have enough time to enjoy it. And health is more than physical appearance; true health comes from a balanced approach of a life well lived physically, socially and intellectually. Corporations will also benefit from this approach as worker productivity increases and absenteeism goes down.

This approach can be done much more simply than we might think. In sustainability, like Occam’s Razor, the simpler solution is usually the better solution.  In my opinion, we can tread much lighter on the environment with this concept of simplicity than any new technology will allow us to do. I'm not saying we shouldn't invest in better, healthier technology, I'm just saying that reduction should be our first step, and then supplement with alternate technology.

My new three Ps for sustainability are then: People, Profit and the Pursuit of happiness. I briefly describe them below, but the intent is that this blog will go into great detail about achieving the new triple bottom line in your personal and professional lives.

People (Health): We should choose food and products that are healthy for ourselves, our families and the individuals and communities that are affected by the entire supply chain. We should value our local communities and know our neighbors, so that we have more security for better peace of mind.

Profit (Wealth): When we live with simplicity, we want less ‘stuff’, which means more money saved and less income needed. This also means that we can pay more for higher quality and healthier, more responsible products that will last much longer and still save us money in both the short term and the long run. Additionally, supporting small businesses and local economies can go a long way to economically secure and vibrant communities.

Pursuit (of Happiness): Happiness is not a passive activity, but rather a pursuit to find purpose in our lives and live with intention. Also, we cannot truly be happy unless we know that we are being good to others. So the first step to happiness is to make conscious choices and purchases that allow others to optimize their own health, wealth and happiness. As Gandhi says, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. 

I highly recommend the documentary "I AM" by Tom Shadyac. He also has a new book out.