Productivity At 20 Hrs A Week Vs 40

Cirion

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So today I took a half sick day since I felt bad this morning. I've noticed that today I've been more productive on 3-4 hrs working than I normally am at 8 hrs.

So why do workplaces insist on 40 hr+ workweeks? I feel like if I could only work 20 hrs a week I would be at my peak performance. We see that this is certainly typically the peak hours people prefer to work in retirement also. How is it that studies claim that 40 hr workweeks are ideal? Most Americans are working 40 (or more) and have chronic diseases, horrible sleep, and just overall have crappy productivity.

Let's also not forget that a 40 hr workweek is actually 60+ when you factor in commute times, times spent preparing for work, and in some cases being on call even when home etc.
 

InChristAlone

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Yeah productivity definitely drops past a certain number of hrs in a day.
 

sunraiser

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So today I took a half sick day since I felt bad this morning. I've noticed that today I've been more productive on 3-4 hrs working than I normally am at 8 hrs.

So why do workplaces insist on 40 hr+ workweeks? I feel like if I could only work 20 hrs a week I would be at my peak performance. We see that this is certainly typically the peak hours people prefer to work in retirement also. How is it that studies claim that 40 hr workweeks are ideal? Most Americans are working 40 (or more) and have chronic diseases, horrible sleep, and just overall have crappy productivity.

Let's also not forget that a 40 hr workweek is actually 60+ when you factor in commute times, times spent preparing for work, and in some cases being on call even when home etc.

It's important to keep people exhausted and lacking in time and energy for extra education.

The workers generate the wealth for the investors and owners to live on.

If you want a shorter working week with legally guaranteed holiday and fair rights you firstly need to join a union and secondly need to make damn sure bernie sanders gets to stand for president so that union membership becomes a priority.

Your entire country have been poisoned against the idea of having socialist elements in the economy but all it really means is considering the human side.

All it means is that value to society is not solely seen in profit accumulation and arbitrary GDP growth. It actually allows consideration of human wellbeing and looks at the long term impacts on society of less stressed and sick humans. On access to lifelong education. The cost to public investment easily pays itself off because THAT is what creates productive and healthy workers.

The billionaire media barons demonise because they rely on your work to sustain their lavish lifestyles.



You're a socialist my friend (it's the natural human state). There are very powerful vested interests in making people think otherwise.
 

gaze

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capitalism. it’s 40 hours because competition is high and there’s people who are willing to do it. the longer companies can get workers to work, the more output they can create. if no one was willing to work 40 hours, then it wouldn’t be 40, but as capitalism advances, competition within the working class grows also, which is why most people are working more then 40 hours through overtime, unofficially, or doing work related stuff after work
 

sebastian_r

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They let you work 40 hours because they can.

In most countries that's more or less the cut-off within labor laws.

Most employees work maybe at 20-30% efficiency, so many companies try to at least get something out of their employees over having them put in as many hours as legally possible.

Though the real discussion is not 20 vs. 40 hours, but rather how you can get out of a sitatuion where a corporate policy is telling you what to do with your time and life.
 
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Cirion

Cirion

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I wouldn't say I'm a socialist and I definitely don't want someone like Bernie for president. I mean don't get me wrong, it'd be nice to push for 20 hr labor laws, but the problem is we can't afford it. I don't necessarily like the way things are, but we already are over 20$ trillion in debt, there is no way to push for things like this. There's utopia, then there's reality. But yeah, 9-5 jobs for life is not my kind of life. I've definitely been making it my priority to start building up my investments to escape the shackles of corporate life. It's more realistic to work the current system, than to try to elect someone into office who will change it, especially when you consider we have bigger problems to deal with (Like $20 trillion in debt).
 

Nebula

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I’d definitely prefer a society based off 20 hour work weeks. There’s no reason why most jobs couldn’t be shared by two people. I’d also rather live in multigenerational homes of family or like minded friends that share expenses on lower incomes, than live this hyper individualist single breadwinner or both parents working full time model that makes a family oriented lifestyle almost impossible, isolating, and chronically stressful.

I think so many societal problems could be drastically improved with a societal model more like this. Less stressed out parents and marriages, more time for father involvement in children’s lives. Freedom for women to have satisfying careers while also feeling unstressed enough to become mothers if they want to. More contact with grandparents and extended family. More time for community life. More time for adults to pursue personal interests balanced with work and family activities.

So many things could be improved if there was just more work life balance for the masses. A chronically stressed population are more like prisoners in a cult. This needs to change if we really want to solve the social problems that modern economies create.
 
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Cirion

Cirion

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I’d definitely prefer a society based off 20 hour work weeks. There’s no reason why most jobs couldn’t be shared by two people. I’d rather live in multigenerational homes of family or like minded friends that share expenses on lower incomes, than live this hyper individualist single breadwinner or both parents working full time model that makes a family oriented lifestyle almost impossible, isolating, and chronically stressful.

Yeah this current society sets us up for chronic stress and disorder, its no wonder why metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, cancer have never been higher.

-- From a young kid through being forced to attend school all day every day, and forced into many stressful activities like timed tests, and the stress of being expected to do well, as well as countless hours doing all the homework
-- From a young adult going through college, same kinda thing as above
-- From a young adult going into the corporate life, no one teaches you that it is possible to achieve financial freedom at an early age so most people resign themselves to a 9-5 life until they hit 62-70 or even until they die
-- Horrible dietary and lifestyle advice from "experts"
-- Involuntary exposure to countless toxins, the latest is gonna be 5G
-- ... etc

In fact it was basically all of the above that ruined my life/health, and is why I have suffered metabolic syndrome my whole life. From an early age we are taught to live off the stress hormone pathway, and then essentially taught this is the normal way to live, that its normal to always feel like s*** waking up in the morning, that its normal to always feel a little depressed, anxious, that its normal to get fat as you age... etc etc...
 
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Our company has people working 50 or 60 hours a week. If you love your work you don’t mind. It’s fun. And nowadays to compete there are so many opportunities that you have to capitalize on. We aim to be a very successful profitable large business and now we are a smaller business and the path to getting there is hard work. That’s just how it is.

You can live like Danny Roddy if you want. I’m not putting him down; I like him. But I have ambition and dreams and I’m not satisfied living like that. You are kidding yourself if you think you can have great success without long hours. It is not possible. The aim should be to enjoy those hours.
 

Inspired

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It really depends on the job.

Technology and automation, and efficient systems/tools, if available, reduce needed work hours.

There are a lot of reasons why "they" want to hold onto the old inefficient ways.

We're all screwed anyway. Watch the movie Idiocracy. That's the future.
 
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Cirion

Cirion

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Our company has people working 50 or 60 hours a week. If you love your work you don’t mind. It’s fun. And nowadays to compete there are so many opportunities that you have to capitalize on. We aim to be a very successful profitable large business and now we are a smaller business and the path to getting there is hard work. That’s just how it is.

You can live like Danny Roddy if you want. I’m not putting him down; I like him. But I have ambition and dreams and I’m not satisfied living like that. You are kidding yourself if you think you can have great success without long hours. It is not possible. The aim should be to enjoy those hours.

I wouldn't like to work 50-60 hr a week even if I enjoyed the work.

That's quite possibly my hypothyroid/serotonin brain speaking I suppose. If I wasn't metabolically dysfunctional, things might be different. I dunno. Metabolic syndrome is literally all I know, my whole life. Even still, its simply unnatural to sit in a cubicle 40-60 hrs a week. We were meant to get sunlight. How does anyone enjoy sitting in fluorescent lighting/emf filled /sunlight lacking environment for 60 hrs? To each their own I suppose. At least currently in my metabolic state I don't care about success one bit. I just want to live life on my own terms, which is NOT being at the whim of an employer. What's the point of "success" anyway? I'd rather be healthy and be in good metabolic health than be "successful".
 
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I wouldn't like to work 50-60 hr a week even if I enjoyed the work.

That's quite possibly my hypothyroid/serotonin brain speaking I suppose. If I wasn't metabolically dysfunctional, things might be different. I dunno. Metabolic syndrome is literally all I know, my whole life. Even still, its simply unnatural to sit in a cubicle 40-60 hrs a week. We were meant to get sunlight. How does anyone enjoy sitting in fluorescent lighting/emf filled /sunlight lacking environment for 60 hrs? To each their own I suppose. At least currently in my metabolic state I don't care about success one bit. I just want to live life on my own terms, which is NOT being at the whim of an employer.

With all due respect, your message smacks of learned helplessness, being a victim of some outside force. It is really a story. It may be true or it may not be true. I choose my beliefs to serve me better.

I recommend you read The Mind Made Prison.
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Made-Prison-Radical-Personal-Transformation-ebook/dp/B006PHDCTI

Also try thework.org as it is VERY helpful to investigate your beliefs that aren’t serving you well.
 
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Cirion

Cirion

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With all due respect, your message smacks of learned helplessness, being a victim of some outside force. It is really a story. It may be true or it may not be true. I choose my beliefs to serve me better.

I recommend you read The Mind Made Prison.
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Made-Prison-Radical-Personal-Transformation-ebook/dp/B006PHDCTI

Also try thework.org as it is VERY helpful to investigate your beliefs that aren’t serving you well.

My learned helplessness is not anything I can change via willing it in the mind. It's purely due to hypothyroid, endotoxin, excess body fat, fatty liver, excess toxins, lack of glucose oxidation etc. I know this for a fact because I DID briefly break out of this metabolic hell a couple of years ago--at which point I actually DID find I enjoyed my job--, only to descend back into it after being stupid and getting into an emotionally abusive relationship.
 

Inspired

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My learned helplessness is not anything I can change via willing it in the mind. It's purely due to hypothyroid, endotoxin, excess body fat, fatty liver, excess toxins, lack of glucose oxidation etc. I know this for a fact because I DID briefly break out of this metabolic hell a couple of years ago--at which point I actually DID find I enjoyed my job--, only to descend back into it after being stupid and getting into an emotionally abusive relationship.
You sound like you need an SSRI.
 
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Cirion

Cirion

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You sound like you need an SSRI.

You're joking right? I ain't touching those with a 1000 foot pole lol. I don't even go to doctors, they are useless... worse than useless in fact.

Anyway I just had a particularly bad couple of weeks after being stupid and straying from a diet that was actually starting to work for me. I'm back on the wagon tho. Already feeling a bit better. Just have to stay the course now and not think I can make "Improvements" to the diet when said "improvements" always make it worse lol.
 
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You're joking right? I ain't touching those with a 1000 foot pole lol. I don't even go to doctors, they are useless... worse than useless in fact.

Anyway I just had a particularly bad couple of weeks after being stupid and straying from a diet that was actually starting to work for me. I'm back on the wagon tho. Already feeling a bit better. Just have to stay the course now and not think I can make "Improvements" to the diet when said "improvements" always make it worse lol.

Yes I understand. And still you have to work on this from an action perspective, rather than just acceptance and passively waiting around for something to “work”. I would read the book I recommended, I would do “the work” and I’d take action of some sort, even small action, every day, to build that as a habit. You probably don’t have action-oriented habits, and when you do, everything becomes easier because it no longer requires will power.
 

Inspired

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You're joking right? I ain't touching those with a 1000 foot pole lol. I don't even go to doctors, they are useless... worse than useless in fact.

Anyway I just had a particularly bad couple of weeks after being stupid and straying from a diet that was actually starting to work for me. I'm back on the wagon tho. Already feeling a bit better. Just have to stay the course now and not think I can make "Improvements" to the diet when said "improvements" always make it worse lol.

It was a joke, but also kind of serious. I've seen people take an SSRI and totally snap out of whatever funk they were in. I think SSRI's can help people. Short term is probably best. We don't understand how they even work.
 

Nebula

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It really depends on the job.

Technology and automation, and efficient systems/tools, if available, reduce needed work hours.

There are a lot of reasons why "they" want to hold onto the old inefficient ways.

We're all screwed anyway. Watch the movie Idiocracy. That's the future.
Yeah it definitely depends on the job and the stage of life a person is in. It would just be extremely beneficial to have more flexibility. Being able to shift from part time to full time work depending on your needs and balance with other areas of life throughout the year. Most jobs are never going to feel like your “calling.” They’re just a job and you’d feel more happy and well with life if you had more time for family, friends, continuing education, study, or anything else you feel passion about.

I think idiocracy is more so a product of generations of decisions made under excessive stress of feeling trapped. I don’t think most futurist solutions would solve these problems in any way that wouldn’t be a dystopia.

A lot of visions have humans converging towards some kind of sterile androgynous worker hive cities, where all births involve genetic engineering, IVF, and even attempts at completely artificial wombs. Where children are raised communally without biological parents somehow. These visions just turn humans even more into slaves of authoritarian control from birth to death all under surveillance, propaganda, and medication of a tyrannical state. A combination of both the Brave New World and 1984 dystopias.

I’d much rather live in a society that puts metabolic health as a top priority, along with a work and family life balance that allows for all people to develop into well rounded human beings that have an identity and self worth much deeper than whatever their current job is.
 
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