How to deal with not wanting to work.
October 17, 2008 11:11 AM Subscribe
I've had this unbearable pastoral fantasy for a few years now where all I want to do all day is make pretty things in the comfort of my own home, at my own pace, and have plenty of time and natural space to roam around in rather than work. How do I deal with this?
It's the fantasy that comes up every time I ask myself if I'm enjoying my work, studies or plans for a career. The answer is not really. I then ask myself what it is I really want to do with my life and this fantasy always comes up. I am now just going through the motions in my daily life and feel trapped. Is there really no way to make my fantasy a reality and still keep a roof over my head? Should I engage in a process of overhauling my thinking? How?
It's the fantasy that comes up every time I ask myself if I'm enjoying my work, studies or plans for a career. The answer is not really. I then ask myself what it is I really want to do with my life and this fantasy always comes up. I am now just going through the motions in my daily life and feel trapped. Is there really no way to make my fantasy a reality and still keep a roof over my head? Should I engage in a process of overhauling my thinking? How?
I imagine some of the people who have shops on Etsy are living that way. Browse around the site and see if you can sense whether there would be a market for the things you make.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:28 AM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:28 AM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
Turn your hobby into an income source. There are tons of books out there to help. My favorite is The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 11:32 AM on October 17, 2008
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 11:32 AM on October 17, 2008
I have a similar fantasy and have made parts of it come true. The three biggest changes that worked for me:
1. I set myself a goal to create the lifestyle I wanted and mapped out a plan to get there. That clear goal helped me get through the 10 years it took to get free of jobs.
2. I severely simplified my life, reducing the need for an income. This included moving to inexpensive land near a college town.
3. I finally found a business niche I can enjoy and started my own home-based business in that niche.
I have no children, which probably helps a lot. I made a chunk of money by living super cheaply in a neglected house while fixing it up to sell to yuppies. I used that profit to move and set up home in a cheaper, more rural area.
Now my schedule is mostly my own. I have time every day for hikes, dog romps, and playing music. I also have enough income to satisfy my simple tastes and pay my health insurance premiums. However, I don't have a heck of a lot saved up for retirement.
Most challenging for me, the more time I get to pursue music and other creative, fun things, the more I dislike working for clients. So I need to give myself regular and hard kicks in the pants to make sure I keep making the money I need. But at least I don't have to go to an office every day, and the business I have reflects my values.
So it's not perfect, but I seem to be a lot happier than many people, and it's certainly doable. The main thing is to set a very clear goal, like imagining your perfect day (hokey but powerful), and identifying what you have to do to get there.
posted by PatoPata at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2008 [3 favorites]
1. I set myself a goal to create the lifestyle I wanted and mapped out a plan to get there. That clear goal helped me get through the 10 years it took to get free of jobs.
2. I severely simplified my life, reducing the need for an income. This included moving to inexpensive land near a college town.
3. I finally found a business niche I can enjoy and started my own home-based business in that niche.
I have no children, which probably helps a lot. I made a chunk of money by living super cheaply in a neglected house while fixing it up to sell to yuppies. I used that profit to move and set up home in a cheaper, more rural area.
Now my schedule is mostly my own. I have time every day for hikes, dog romps, and playing music. I also have enough income to satisfy my simple tastes and pay my health insurance premiums. However, I don't have a heck of a lot saved up for retirement.
Most challenging for me, the more time I get to pursue music and other creative, fun things, the more I dislike working for clients. So I need to give myself regular and hard kicks in the pants to make sure I keep making the money I need. But at least I don't have to go to an office every day, and the business I have reflects my values.
So it's not perfect, but I seem to be a lot happier than many people, and it's certainly doable. The main thing is to set a very clear goal, like imagining your perfect day (hokey but powerful), and identifying what you have to do to get there.
posted by PatoPata at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2008 [3 favorites]
P.S.: You'll find lots of life-simplifying ideas and inspiring stories in Countryside and Small Stock Journal. Many of the ideas apply to urban as well as rural living.
posted by PatoPata at 11:48 AM on October 17, 2008
posted by PatoPata at 11:48 AM on October 17, 2008
Oh, I get that way too...but I have a caveat. A lot of people are giving you the means to pursue actually turning your hobby into a career, but I'm going to also point out the one caveat that always trips me up -- there's some significant differences between doing something as a hobby and doing it as a career, and ya may want to be sure that you would find those differences to be dealable.
In other words: the big reason why I don't turn my jam-making, my fruit-preserving, and my knitting into hobby work is: I'd get sick to the back teeth of knitting if I had to do as much of it as I'd need to in order for it to be lucrative. Making the odd sweater for me or baby jumper for my niece now and then is fun, but racing to crank out five of them in a week would probably get tedious. Making a batch of jam for me and my friends is fun, but spending an entire week making batch after batch after batch after batch would get really tiring.
But this is something I definitely know is true of me. I know that a lot of the hobbies I do, if I do them for too long, they really stop being fun (I spent an afternoon trying to make fortune cookies from scratch; it was easy, but time-consuming, and after folding the 40th cookie I wanted to scream uncontrollably -- and the recipe made 150 cookies). The very few things that I don't get sick of doing over and over and over again, those are the things I'm trying to parlay into a career. But the other things, I know myself well enough to know that they're fun because I can pick them up and put them down at will, and if I HAD to do them instead of doing them when I WANTED to, I'd hate it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:09 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
In other words: the big reason why I don't turn my jam-making, my fruit-preserving, and my knitting into hobby work is: I'd get sick to the back teeth of knitting if I had to do as much of it as I'd need to in order for it to be lucrative. Making the odd sweater for me or baby jumper for my niece now and then is fun, but racing to crank out five of them in a week would probably get tedious. Making a batch of jam for me and my friends is fun, but spending an entire week making batch after batch after batch after batch would get really tiring.
But this is something I definitely know is true of me. I know that a lot of the hobbies I do, if I do them for too long, they really stop being fun (I spent an afternoon trying to make fortune cookies from scratch; it was easy, but time-consuming, and after folding the 40th cookie I wanted to scream uncontrollably -- and the recipe made 150 cookies). The very few things that I don't get sick of doing over and over and over again, those are the things I'm trying to parlay into a career. But the other things, I know myself well enough to know that they're fun because I can pick them up and put them down at will, and if I HAD to do them instead of doing them when I WANTED to, I'd hate it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:09 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
Echoing EmpressCallipygos--I have a "wouldn't it be awesome if my fun hobbies were something I could make a career out of" fantasy, but I am extremely ADD about my hobbies. In part, this is because working on the same thing for a long time imbues it with "should"s that make it no longer fun. Even the guilt of having unused supplies can stymie my creativity for weeks. Etsy has been a mixed blessing for me--I can make crafts without a recipient or a place/use for them around my home in mind, and hope someone wants to buy them, but "I should have more things in my shop and market them" demotivates me. Experiences like these make me fairly leery of actually enacting my "live off of my creativity" idea.
So I guess that my advice is to try out a microcosm of your fantasy--try to do a certain amount of the creative work and earn a certain amount of money with it each week/month, and see if it's as enjoyable as it is in your head.
posted by rivenwanderer at 12:27 PM on October 17, 2008
So I guess that my advice is to try out a microcosm of your fantasy--try to do a certain amount of the creative work and earn a certain amount of money with it each week/month, and see if it's as enjoyable as it is in your head.
posted by rivenwanderer at 12:27 PM on October 17, 2008
Read Barbara Sher's Wishcraft - it is exactly how to move from wishes to reality.
One option is save up enough money to last you for six month to year and try out the life. You may alternate working at something that makes good money and extended leaves of absence to restore your soul might be even more satisfying.
posted by metahawk at 12:28 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
One option is save up enough money to last you for six month to year and try out the life. You may alternate working at something that makes good money and extended leaves of absence to restore your soul might be even more satisfying.
posted by metahawk at 12:28 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
Bear in mind the lesson from the 'whitewashing the fence' chapter of Tom Sawyer.
"Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."
posted by mojohand at 12:29 PM on October 17, 2008 [2 favorites]
"Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."
posted by mojohand at 12:29 PM on October 17, 2008 [2 favorites]
....Just re-read what I wrote, and wanted to further clarify that I'm not tut-tutting and saying, "oh, you think you like it now, but it'll never work". Because there absolutely ARE things that you do now that you may still love doing when they become work; I found that to be the case, certainly. I just also know that knitting isn't one of those things is all, so when I do get the "ooh, I could open a knitting shop!" pipedreams, I very soon thereafter realize that "....but I'd hate it after a while. Nevermind." Writing, that's something else again -- I still love it even when there are desperate moments when I am so far stuck in writer's block that I want to fling my head against blunt objects.
And the fact that I still want to write even when I feel like THAT that told me that I can make a career of it. The daydreams aren't telling enough, because you never daydream about the crap parts, that's all I meant.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:42 PM on October 17, 2008
And the fact that I still want to write even when I feel like THAT that told me that I can make a career of it. The daydreams aren't telling enough, because you never daydream about the crap parts, that's all I meant.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:42 PM on October 17, 2008
I didn't get the sense that the original poster wanted to turn his or her hobbies into a money-making venture. If that's the case, I'll agree with others that it's probably not the best idea. It's unlikely that you'll make enough money from a craft to support yourself without working your butt off and turning your craft into a chore.
I offer business services for which I charge a minimum of $85/hour. That's why I have the time to enjoy hobbies. It might mean that you have to stick it out through some jobs to get experience and clients, but the resulting payoff is worth it.
posted by PatoPata at 2:42 PM on October 17, 2008
I offer business services for which I charge a minimum of $85/hour. That's why I have the time to enjoy hobbies. It might mean that you have to stick it out through some jobs to get experience and clients, but the resulting payoff is worth it.
posted by PatoPata at 2:42 PM on October 17, 2008
I know a couple who, for years, supported themselves with their crafts. It was work. Traveling to shows, making the products, getting new customers, billing, taxes, etc.
Yeah, it was nice that they were creating things they liked and that they got to be at home with their dog while listening to NPR all day, but it still was work, sitting at a desk (or work table) 40+ hours a week.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:48 PM on October 17, 2008
Yeah, it was nice that they were creating things they liked and that they got to be at home with their dog while listening to NPR all day, but it still was work, sitting at a desk (or work table) 40+ hours a week.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:48 PM on October 17, 2008
I'm not being facetious: the life you are describing is not unlike the life of a housewife. I live a very leisurely life. I have lots and lots of time to read and write, which are activities I enjoy. I have many opportunities to get outside and to engage in cultural events in the town where I live. I have time to experiment with new interests (recently I dabbled in knotting and twisting cords; I've recently joined a choir; I bake things from time to time; I'm very involved in my Quaker meeting; I lead reading groups). Every day of my life includes sizable chunks of time during which I sit quietly, sipping coffee with cream, either reading, writing, or happily contemplating my navel. I carry on my life in a suburban environment, but it could easily be done in a more pastoral setting.
However, getting to where I have gotten is not easy. Fifteen years ago, I hooked up with a fabulous partner who was very supportive of my creative endeavors. I have not worked a full-time job in the time we've been together, though I have almost always been doing some part-time work (right now I'm doing a couple of short-term freelance writing jobs and having a lot of fun with them). Even before we had kids, he saw my interests as valuable and was willing to support them, and I realized that although I am a hard worker, very busy, not by any means lazy, I am not a person who wants to work full-time or is good at it.
Now I have three little kids, 7, 4, and 1. Even with them to care for, I enjoy the flexibility in scheduling, the power to be in charge of my own time, and the freedom I have to pursue my own interests when the big kids are busy (which they often are) and the baby is sleeping.
Finding a partner like mine is kind of like buying a winning lottery ticket, and I suppose it will seem horribly anti-feminist of me to suggest that the solution to anyone's problem is to find a good wo/man. But I think I am very much living the life you want, and that's how it worked out for me.
posted by not that girl at 5:20 PM on October 17, 2008
However, getting to where I have gotten is not easy. Fifteen years ago, I hooked up with a fabulous partner who was very supportive of my creative endeavors. I have not worked a full-time job in the time we've been together, though I have almost always been doing some part-time work (right now I'm doing a couple of short-term freelance writing jobs and having a lot of fun with them). Even before we had kids, he saw my interests as valuable and was willing to support them, and I realized that although I am a hard worker, very busy, not by any means lazy, I am not a person who wants to work full-time or is good at it.
Now I have three little kids, 7, 4, and 1. Even with them to care for, I enjoy the flexibility in scheduling, the power to be in charge of my own time, and the freedom I have to pursue my own interests when the big kids are busy (which they often are) and the baby is sleeping.
Finding a partner like mine is kind of like buying a winning lottery ticket, and I suppose it will seem horribly anti-feminist of me to suggest that the solution to anyone's problem is to find a good wo/man. But I think I am very much living the life you want, and that's how it worked out for me.
posted by not that girl at 5:20 PM on October 17, 2008
What kind of things do you make? Are they time consuming? How much do you have to charge for them to get a fair hourly wage? I gave up knitting for money because you have to charge more than most people are willing to pay for items to get a decently hourly out of it, but switched to a craft that is less time consuming per item.
It's not really a great time to get into the market of any kind of luxury goods or non-essentials like jewelry, high-end clothing, decor, etc., since the economy is greatly reducing spending (in the US).
This is also my dream. I day dream about it all the time. Right now I have a full-time job and an Etsy shop I started a month ago where I've only sold one thing (it was a custom order, though!), so I'm not really in a position to give advice on how to be super successful, but hopefully some of the things I've discovered will be helpful.
posted by fructose at 6:17 PM on October 17, 2008
It's not really a great time to get into the market of any kind of luxury goods or non-essentials like jewelry, high-end clothing, decor, etc., since the economy is greatly reducing spending (in the US).
This is also my dream. I day dream about it all the time. Right now I have a full-time job and an Etsy shop I started a month ago where I've only sold one thing (it was a custom order, though!), so I'm not really in a position to give advice on how to be super successful, but hopefully some of the things I've discovered will be helpful.
posted by fructose at 6:17 PM on October 17, 2008
You know, the OP never actually says she wants to support herself by selling these pretty things. (I'm using "she" because I'm a "she" so the female is the first gender to spring to mind, plus she uses the word "pretty", not that that means a thing.)
And I agree with mojohand and Tom Sawyer about "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."
There are people who are fulfilled by their work because they either really love what they do, they really believe in the cause, they simply have a spectacular work ethic and can't imagine any other way to live, or they are thrilled and fulfilled by the great job they do at it. And then there are people who just don't like working for a living, not because they're lazy asses, but for a variety of other reasons ranging from hating that "obligation" aspect of it to genuinely preferring staying home to take care of their home and/or family (which is also a full time job), etc. I fall into the former category (with a moderate dash of the latter). I think even if my job required me to play with puppies all day long, I wouldn't enjoy it any more than I enjoy my desk job, because I'd still have to get out of bed at a certain time and work according to someone else's schedule, and I still wouldn't have enough vacation time or flexibility to live my life the way I want to. But I have many friends who are genuinely fulfilled by their careers and who have asked me in a dumbfounded manner, "So I heard that you don't *like* work?" to which I can only reply dumbfoundedly, "They call it 'work' for a reason, don't they?"
Which is why, when I read the OP's question, my reaction was, "Duh, don't we all want that? Welcome to everybody's pipe dream." So this interpretation of the question is what I am answering.
The only thing I can suggest is along the lines of what PatoPata posted. Develop a plan, like a business plan, detailing out how you can achieve a simpler existence. Living a simpler life (away from expensive cities with their expensive properties, taxes and services) can be significantly cheaper, allowing you to live simpler days. I don't know the details about your current life, but commuting an hour each way, working for 8+ hours/day, striving for a six figure income, while it's what many people consider normal, is not normal for much of the world and does not have to be normal for you. Earlier this year I stumbled across a blog called Down to Earth which is about living a simpler life. It has inspired me to become more self sufficient (growing food, reusing/repurposing items I already own that might have gone into the trash, cutting down on services I pay for) but those are only tiny baby steps for me because I still live in a very expensive area, *still* live far too close to my means, etc. It's not something that can be achieved overnight. So if you really want to do that, make a plan for it, and execute it. It's kind of like planning for retirement. The longer you put it off, the longer it'll take for you to achieve it.
(Of course, you still have to work, unless you marry someone who will support you, which I admit I would love to do, but "rich" is a lot easier to find than "love", and unfortunately, love is my greater requirement. But the idea is that if you can dramatically simplify your life, you maybe *can* support yourself with your own artwork, if that's what you want, or you can make a living working part time in an antique store in a small, pastoral town, or whatever your particular dream is. I get the feeling, despite not having your details, that your current lifestyle is pretty far away from that. You *can* get closer to it.)
posted by iguanapolitico at 7:53 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
And I agree with mojohand and Tom Sawyer about "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."
There are people who are fulfilled by their work because they either really love what they do, they really believe in the cause, they simply have a spectacular work ethic and can't imagine any other way to live, or they are thrilled and fulfilled by the great job they do at it. And then there are people who just don't like working for a living, not because they're lazy asses, but for a variety of other reasons ranging from hating that "obligation" aspect of it to genuinely preferring staying home to take care of their home and/or family (which is also a full time job), etc. I fall into the former category (with a moderate dash of the latter). I think even if my job required me to play with puppies all day long, I wouldn't enjoy it any more than I enjoy my desk job, because I'd still have to get out of bed at a certain time and work according to someone else's schedule, and I still wouldn't have enough vacation time or flexibility to live my life the way I want to. But I have many friends who are genuinely fulfilled by their careers and who have asked me in a dumbfounded manner, "So I heard that you don't *like* work?" to which I can only reply dumbfoundedly, "They call it 'work' for a reason, don't they?"
Which is why, when I read the OP's question, my reaction was, "Duh, don't we all want that? Welcome to everybody's pipe dream." So this interpretation of the question is what I am answering.
The only thing I can suggest is along the lines of what PatoPata posted. Develop a plan, like a business plan, detailing out how you can achieve a simpler existence. Living a simpler life (away from expensive cities with their expensive properties, taxes and services) can be significantly cheaper, allowing you to live simpler days. I don't know the details about your current life, but commuting an hour each way, working for 8+ hours/day, striving for a six figure income, while it's what many people consider normal, is not normal for much of the world and does not have to be normal for you. Earlier this year I stumbled across a blog called Down to Earth which is about living a simpler life. It has inspired me to become more self sufficient (growing food, reusing/repurposing items I already own that might have gone into the trash, cutting down on services I pay for) but those are only tiny baby steps for me because I still live in a very expensive area, *still* live far too close to my means, etc. It's not something that can be achieved overnight. So if you really want to do that, make a plan for it, and execute it. It's kind of like planning for retirement. The longer you put it off, the longer it'll take for you to achieve it.
(Of course, you still have to work, unless you marry someone who will support you, which I admit I would love to do, but "rich" is a lot easier to find than "love", and unfortunately, love is my greater requirement. But the idea is that if you can dramatically simplify your life, you maybe *can* support yourself with your own artwork, if that's what you want, or you can make a living working part time in an antique store in a small, pastoral town, or whatever your particular dream is. I get the feeling, despite not having your details, that your current lifestyle is pretty far away from that. You *can* get closer to it.)
posted by iguanapolitico at 7:53 PM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]
This is totally do-able; you don't even have to ask. Tons of people do this. Honestly, you don't even need to make a plan.
1. Give up your health insurance, retirement deposits, cell phone, and car payments.
2. Move to any rural area or small town where jobs are kinda scarce, where lots of people make their own livings, and where rent is like $350/month. Bring your work clothes.
3. Find a part-time job at the bed & breakfast or with Joe's Housepainting. Work just enough to pay for your rent, gas, car insurance, land line, and supplies. Get most of your food from the community garden and whatnot.
4. Spend the rest of the time on your art or music, firewood, chickens, and potlucks! Enjoy!
Optional Addition 1:
Learn a well-paying trade that you can do either part time or for short stints -- carpentry, therapy, medicine, yoga, massage. Do those instead of working at the hardware store.
Or, acquire skills you can do as a consultant and only take on well-paying, short-term gigs. Do them; save the money. Live off that for three months.
Or, become essential to some well-paying place so that when you want to quit, they'll keep you on very-part-time and let you work from afar. Remember to quit.
These all allow you to earn more per hour than you would at the hardware store.
Optional Addition 2:
Before leaving the city, spend some time working and carefully saving. Then, invest the money in things that give you passive income, such as rental properties or investments that pay dividends. Then, you can live off that income plus whatever you earn at the local ice cream parlor or hardware store. The downside of this approach is that you can spend your entire life on Part I and never really get to Part II.
posted by salvia at 9:39 PM on October 17, 2008 [2 favorites]
1. Give up your health insurance, retirement deposits, cell phone, and car payments.
2. Move to any rural area or small town where jobs are kinda scarce, where lots of people make their own livings, and where rent is like $350/month. Bring your work clothes.
3. Find a part-time job at the bed & breakfast or with Joe's Housepainting. Work just enough to pay for your rent, gas, car insurance, land line, and supplies. Get most of your food from the community garden and whatnot.
4. Spend the rest of the time on your art or music, firewood, chickens, and potlucks! Enjoy!
Optional Addition 1:
Learn a well-paying trade that you can do either part time or for short stints -- carpentry, therapy, medicine, yoga, massage. Do those instead of working at the hardware store.
Or, acquire skills you can do as a consultant and only take on well-paying, short-term gigs. Do them; save the money. Live off that for three months.
Or, become essential to some well-paying place so that when you want to quit, they'll keep you on very-part-time and let you work from afar. Remember to quit.
These all allow you to earn more per hour than you would at the hardware store.
Optional Addition 2:
Before leaving the city, spend some time working and carefully saving. Then, invest the money in things that give you passive income, such as rental properties or investments that pay dividends. Then, you can live off that income plus whatever you earn at the local ice cream parlor or hardware store. The downside of this approach is that you can spend your entire life on Part I and never really get to Part II.
posted by salvia at 9:39 PM on October 17, 2008 [2 favorites]
Sorry to be so late to the party, but you might want to check out this essay: How to Drop Out. The essay ties together a number of methods for getting free.
From a recent addition to the essay:
7. Hard work is satanic. Our nature is to be lazy -- primitive humans have moments of extreme exertion, but they don't go through life in a hurry, they don't push themselves, and despite the popular myth, they don't live in great stress on the edge of starvation. Even medieval serfs worked fewer hours, and at a slower pace, than modern industrialized workers. Ivan Illich has written that at the dawn of the industrial age, they would put a man in a pit that gradually filled with water, and give him a pump, and he would have to pump constantly all day to not drown. Humans are so naturally resistant to hard work that it took something like that to train people for industrial jobs. Now they do it with the schooling system, and with the Calvinist doctrine that hard work is morally virtuous. The reason there aren't any Calvinists is that their victory was total -- industrialized humans, especially Americans, are now all Calvinists.
The opposite of hard work is quality work. Quality work may be done quickly, but it is never pushed. It arranges itself around the goal of doing something as well as it can be done, and it finds its own pace.
Another opposite of hard work is playful work. Like quality work it may be done quickly but is never pushed. But playful work is indifferent to quality, or even to success. When you're doing playful work, you don't care if it ends in total failure, because you're having such a good time that you would look forward to doing the whole job again.
posted by symbollocks at 7:56 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
From a recent addition to the essay:
7. Hard work is satanic. Our nature is to be lazy -- primitive humans have moments of extreme exertion, but they don't go through life in a hurry, they don't push themselves, and despite the popular myth, they don't live in great stress on the edge of starvation. Even medieval serfs worked fewer hours, and at a slower pace, than modern industrialized workers. Ivan Illich has written that at the dawn of the industrial age, they would put a man in a pit that gradually filled with water, and give him a pump, and he would have to pump constantly all day to not drown. Humans are so naturally resistant to hard work that it took something like that to train people for industrial jobs. Now they do it with the schooling system, and with the Calvinist doctrine that hard work is morally virtuous. The reason there aren't any Calvinists is that their victory was total -- industrialized humans, especially Americans, are now all Calvinists.
The opposite of hard work is quality work. Quality work may be done quickly, but it is never pushed. It arranges itself around the goal of doing something as well as it can be done, and it finds its own pace.
Another opposite of hard work is playful work. Like quality work it may be done quickly but is never pushed. But playful work is indifferent to quality, or even to success. When you're doing playful work, you don't care if it ends in total failure, because you're having such a good time that you would look forward to doing the whole job again.
posted by symbollocks at 7:56 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Listener at 11:26 AM on October 17, 2008