How much should we work?

Well I always 40 hrs. a week plus another 10 or more for overtime. You gotta make money to spend money. I love to work, when I'm not being lazy!

 

I currently work somewhere between 40 to 50 hours, and I don't mind it. It's spread out throughout the week, and I work from home so it's not so bad. Although if I had to commute, I'd probably want to work fewer hours....

 

we should work solely to live

 

30-32 hours sounds good to me. I can feel productive, yet still have time for fun.

 

if all the 'work' that really needed to be done, were equitably distributed among everyone willing and able to do it and do it well, without the idiological or other pretentions that create a tremendous overhead of gratuitous makework, four hours a day, four days out of ever six, or 12 days out of every 19 day solar 'month', or even only 16 out of every 28 day lunar month, is what i guestimate would entirely suffice.

not that we wouldn't be 'working' in some sense the rest of the time as a byproduct of an effective persuit of real gratification. this distinction between leasure and work is pretty arbitrary aside from the direction in which symbolic value flows in a currency based economy. (which is intern an entirely arbitrary and invented concept)

so between 16 and 20 hours a week ought to get all the jobs that really need doing done. IF everyone who wanted to were allowed to aquire the neccessary skills and allowed to practice them.

of course we don't that i know of, any of us, live in societies that work that way. but there really is no other reason not to, then the force of culturaly and otherwise instituionalized habbit.

=^^=
.../\...

 

I used to work all the time, but now I don't work, have no ambition to, I got sick and tired of trusting in someone else to build my own security and future, sick of someone else running my life on THEIR time, slowly I broke myself from the puritanical work ethic, and now *I* personally feel it's a waste of time and effort, i'm not materialistic, and I would much rather be enjoying life, photographing things, traveling, raising my kids, enjoying nature, hiking, reading.....whatever feels good. So my vote is definitely a big resounding 0 for a conventional job, however I do my own things and get by better than most, it's all a matter of perspective.

www.whywork.org/

 

way ambitous u guys
as little as possible or not at all for me

peace

 

if work is looked upon as some sort of essential social ritual, then who the hell are we trying to impress? if, instead, it means building and maintaining the various public infrastructures the comfort zones so many of us are emotionaly attatched to could not exist without, then at least that is doing something.

that and creating beauty and doing and keeping both in harmony with nature's cycles of renewal, and of course the food chain itself, and extraction of raw materials, these are what i mean by the only work that really needs to be done. needs to be done at that, in the sense that what comes from it would not exist and be available at all without it.

the tradeoff is between how much infrastructure you're willing to live without and how much work you're willing to do to create and maintain it.

aside from that, and the basics of food and shelter, there is a lot of makework that exists to perpetuate equaly gratuitous hierarchies and to fill the perceived need for 'work' as a form of social ritual.

so if you get rid of the paperwork equivelant of digging a hole and filling it back in again to look bussy, all of the work that remains needing to be done, were to be distributed equatably, i seriously do not believe there would be anywhere near as much of it as we are socialy conditioned to believe.

=^^=
.../\...

 

For me, work is play and play is work; I make little distinction between the two. I do the things which I enjoy and which intrigue me, which benefit our community and provide needed services.

I work upwards of 80-100 hours per week, sleeping only 3-6 hours per night. I sleep only when tired and often wake up with ideas which I start to work on immediately.

I like the Thai attitude; work is such an integral part of life in the community that the word for party and work is one and the same (NGAN)

 

Being retired, I don't do the four letter word thing anymore, but stay busy around the farm now a days.

 

i prefer to work most of each day. i dislike having nothing to do. my definintion of work though would include working in my garden or with my animals or making things. as long as i love my work, i will do it as much as posible.

 

40 hours is okay if you are getting paid well but if not it really sucks.

 

Right now I work 45+ hours a week. Soon that will be changing. ( I hope)

 

I like to have a job to keep me busy, feel like I'm contributing something productive, and pay the bills, but I think the "work ethic" as it's defined in the USA has something to be desired. Look at Europe, those folks get like six weeks of vacation a year. You won't see that here unless you work for a place for many years.

As an engineer with an advanced degree I spent a number of years in "salary hell" as I call it, the bonus being you can work as many hours of overtime as you want, and you don't have to worry about getting compensated for it. I finally got an opportunity to work as a consultant, getting paid by the hour, and I love it. Less responsibility, and I can take time off when I want without any guilt 'cause I don't get paid if I don't work. Sure, my job is less secure, but what's "security" in this country anyway? There's no such thing any more. So with the corporations screwing us workers, what do we owe them? Nothing.

I've been unemployed a few times. Our culture seems to make us feel worthless unless we're employed, but I learned to enjoy it, got a chance to spend some quality time with my daughter who was an infant at the time, and got some serious projects done around the house. I look forward to unemployment (AKA "fun-and-enjoyment") again.

Sooo, to answer the original question, I'd say 40 hours a week max. If you're pressed for cash, go for the overtime, but if you live a simple lifestyle that's within your means, you shouldn't have to. Time may be money, but you can't take it with you...

 

i haven't worked a minute in my life..

 

Zero unless you count chores around and related to the house/family.

Professional Fulltime Vacationer is what I do best.

 

:agree:

im totally lazy so id really rather not work, at least in the most often used definition of the word work.

 

If everyone worked half as many hours their would be twice as many jobs.

 

30-40 Is Perfect For Me. I Get Benefiets Too. Shit. I Get Medical,Dental,Vision And Life Insurance. Damn. But My Job Is Horrible. I Hate It

 

No more than would be needed for a natural way of life: that is, about 2-3 hours a day, which would be sufficient to kill and cook a mammoth or another edible beast on a spit, and to collect whatever herbs necessary as dietary supplements or as agents of ulterior motives. By the way, a poppy-seed field, if you can find one, would be of much use, 'cause it makes anyone fall asleep in no time. Or, if you are feeling especially brave, you could use a few drops of potassium cyanide for immediate and lasting effect. But don't forget to save the horn... I'll need it.