I recently saw a post asking, “Is Gen-Z lazy for not wanting to work 40-hours a week?”
While I’m willing to bet that your first thoughts are either “Hell yes!” or “Ok, boomer…” I believe the answer is more complex, but I can empathize with both sides.
The fact of the matter is, as we came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people began to realize that we only have a finite number of days on this planet, and fewer and fewer people want to spend those days toiling away for the vast majority of employers that view them as expendable to begin with…
In my lifetime, I’ve been employee 039818, 16, 52, 161361 and 353, but ultimately nobody’s epitaph reads “dedicated employee,” they read things like “devoted father,” “caring mother,” or “beloved brother/sister,” so what’s the value in feeling prideful about working an excessive number of hours unless you’re doing something you absolutely love?
While I consider myself fortunate to have found a great work / life balance doing something I enjoy, I previously spent 12 years working for one of North America’s largest railroads, and although the money was absolutely fantastic ($160,000/yr for a job that requires only a high-school education), I got to hear about my daughter’s first steps, first words, and a myriad of other “firsts” through telephone conversations with my wife from a dingy hotel room. Those are missed memories that I’ll never get back, and for what? So I could buy a nice car? Have the newest cell phone? Go out to eat more than was necessary?
Thinking back further, I can still recall a younger version of myself that bragged about working 28 days in a December while I was at Guitar Center. I wore it like a badge of honor, but you know what I wasn’t doing? Spending time with my friends, and actually enjoying my life. I wore that wasted time (at minimum wage) as a badge of honor. Factoring in that that 1 of those 3 days off was Christmas, I now find it all a bit embarrassing that I had so sorely misplaced my priorities.
Ultimately, I believe we’re so brainwashed into believing that success is measured by earning potential, or material possessions that we lose sight of the fact that tomorrow isn’t promised.
We only view those that are fighting for a less-than-40-hour-workweek as being “lazy” because we’re comparing them to our own experiences- what we’ve had to endure, or the jobs and/or careers we’ve chosen, but life doesn’t have to be difficult for someone else just because it was for us, and shame on us for believing it should.
I’d like to believe that those following in our footsteps can have a better road because of us, and as far as I’m concerned, laziness is a measure of the effort you put in while you’re at work, not the number of hours you work.
Grind all you want to, and chase that paper, but don’t chastise someone else for having different priorities than you. ♥- DMFF
From the desk of Dave Foster 