Much of what people do for work is now fundamentally counterproductive to humanity’s progress. Work absolves people of personal responsibility in that many of our day-to-day options are predetermined by others thus encouraging people to not rely on themselves for what they’ll do with their day. At age six the conditioning process begins, and so what others want us to do becomes our priority. As this carries forward into our adult years, we are able to give nearly 10 hours a day over to the requirements that revolve around work, including travel time. There is little ambiguity about what one will do besides working towards fulfilling the objective of the employer. While the individual might make choices of how they will accomplish the tasks at hand, they need not concern themselves with their own education or self-entertainment during this large block of their waking hours.
Monday through Friday, most adults have, at best, about 5 hours to themselves, significantly less if they have children. Even children find their time is limited as they sleep on average about 10 hours per day. Then we add school and homework, and soon, even our young members of society are only able to find about 5 hours a day to themselves.
I see this conditioning as problematic for our societies as the average person is not focusing on how to continue their education, have productive hobbies, or spend their precious time developing new skills. The need for these abilities won’t typically develop unless a life or career-changing event demands it of us, such as losing a job, health issues, or retirement.
This is on my mind right now because I was recently confronting my own need to figure out a new path after three months of focusing on things outside of my routine. Returning to my routine or constructing a new plan, I initially felt overwhelmed by the choices in front of me. Where do I start if I want to interject new stuff?
The thing is, I’m not only interested in what I’ll do after work or this weekend because I need an idea about a larger arc, as in what I might be doing for the next 3, 6, or even 12 months. How will I allocate time to the areas I believe I’m interested in or that I can cultivate?
Most people, in an effort to escape from and relax due to the demands of work, opt for things like mindless time spent habituating social media, video games, or television. I refuse this path as it feels like the easiest choice in the world to make, with none of them requiring any effort.
Why is the effort one of my imperatives? I’m running out of time to discover more of who I am and what I’m capable of, just like everyone else. I’m not content to sit passively and observe what comes at me; I need to see and hear what I create emerge out of an ambition to discover.