My kid’s leukemia decided this question for me. Never went back, even after he recovered.
I would never quit working, I am too busy! I even had to leave my employer, because they spent too much time and effort trying to keep me from getting things done. And, as a bonus, I no longer get money for my work. Skoal!
My husband and I are planning to stop working full time. We can survive easily with a reduced income each, which of course is what makes it even a workable consideration. I’m surprised at the number of male health professionals I work with (e.g.psychiatrists) who work full time even though they make a huge income and could easily survive in part time work. Their female counterparts almost invariable work part time but this appears to be because they also have children and provide more of the childcare. I sure as heck wouldn’t work full time if I earned $200 K a year.
Not sure if I could afford to.
I am quickly approaching my 55th birthday, and I am employed in a field that is physically demanding. Because of that fact we,as a union,set aside money from our take home pay to make it possible to retire at 58, because very few of us are able to continue this work into their 60s. As many who approach that milestone, one of my biggest worries is what will I do with my time? After 40 years of self fulfilling work, how does one shut it down? I am sure the first few weeks will be fine, but what will I do then?
I mention this because many office workers like to use their free time doing what I get paid to do. The whole “Maker” movement is based on people exploring their mechanical/creative side, with many people retiring and puttering around the workshop. What would I do, put down the tools, build a home office and file stuff?
I did. I have too much to do to have a full time job. I run training courses from time to time, and as a result, “work” roughly 1 week out of the month (work defined as something I do that actually makes money). The rest of the month I spend pursuing whatever project most holds my attention during that time.
It’s pretty awesome, but you know what? I will not sit here and say, “You could do this too!” Because there’s no secret formula. I spent the past decade saving up about 60% of my weekly paycheck to build the buffer I needed to finance this adventure. The fact that I could even have that much paycheck left over is as clear a statement of privilege as I could make.
If you’re considering this, try negotiating for a 4 day work week with your employer. Offer to prorate your salary accordingly. I did, and I value the additional time much more than the 20% more I could be earning.
Shit-tons of people in North America aren’t even allowed to work full-time but I don’t think their employers have the exact same things in mind as Mohit Satyanand.
Watch now as Wal-mart & friends latches onto this concept and begins to deny hours needed to approach a livable, not living, wage with the stated goal of enhancing their quality of life.
“I know you asked for 35 hours Brenda, but we feel you should be at home with your family, experiencing joy.”
“But they’re hungry…”
“Did you ask the government about that as we recommended…?”
I work 8-10hrs of OT a week. Sorta sucks, but not nearly as bad as not working.
Travel, (learn to) cook, and eat. There, you’re busy until you’re dead.
As a self-employed person, I could work less. I could work as few hours as I wanted.
I end up actually working somewhere around 40 hours a week, but it’s flexible. Sometimes, I work less, sometimes more. It depends on what I promise I can get done, but unless something has gone wrong, I don’t work weekends, or more than 10 hours a day. 10 hours is a long day, but it’s usually before or after a 4 hour day, so it’s cool.
When I went on vacation for two weeks, it was fun to let go, but it sure as shit wasn’t a paid vacation, and I came back to a ton of work. I’d still take it over having an employer.
Like @t3knomanser said, I won’t say anyone could do it. There was privilege, there was luck, and dues were paid. That said, being able to make a living without an employer is fantastic and it’s a good path if you don’t mind working the flying trapeze without a net.
Yeah if I was not the sole income earner possibly. But you know things like mortgage (which is cheaper than even a 2 bedroom apartment now) food, etc. But I am happy to mostly like what I do to get a paycheck and don’t have an awful commute compared to some in the Seattle area.
Filing for fun sounds like my nightmare. Ugh.
I know a man who was an upholsterer for many years, but now that he’s in his 80s he makes fancy pens. Basically, he still makes stuff, it’s just a lot smaller stuff. Plus who doesn’t like playing with a lathe?
Must be nice to have money to bring up hypothetical questions of “Boy i could totes quit working for a year” or “I probably don’t even need to work full time”. Yes, everyone would love to spend less time working if they could
I work like a man possessed in the fall, and then slack off for nine months. It works out pretty good.
This article has been your daily several minutes of fantasy. We hope you enjoyed the mental release! Remember that you can’t get bittersweet prompts like this anywhere else. Life is so fleeting! See you tomorrow~
How refreshing it is to have someone like the world’s second-richest man advocating for not working full time. Because that makes all the sense.
I read the whole thing, but almost stopped here:
But you don’t have to listen to me, part-time mountain dweller and full-time maverick. Here’s Carlos Slim, the world’s second richest man: “We should be working only 3 days a week.”
Wtf? I don’t imagine he got that rich by hiring people who only worked three days a week.
As I read the article, I stopped a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t reading something from the Onion.
What a throne of ignorance about how most people live this person has the privilege of writing from.
If I was the second richest man in the world, I wouldn’t work any days a week. And I’d still enormously make more money than I could spend just from the return on capital.
I work with quite a few people that work four 10 hour days a week, or do ~9 9-hr days every two weeks. So many that it wasn’t an option for me. They like to have somebody in on Fridays.
1/2 day Fridays were the norm at my first two jobs, wish I could get that back.
