The Internet reports that Europeans are happier when they are not working long hours, but Americans are happier when they are. It is difficult to know what to think about Canada from this study, since Canada is like the 51st State in some respects, but also has the queen on its money. Draw your own conclusions. FOCUS: Are you happier when you're being productive or lazy? Have you noticed cultural differences in this regard? Howso? ALT FOCUS: Discuss the study. ALT ALT FOCUS: Make fun of Americans, Euros, or both.
I'm happier when I'm being productive... just not necessarily at work. I'm with the Euros in regards to working less and being happier. However I'd gladly exchange a day of sitting in an office going over engineering layouts and writing quotes for one filled with chopping wood or hustling loam into raised garden beds.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. Does forcing myself to study my ass off while maintaining a strict workout schedule on top of work suck? Yes. Do I feel like a much better person when I do it? Absolutely. ALT ALT FOCUS: Europe is full of soccer fans, I think that's all the ammo we need on them. I agree (replace pot and coffee with booze and video games) with this, but if I'm only working part time, not studying or working out, I don't really appreciate a lazy Saturday. However, after a 60 hour week there could be nothing better.
I'm of the European train of thought: I want to work from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., have a 2-2.5 hour lunch break, then work 1-5 or 1:30-5:30. When I was 15, I went to Germany for two weeks on a class trip, and the father of the family I stayed with had that kind of work schedule. Came home for lunch, had a little nap (probably banged his wife), went back to work. I would probably be more productive under that kind of schedule and get more done in 7 hours than I would if I had to go from 8:00-4:30 with only half an hour for lunch (which is the norm for most medical jobs.) When you're busting ass in a hospital lab, that half hour break seems to last two minutes. By the time you go to the cafeteria, get food, pay, come back to the break room, you've already blown 15 minutes, and by the end of the day, your brain is fried because you don't get to shut off the thoughts of the workload at all. I don't remember what industry that guy in Germany was in, but I do know that lots of places (his included) closed the whole fuckin' place down for 2.5 hours. You can get lots of shit done during that time instead of either having to miss work/call in sick or run around after work doing errands. If I were to own my own business, that's the kind of schedule I would run. I also seem to remember hearing Europeans in general will take an entire month off during the summer for vacation.
As a person who was once poor, but now makes a pretty good wage, I have learned that money actually can buy happiness. Of course I'm one of the few people around here that abides by the philosophy "work to live". I don't define myself by what I do at work. I define myself by the activities I do outside of the office, and to do that I need money. So I guess I'm happier when the work load is heavy, because that means I'm going to have some sort of fun vacation or get to play a sweet golf course in the near future.
Money absolutely makes you happy, even if the returns on utility are diminishing after a while. Like Ben Affleck's character said in Boiler Room, "Someone who says money doesn't buy happiness, doesn't fucking have any." I'd rather live in the US than Europe for two reason: -I dont have to pay 60%+ of my paycheck in taxes -We have real football here.
I would feel pretty happy if there were a couple extra zeros at the end of my savings account. I would rather work my 40 hours a week, 4x10 schedule and then be done for the week. Even in a 10 hour day I could probably go golfing after work plus 3 day weekends all the time. I used to work 4x10s and loved it. Having a 2 hour break in the middle of the day would suck, it's not enough time to do anything real productive. It just seems like more of your day would get taken up for no reason. I would even work 3x12 or 3x13 shifts to have 4 days off a week. Being productive, or at least being busy, is better than having nothing to do at work.
You have two kids, right? Does that mean you have been happy twice in your life? That is a sad existence for a man that has a lust for life.
I couldn't disagree more with this. Maybe it's because I'm an antsy fucker who doesn't even have the patience to sit through a 90 minute movie, but I see that as a complete waste of a day. If I tried to do that, I'd be bouncing off the walls trying to figure out something to do. I completely agree with the "I'm happy when I'm productive" line of reasoning, especially when it comes to manual labor. I personally just don't feel productive doing office work or white collar stuff, which is odd because that's what I've done for the last 10 years. Many days, I wish I was outside building barns, houses, garages, sheds, etc. The only thing preventing me from going back to doing construction is that it wouldn't leave me with enough energy at the end of the day to train effectively.
I am a lazy fuck. I would love if I could get up, go to work at like noon, work until 6:00, and then be done for the day. Which is what I did last summer at my research job, and it was awesome.
They showed that after bottoming out in middle age, happiness rises in old age. My theory? Lower expectations. When you're old, you're happy when you merely manage to not shit yourself. To paraphrase Daniel Tosh: Sure, money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a waverunner. And no one can be unhappy on a waverunner.
I'm happier when I have stuff to do. I don't mean work but I mean just stuff to do. I do enjoy laying around all day, but only if the lady is with me. I feel like a wasted sack of shit when I lay around all day by myself.
I'm most happy when I don't HAVE to be productive. I always get stressed when I know i have something to do, even if it's just giving someone a ride at some point. I am happiest when I have absolutely nothing to do but take a hike through the woods( I don't consider hiking being productive because I'm never more at peace than when I'm in the wild.)
Frank touched on something that I've been noticing for myself lately. Sitting on my ass playing games all day is boring and make me feel like shit. Not just feeling like a lazy ass, but I physically feel dull and listless after a few hours. Working full-time, doing odd work on the side, and working out is exhausting, but having that as my routine, broken up by a few hours of reading here or a marathon of gaming there, even if its just an hour every few days, is where I'm happiest. Paragraph-condensed-into-sentence aside, I'm incapable of sitting on my ass at work. Even if I wanted to do so, my superiors have unfortunately noted my work ethic and thus ride my ass while overlooking the asshole getting paid for eight hours of pure unadulterated lack of productivity. This used to put me in the mindset of sitting on my ass anytime I wasn't at work. After four years of this, I've changed tacks, and I really think sitting around and taking a load off is much more enjoyable and rewarding when you actually have a load to take off. I have to strike a balance, or I'm fucking miserable. Of course, this goes both ways. If I'm working 40 hours a week at work, 20 a week outside in the yard, and not relaxing at all, I turn into an irritable cunt.