Sometimes working excessive hours is imposed on you, but what about the choices that can make it habitual?

Philosophical Geek recently posted an article called: ‘How to work an 8-hour day‘. Some of the advice, though sound enough, was very familiar (Don’t waste time, don’t micro-manage, limit meetings); but two points struck me as far more interesting.

I know that many people are forced into excessive working hours by a combination of a macho corporate culture and poor management, but there’s little doubt that there’s collusion as well: situations where people choose to stay longer at the workplace out of ambition, fear, a warped sense of duty — or even boredom.

That’s the aspect of overwork covered by these two suggestions, and I think it’s worth exploring in depth.

Overwork is not an obligation

That was the first element in Philosophical Geek’s list of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ that struck me as different. Here’s what he writes:

Just because there is always more work to do, this is no reason to kill yourself trying to get it all done. Or even overexert yourself (except in rare instances). Don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying you have an excuse to slack. Giving all of your time and attention to your employer/projects/job is the baseline here. I am saying that just because you have a lot of work is not a valid reason to work 12 hour days.

It’s too easy to drop into feeling that you must stay late. There’s so much still to be done. Everyone else is frantically busy and you don’t want to appear a slacker. At a time when many organizations have cut their workforce not just to the bone but deep within the marrow, it’s tempting to feel that showing support for your equally overworked colleagues means everyone has to stay late together.

Just remind yourself of one truth: work is a trade, governed by an agreed set of contractual terms like any other trade. You sell your time and effort; your employer pays you for it. Only slaves work because they have no choice in the matter.

If you wouldn’t enter into a contract to buy a car or a wide-screen TV and voluntarily offer to pay twice the asking price, or work in the dealership for free as part of the deal, why is it somehow laudable for people to to work longer hours than they are being paid for? It’s giving your employer a donation outside the contract. Great for them, not so good for you.

You need things to look forward to outside of work

Philosophical Geek says he thinks this is obvious, but I don’t think it is to many people. If however you spend your time outside of work is dull, boring, tedious, or simply limited to eating and sleeping, you’ll have little motivation to go home on time.

None of this will work if you don’t have strong outside motivations. You have to really enjoy being outside of work — and I don’t think the satisfaction of doing nothing is enough. You’ll get bored of that eventually. Sitting in front of a TV every night “unwinding” for three hours is not a motivational experience (quite the opposite, usually).

I believe that a major reason for overwork is that the rest of people’s lives feel dull compared to the excitement and pressure of work. Instead of giving attention to how they spend their non-working time, they devote it to trivialities and doing virtually nothing. They become couch potatoes, watching TV shows of mind-numbing stupidity. They lounge about the house, complaining there’s nothing to do. They come home exhausted and find — surprise, surprise — no one wants to amuse them or put up with their bad temper and complaints.

If non-work is tedious, it’s no wonder people voluntarily give up more and more of their time to work. Work can be full of crises and deadlines. There are people to talk to, gossip to be shared, and enemies to be thwarted. Why go home?

Maybe we should all think about this question before we reach the comforting conclusions that we’re being forced into overwork by greedy and unfeeling bosses: What am I doing to get myself out of this?

If you’re trapped by a misunderstood sense of duty, or so bored with non-work life you’d probably pay for any excuse to be taken away from it, get up off your butt and make a change. No one else has an obligation to do it for you.

Technorati Tags: long-hours culture, overwork, stress, staying late at work, burnout, boredom