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Waiting for the Weekend (theatlantic.com)
26 points by robg on Oct 12, 2008 | hide | past | favorite | 4 comments



I was able to get through the first page, but had to start skimming on the second.

Of particular interest to me was the article's argument that our work life has become divorced from our feelings of reward. In other words, we no longer find our work rewarding in any way. The 5 day work week and 2 day weekend provides a convenient cycle of guaranteed regular reward. But, two days isn't a lot of time, so instead of having leisure time we are compelled to spend our weekends in a productive manner, e.g., scheduled and regimented instead of whatever may suite-our-fancy.

This is in contrast to the work, quite, have fun until you go broke cycle of ages past, or of the work all-the-time until disrupted by a series of holy feast days or town faire/circus.

In my short work life I've certainly found my traditional path of college to cube completely unsatisfying. I thought working for a nonprofit was a way to combine work and reward. But, I found being a staffer at a nonprofit, at least in Washington DC, isn't really any different than a "soulless" forprofit.

Changing to an IT consulting job six months ago has been more rewarding, but I dream of being a carpenter or some other job that is more practical, rewarding, team-oriented, and creative.

Either way, I'm looking for something that lets me spend my time with longer cycles or work and leisure so that I can engage in bigger projects and times of leisure without interruption.

Modern society's 5 day on and 2 day off cycle for white collar workers, however, is not conducive to anything outside of it's rigid structure...


I made it to the third paragraph before I bailed...

I think it's common here to brag about how many hours you work for your startup/business/job but I think it's missing the point entirely.


Best way to forget about "Waiting for the Weekend"?

Start a business.


...if you want to burn out, that is. If you have read it, you've missed the point.




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