

Most People are Happier Working than in Their Free Time - vuknje
http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2010/02/19/why-most-people-are-happier-working-than-in-their-free-time/

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og1
I don't agree with this. Maybe the pager influenced their state of mind. I
know whenever I get interrupted when I'm doing something enjoyable it makes me
annoyed. And vice versa, whenever I'm doing something boring, I'm glad to be
interrupted. Maybe that is what was happening in the pager experiment.

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noelchurchill
I suppose it depends how you define work and free time. Working at my day job
and I'm not happier. Working on my own personal projects and I am happier.
Depending on how you define work then almost any activity could be considered
work. I'm happiest when working on my surfing. And of course I'd be less happy
during free time if that consisted of doing absolutely nothing.

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petercooper
It's true for me but I'm self employed and work on my own projects.. I know
quite a few regularly employed people I'd pin this on too, though.

I'd argue that it's due to the structure of work life versus home life. At
(office) work, you typically have set hours and a certain set of activities to
perform - the reality vs expectations gap is quite small.

In your "free" time, however, you expect to have a good time, yet usually have
to wash clothes and dishes, cook food, go grocery shopping, and 101 other dull
activities that merely wrap around the occasional fun things like watching a
movie, going out, having sex, whatever. The reality vs expectation gap in your
free time is gigantic for many people.

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kirse
Happiness is really a subjective and uniquely learned process for each
person... Everyone has a different set of assumptions, expectations, and
mental processes they have to deal with, usually all of which have to be
overcome on some level to be truly "happy".

For most people, being engaged in work gets them to that state of living in
the present, where the mind is fully focused on a task and doesn't get a
chance to explore itself.

For me though, being truly happy is being able to relax in that free time,
soak up the present "nothingness", allow the mind to wander, take everything
as it is (without judgment or assumption), and just be grateful for everything
I've been blessed with (even if there are negative circumstances).

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ojbyrne
Seems like Maslow dealt with this a long time ago. Working probably makes
people happy because people realize that by doing so they're ensuring that
their basic needs - food, shelter, "belongingness" - are being satisfied
through work.

It would be interesting to repeat the same study for people who are
financially secure.

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julius_geezer
Labor is blossoming or dancing where/The body is not bruised to pleasure
soul...

W.B. Yeats, "Among School Children"

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vishaldpatel
I think the above title (I haven't read the article) applies to North America
and Britain much more than Europe, South America or India.

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thinkbohemian
What if i use my free time to work?

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dnsworks
This is clearly part of a wider conspiracy of mid-level managers to convince
their employees to work themselves to death eschewing family, friendship, and
life goals.

