Recently, my 7-year-old son wrote a poem about me. He called it "My Dad" and it went like this. "Dad is super fun, he works all day, Dad goes to work every single day, before I'm up he goes away, to work, on the weekends it's work, work, work. Dad is never mean, Dad is always keen to play cricket in the driveway, but then he goes away. Sometimes he works till dawn, sometimes he wees on the lawn. When he comes home we all cheer, he likes to drink a beer, watches Netflix and goes to bed, then off to work again."
Obviously not everyone can quit their job. Most of us need them. Many of us are struggling just to get by. I was lucky enough to have three jobs so I could easily leave one of them. My main job still starts at 5am. Which is punishing but manageable.
The problem comes when we celebrate time worked over things achieved. Working big hours isn't a virtue in itself. No one's last words are "I wish I'd spent more time in the office". In fact, you probably owe it to yourself to work as little as you can. At the very least do less work at the work you are at. Leave early, take longer lunches, more smokos.
There are of course a million ways to work and not work. During his time at the New York Yankees, the great George Costanza (in Seinfeld) had some innovative work-reducing techniques. He had a bed built under his desk for sleeping on the job and would leave his car in his work carpark 24/7 so the boss thought he was first to arrive and last to leave.
