Labor Economics teaches there are two types of individuals: Those who work more when they earn more, and those who choose to take more time off because they can afford to do so.
I didn't realize that while I was sitting in an otherwise boring summer course, I was learning the most valuable lesson of American life. We can choose to work or play. Not all nations have this choice, but for the most part North Americans do have this choice.
I am in full admittance that I am leisure driven. I know how much I need to make in a year to afford me time to play. If I can make $100,000 working for 6 months, or $200,000 working 12 months, I am likely to take the $100,000 and play the rest of the year, even if I have missed out on an extra $100,000.
I have never made $100,000, so I can't say that the greed factor wouldn't kick in, but I am pretty sure that it is all relative. It is easy for one to imagine what they would do if they made more money. Would you buy yourself more leisure or would you work more to make more.
I have discussed this with friends and most want to believe they value leisure, but where I use a per annum measurement, they use an entire lifetime. For example, they would choose to forgo leisure for the first half of their life to have it in the second half (retirement). From my experience this method is dangerous. After living a life of labor, you will condition yourself to labor even if unnecessary, and not to mention the ability to enjoy some of life's adventures with an aging body is more difficult.
I am not advocating a slothful hippie lifestyle. I am only stating that labor for the most part is something we would rather not do if we had the choice. If you labor because you love it, than it falls under the category of leisure. If a farmer or a medic loves what he is doing so much that it is what he would do given free time, then it is no longer labor in my opinion.
To sum up my thoughts here, I believe we should evaluate where we are on the labor/leisure scale and ask ourselves if I am where I want to be, and if not, make that change by either going somewhere for a few weeks to relax, or get a job.
1 comment:
Life is about balance. If you play all summer you, like Aesop's grasshopper, will suffer in the winter. On the other hand, you can be like Dicken's Scrooge and forgo the joy of marriage and family for financial security and responsibility. These literary examples represent the two extremes, and in reality we all far somewhere in between. Many people sacrifice leisure for security, not greed.
I prefer to be rational most of the time and irrational on occasion. I abhor debt and wasteful spending, but occasionally you have to just give your self some retail therapy.
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