The 15-Hour Workweek

12/01/21 • 21 min

Imagine a life where technological gains make us so productive that 15 hours a week constitutes a “full-time” job. The insane ramblings of two would-be men of leisure? Indeed. But also the prediction of a famous economist. No not the movie guy, the other one: John Maynard Keynes. According to his 1930 prediction, not only is such a reality possible, we’re about 20 years late in achieving it. Was Keynes wrong or have we squandered our productivity gains on busywork?

People, Places and Other Things Mentioned in This Episode:

00:24 - Sarah Canatsey, Instructional Developed, University of Tennessee at Tennessee

01:22 - Secret Side Hustles: Episode #26, Twice the Work in Half the Time: The Dual-Career Individual

02:21 - Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren by John Maynard Keynes

05:19 - The 15-Hour Workweek: Keynes and AOC Disagree

08:59 - FIRE: Financial Independence/Retire Early

15:09 - Frank W. MacDonald and The Chattanooga Times Free Press

15:11 - Medal of Honor Heritage Center

15:14 - Houston Museum of Decorative Arts

15:16 - UTC Veterans Entrepreneurship Program

17:02 - Too much time management: Episode #22, The Efficiency Paradox

19:53 - Episode #8, The Email Paradox: Inefficient Efficiency (Part 1)

19:53 - Episode #9, The Email Paradox: Inefficient Efficiency (Part 2)

19:53 - The Thing About Email
Click here for transcript and episode webpage

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

People, Places and Other Things Mentioned in This Episode:

00:24 - Sarah Canatsey, Instructional Developed, University of Tennessee at Tennessee

01:22 - Secret Side Hustles: Episode #26, Twice the Work in Half the Time: The Dual-Career Individual

02:21 - Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren by John Maynard Keynes

05:19 - The 15-Hour Workweek: Keynes and AOC Disagree

08:59 - FIRE: Financial Independence/Retire Early

15:09 - Frank W. MacDonald and The Chattanooga Times Free Press

15:11 - Medal of Honor Heritage Center

15:14 - Houston Museum of Decorative Arts

15:16 - UTC Veterans Entrepreneurship Program

17:02 - Too much time management: Episode #22, The Efficiency Paradox

19:53 - Episode #8, The Email Paradox: Inefficient Efficiency (Part 1)

19:53 - Episode #9, The Email Paradox: Inefficient Efficiency (Part 2)

19:53 - The Thing About Email
Click here for transcript and episode webpage

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Previous Episode

Boring Job Burnout

Feeling overworked and dreaming of a new job with lots of downtime? One where marathon solitaire sessions fill the time between naps and happy hours? Careful what you wish for...making 10 hours of work fill a 40-hour week ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. If your employer is infected with the busyness bug, you’re likely to experience the delightfully paradoxical form of burnout that occurs when you’re actually underworked but everyone around you is pretending to be overworked. Tune in as we try to unpeel the paradoxical onion of boring job burnout in this episode of The Busyness Paradox.
Links to stuff mentioned in the show:

1:33 - Episode #25: Nixing Busywork with Niksen
2:17 - Man gets $45K severance package after declaring job "too boring"
13:13 - Episode #3: Are You Too Good at Your Job?
22:54 - Free online courses offered by Harvard University:
29:21 - Episode #27: Twice The Work In Half The Hours: The Dual-Career Individual
30:45 - Episode #10: The Four-Day Work Week

Click here for transcript and episode webpage

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

Next Episode

When The Boss Burns Out

Many people experience job burnout at some point in their lives. When they do, it's often the boss that takes the blame. But what happens when the boss burns out? Companies have been learning the answer to that question the hard way since the pandemic started. While executives develop policies to meet employees' needs for safe and flexible work arrangements, the actual implementation of these ever-changing policies has quietly pushed many a boss to the brink. Join us as we tip our caps to the often-underappreciated middle managers of the world.
Links to Topics, Articles and Other Content Mentioned in this Episode:
3:30 - Manager Burnout Is Only Getting Worse
11:26 - Burnout (Psychology Today)
14:44 - Episode #27: Much Ado About WUSI

17:44 - PRODUCERS NOTE: On behalf of the Busyness Paradox, I would like to apologize to scholars of mid-20th century American politics for Paul's error here, in which he accidentally attributed an anecdote about George McGovern to Hubert Humphrey. When confronted by our team of fact checkers, Paul expressed shock and disbelief that he he hadn't made the whole thing up. He then muttered something about being "pretty f------ close considering they both got curb-stomped by the same guy in consecutive elections that happened before I was even freaking born," which is about as close to an apology as you're going to get from these guys. - J. Wuntaek
Click here for transcript and episode webpage

Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts, blog posts and other content while you’re there!

The Busyness Paradox - The 15-Hour Workweek

Transcript

Frank Butler 0:17
Hello Busybodies. Welcome to another episode of the Busyness Paradox. I'm Frank Butler here with Paul Harvey.
Paul Harvey 0:23
Good day.
Frank Butler 0:24
And I'm now recording from UTCs campus in our special podcasting room, which is pretty cool. We have some fabulous equipment in here. And thanks to Sarah Canatsey for helping me get set up. She does listen. So I want to make sure she gets the plug there.
Paul Harvey 0:41
She's one of the good ones. <