Anonymous  on August 24th, 2005

I had a boss in Silicon Valley in 1992 who only worked 40 hours a week on purpose. He insisted we do the same. He showed me a book he kept in his top-right drawer which stated, “If you’re working more than 40 hours a week, it’s one of 2 reasons: you’re either incompetent, or you’re doing the work of 2+ people.”

He could not do the “face time” bit. After 40 hours, his productivity diminished.

One of his favorite pasttimes was entering costuming contests. He drove to different parts of California to masquerade. Sometimes, the trips he made and the other outfits he saw gave him ideas for new heroes and villains to add to the video games we designed and coded.

To me, the man was a tremendous inspiration, reminding me of the 1939 Worlds Fair promise that one day, technology would liberate us to work at most 32 hours a week. We’d have lots of leisure time available.

That’s the kind of Silicon Valley startup I want to read about. How did somebody use technology to enjoy the rest of life too?

When it comes to overwork, I remember both what my boss said about muscle building and what author James Loehr (The Power of Full Engagement) has to say about stress today. Our problem isn’t that we’re under so much stress. Our problem is we don’t include a corresponding recovery period. Vacation is a dirty word.

A muscle really strengthens days after going to the gym; true bodybuilders don’t work the same muscle group every day. They know that it is in the recovery phase, when torn muscle fibers get rebuilt that a unique kind of growth happens.

Many people experience this, even in high-tech. The programmer who’s been looking at code all day which hasn’t been working goes to the bathroom, takes a walk around the block and the bug fix comes. Being away from high-tech can give people new perspectives. Purposely having a deadline of creating something for 8 hours a day, no more, no less can give one the very relaxation and recovery so many crave in high-tech to let new ideas come in.