For this question I’m assuming your work involves going to a workplace and staying there 20+ hours a week. Would you take the opportunity, if offered, to not experience your workday? You would get into work and boom it’s lunchtime. When your lunch break ends, boom you’re ready to go home. You would not experience your workday, but you would have a record of it in your memory like you’d speed-watched an 8 hour movie so you would know what’s going on. Whilst on autopliot, “you” will handle everything at least as well as you would have done, possibly slightly better. You cannot pick and choose which days, it’s all or none. Physically you will have aged those hours.
If you elect to take this offer up there are opportunities to cancel and go back to normal every 2 years. If you cancel, or don’t take it up, it will never be offered again.
So, would you choose to give up experiencing that part of your life that coincides with “being at work”?
No. I wouldn’t. First of all, my work isn’t that unpleasant. It’s not OMG FUN!!, but it’s perfectly tolerable.
But more important than that, I have found that I need contrasts in my life. I need a little bit of unpleasantness (work) so that I can fully experience the good times (my leisure time).
No, but I am one of the people who actually likes their job. Not every moment of it of course, but some of the more annoying and unpleasant parts involve very important things that I need to experience and remember.
No. I mostly like my job - and even when it’s not enjoyable, my brain is doing other things as well - exploring ideas I may pursue for my own profit and enjoyment. Every waking hour is useful.
I probably would, but I’m not sure. My job does leave me a lot of time for personal stuff (reading when it’s quiet enough, Internet, texting, I’m thinking about starting up origami again…), so I’d have a lot less free time, but also a lot less boredom and aggravation.
Oh, or maybe I could get a job doing manual labor and then reap the benefits of lots of exercise without consciously having to do it. Would that work?
OK, somehow I missed the part about having some kind of memory of my work-day. So I guess I’m not a professional torturer, or torturee, or starring in goat-porn movies. It still seems like a creepy idea.
My workday goes by so quickly I often feel like I don’t live through it as it is. Having things slow down enough that I actually feel like I experience it is unusual and kind of nice.
If you had the kind of job that would make you want to “not live it”, then you’re probably doing some shit job that pays shit wages, and if you never experience it, you’ll never want to get a better one.
Still, I do consulting work and mostly get to pick my clients. I have a few bad days, but mostly they are good. I work for myself, and my boss is the best guy in the world!
If only! I would gladly fast forward past anything over 20 hours a week. It would make my time off of work more productive lifestyle wise because I wouldn’t have to decompress so much. And in those 20 hours a week I’d have to work I would still be able to think about non-work related stuff on occasion without having to dread being there for another 40-50 hours in the week before the weekend.
Absolutely not. Those are hours of my life, and even if what I am doing is not my first choice, I would rather have those hours than not have them.
This is the reason it is hard for me to get behind the sentiment that hates Monday and hopes Friday will hurry up and get here. Maybe it’s the perspective of an older person, but every minute counts.
Roddy
Nope. I currently work at a climbing gym. Some tasks are annoying, but there’s plenty of stuff that I genuinely look forward to: giving people tours of the facility, teaching people how to belay, meeting new people, chatting with the regulars, etc.
I also work as a transcriptionist. Again, some boring stuff, but I do get to do a fair amount of material that’s quite interesting. The other day I got to transcribe an interview with a pancreatic cancer researcher, and he was just phenomenally intelligent and articulate. I’m glad I wasn’t on autopilot for that!
Nah. My job naturally involves a fair bit of downtime, so it’s not a grind and I can pursue outside interests to a limited degree. I’d rather not have to go to work, but losing that entire 8 hours would be worse than working it.
