I, a software engineer, typically work walking distance from companies in urban environments. My commute is typically 15 minutes. 10 minutes by Lyft. My workd

I, a software engineer, typically work walking distance from companies in urban environments. My commute is typically 15 minutes. 10 minutes by Lyft. My workday is typically 8 hours, which includes a generous lunch break of 45 min to 1 hour. Yes, the account managers and bloggers operate on a stricter set of work ethics, primarily out of fear, and have much longer commutes. Software engineers aren't exempt from this by any means, there are easily heftier paychecks and brand names that require 3 hour commutes where you are considered lucky if get to do 5 of the 8 hours on a bus. > It gets pretty hard to pursue a side project, art, or a hobby living like that. Just pointing out that there is a prevalent and alternate approach here exclusive to workers that can afford it. A vibrant urban environment has lots of impromptu stimulation available. In your observed day, this seems to give back 1 hour for lunch, and an extra 1.5 hour from commuting, so upwards of 2.5 hours gained on top of the 4 hours you identified, giving 6.5 hours for creative endeavors or hobbies. When including some stretch goals of less sleep for an hour or two, then there is plenty of time without even encroaching on unhealthy territory. Add this up over a week or year and the commodity of time becomes a much more apparent inequality.