5 ms·
I often hear people making statements like the one in the title (I'd kill to...), but usually the first response that jumps into my head is "No, you wouldn't."
by jasonkester 16y ago
I often hear people making statements like the one in the title (I'd kill to...), but usually the first response that jumps into my head is "No, you wouldn't."
If you really wanted a four day work week, you would have one. You'd make it a priority and either negotiate it into your current job or go find an employer who was flexible enough to allow it.
The fact that you're working 5 days a week can be taken as a statement that you are in fact content to work 5 days per week.
I used to get this a lot when I'd come back from a long trip. "I wish I could just drop everything and go traveling for a whole year..." But you can. You just haven't. And if you thought about it, you'd probably realize that you really just prefer to lead the life you're leading.
The key is to understand yourself and what you really want. Then do that.
- lkrubner 16y agoSomewhat related, I love this quote from Eliezer_Yudkowsky: "Have you ever caught yourself saying something like, "I just don't understand how a PhD physicist can believe in astrology?" Well, if you literally don't understand, this indicates a problem with your model of human psychology. Perhaps you are indignant - you wish to express strong moral disapproval. But if you literally don't understand, then your indignation is stopping you from coming to terms with reality. It shouldn't be hard to imagine how a PhD physicist ends up believing in astrology. People compartmentalize, enough said." http://lesswrong.com/lw/hs/think_like_reality/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/hs/think_like_reality/
- Florin_Andrei 16y agoYou seem to assume everyone can get anything they want, any time.
- Xurinos 16y agoJust four days a week and a year. That is a far cry from "a pleasure cruise to the moon" and "peace for all mankind". But there is a middle ground. You can certainly work towards things, but depending on your situation and available resources, you may not be able to achieve some of them in the desired time frames.
- rfrey 16y agoNo, he's assuming people have the freedom to prioritize.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoNot everyone, but drive matters. If a four-day week was important enough for you to literally kill for - and yeah, that's hyperbole - you could probably find a way of making it happen if it was more important to you than to everyone else.
- maw 16y agoThat would be really nice if it were true. For some people it is; for many more it simply is not.
- hessenwolf 16y agoMmmm... are you taking this very literally? I indulged in hyperbole. I mean that I would really like a four day week. It would be good for my personal research. If I have kids, I would still like the option to work a four day week, but for different reasons. By kids, I mean children, not baby goats. I used slang just there.
- sp4rki 16y agoI don't know about other countries, but where I live the default is working six days a week. Some lucky people work half time on Saturdays. I work five days a week. It's the first thing I tell a potential employer. I've tried to get a four day week, but it's just not happening. I can surely tell you that getting a four day week where I live is 99% impossible. And what gives that that 1% is in my industry? I'd kill for a four day week, but it just isn't happening in my country. I'd rather have a job (and one I enjoy at that), than not having one. I wish I had a four day week, but I can't because then my family doesn't eat while I look for this utopian workplace (which may not exist) that caters to all my wants.