You can do it, work a little harder.

I had two separate conversations last week that revealed the same Truth. The first was with my flatmate, a girl from Colombia, whose parents moved to Miami. She now lives in France but visits her parents occasionally in Miami. The second was with a girl from Berlin who spent some time in Atlanta, studying and living with a host family.

When telling me about their experience in the US, it was incredible, their observations were almost the exact same. They both had a lot of positive things to say about their experience in the US and would love to visit again. What struck me though was both of them commented on the insane number of hours that most Americans work. Their host family or parents of American friends… 50, 60, 70+ hours every week. Sound familiar? And for what? To them, it seemed like a competition for Americans, who can work the most hours? And then feel proud because you worked 80 hours and your colleague fell short at only 70. That’s it; I’ll work a little harder next week to get that promotion. SICK.

France just fought for a law to keep their work-week at 35 hours per week. I expect our standard week will rise to 45 hours soon. And they take the 7 weeks time-off that they’re entitled to every year. For many of them, life isn’t all about working or how much is in their bank account. They rather spend their free time pursuing things they enjoy, not working away their lives, things like: art, literature, and photography, building relationships, wine and cheese, trimming their moustache, whatever it may be.

Let me add, I don't write this post to criticize the United States and raise the roof for France. We all know that the French are a bunch of pansies anyway. No really, I’m pointing out that in our culture, people are more susceptible to becoming workaholics and driven by Greed (with a capital G). I've been guilty of this. These conversations made me reflect on how I want to live my life. Does it matter if my neighbor’s car is bigger and has more buttons than mine? Do I really want to work 80 hours per week so I can move to that certain neighborhood where I’ll be seen by everyone? Or so I can tell everyone I got promoted to Super Senior Executive Vice President of Large Multinational Corporation? Nah, I rather pursue things that really matter in life, and I don’t mean that big bonus or MVP for working the most hours or prestigious titles.





Okay, I'm off my high horse now. You can get back to work :)