I’m obsessed with a 100-year-old essay: Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren by English economist John Maynard Keynes. I feel like I’ve mentioned it a lot in Wishful Working, but a brief search of my archive tells me I’ve only talked about it twice?!
It’s a bit dense, so I’ll give you the TL;DR. Here are some things Keynes imagined might come to pass by the year 2030:
A world where technological advancements and increased productivity would enable a significant reduction in necessary working hours for a majority of people.
Specifically, a 15-hour work week.
A collective overcoming of material scarcity that would essentially free people from needing to work to survive.
A collective shift away from obsessive wealth accumulation as basic needs became easier to meet.
An assumption that someday, our primary problem might not be figuring out how to keep ourselves busy in the “age of leisure and of abundance.”
The idea that once wealth is abundant enough, we’ll build a more just and fulfilling society.
We’ve got four years to fulfill Keynes’s predictions. I think we’re going to miss the mark.
He was right about one thing, at least: the past century has seen astonishing technological advancements and increased productivity. I’m not an economic expert, but I know enough to know that in an alternate universe, something very like Keynes’s vision would be possible. Regular people could have less financial anxiety and more time to enjoy life.
But the wealth stayed with billionaire oligarchs, and the workers they exploit to gain that wealth continue to work 40 hours per week (or more — sometimes much more!) just to survive.
I sheepishly feel like I’ve found this utopian alternate universe. In many ways, I am living Keynes’s dream:
I work for myself as a freelance writer, and I typically work 15-20 hours per week. (This includes billable work and non-billable work like admin stuff and writing this newsletter.)
Since I started freelancing in 2022, my average yearly pretax income has been around $48,000 USD, which is more than enough to support my lifestyle in a rural, low cost of living area.
I have safety nets, like universal healthcare (Woo, Canada!) and a spouse who contributes a second income to our household.
(I should also note that while I’m only spending 15-20 hours at my desk, I’m sure I reach 40+ hours per week with different sorts of work — laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, pet care, exercise, community activities.)
I still stress about money. I struggle with aspects of my situation, like the inconvenience of living in a somewhat remote, rural area. But I’m grateful for my situation, and I like my simple life.
I’m also uneasy about it because it feels unfair and uncomfortably privileged. Why can’t we all spent less time at our jobs and more time on the multifaceted work (and play) of being human? Why can’t we distribute the gains of productivity to the people who actually created them by adequately taxing the billionaire oligarchs and corporations?
It’s encouraging to see some steps in the right direction. Organizations and politicians are surfacing conversations about shortening the workweek and implementing safety nets like universal healthcare and basic income.
But we have a long, long way to go.
Even though I work 15-hour weeks, I don’t actually have a 5-day weekend. I prefer to work a little bit each day, spreading my hours out throughout the week and enjoying a lot of flexibility. But I get to decide. And I look forward to a day when more people have that freedom.
See you next week,
Kara
Out of Office
What I do when I’m not at my desk
Reading: I lead a book club at my local library, and we just read Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. It wasn’t my favorite read, but it did have a nice small-town, summertime vibe that I enjoyed. The rest of the book club ladies loved it, though!
Watching: Hacks season 5 is coming out on HBO/Crave (in Canada). I love this show about an older stand-up comedian and her young writer. It is so outrageous and hilarious. A total comfort show that makes me laugh out loud.
Doing: Getting Snail Mail Summer (announced last week) ready to launch! Look for a separate email, probably tomorrow 👀
Kara Detwiller is a writer and creative based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn.
Why Wishful Working? I want to help people thrive in a world obsessed with work and productivity. Together, we’re expanding the definition of productivity, rediscovering life balance, and exploring the many kinds of work that make life possible.
