A widely shared definition of “freedom” is tough to agree upon, but until the 1930s, a broad group of Americans, from poets and architects to business owners and conservative politicians, shared a vision that capitalism would deliver on the hazy idea in a very concrete way: more and more leisure time for all.
In their view, economic progress would carve a path from the grueling factories of the Industrial Revolution to a not-so-distant future largely free from work. As the British economist John Maynard Keynes put it in 1930, “for the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem — how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure which science and compound interest will have won for him.”
I work a 2-2-3 schedule, 2 days on, 2 off, 3 on, then the next week it reverses, so on average I work 3½ days/week.
Now granted I do work 12 hour days, which isn’t for everyone or every job, but overall I love this schedule.
I have days off during the week which is really convenient for running errands.
I never work more than 3 days in a row without a 2 or 3 day break.
Every other weekend is a 3 day weekend
If I plan my vacations accordingly I only need to take off 2 days to get a whole week off.
I actually kind of struggle to use up my vacation time every year because 90% of everything I’d want to do can be squeezed into my schedule with little to no adjustment.
Also my personal schedule is 3pm-3am, which again isn’t for everyone, but I love it. There’s basically never any significant traffic during my commute, and it’s basically the schedule we all sort of wanted when we were teens and 20-somethings- sleep in until noon, and go home after the bars kick you out. It’s not as bad as a regular night shift where you have to totally turn your schedule on it’s head to do stuff during the morning/daytime,
The biggest bummer about it is when your friends end up working the exact opposite shift because you never get to see them.