Barbara Agoglia was a director in the small business unit at American Express. Working more than 50 hours a week and driving a 90-minute commute each day, she was on the brink of burnout. Then came the breaking point: Her son started school, and she didn’t have the time to wait with him at his bus stop. Feeling like a hamster on a wheel, she took what seemed her only option: She quit her job.1
Nor is she alone. Harvard University president Neil Rudenstine found it necessary to leave his position for two months in order to have a time of “rest and recovery.” According to a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Texas in Arlington, he has lots of company. “The average tenure of [university] presidents … in the past 10 years has dropped from approximately seven to three-and-a-half years,”2 he found, because it’s just too hard to keep the pace for longer than that.
Many workers today agree that it feels like simply working hard is not enough anymore. “To get ahead, a 70-hour work week is the new standard,” you may hear — or experience.3 Even if you’re not working 70 hours a week, you may feel that the pace or the expectations of your job leave too little of your energy and focus for your family, never mind for other pursuits that make up a good life. Expectations ratchet up, while job security diminishes. And meanwhile our kids are busier than ever, while church and community organizations also demand their piece. Too many of us are left on what feels like a no-win treadmill. For many of us, work is the new Caesar, the oppressive but unchallengeable authority that makes life unmanageable.
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