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I used to think hard work was a necessary evil. In my first job out of college, I worked 12-14 hour days and often felt lazy. I could be doing more, I thought. Then I realized I hadn't had an original thought pop into my head in weeks--and the staff I was working with could handle me "slacking off" to 8-hour days.

What I discovered beside happiness and a rediscovered social life was that working harder doesn't necessarily mean working longer. In fact, sometimes working harder is fruitless. But long hours is an epidemic in our society. I can't believe I started having conversations with my peers about retirement when we were in our mid-20s!

 David Wann's new book Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle is a thought provoking work, challenging the reader to examine what sustainable living truly looks like and how to get there. His chapter on "Time Affluence" challenged me to plot and scheme--not to mention support possible legislation--to work less, not more. The four-hour work week isn't feasible for most, but working less than 40 is something I aspire to do one day. Here's what Wann has to say on this topic:

[John de Graaf] is also national coordinator of the organization Take Back Your Time, and has thoroughly documented the American syndrome of overworking. (He has many suggestions for what to do about it, too. See www.Timeday.org.) De Graaf notes that 57 percent of employed adults say they don’t always leave work on time, and less than one out of five are “very satisfied” with their current work/life balance. “More than half of Americans say they’d be willing to trade a day off a week for a day’s pay a week,” says de Graaf.

A full third of U.S. adult employees don’t use all of their vacation days—574 million vacation days were left on the table in 2006! Why? Because overwork has become “normal” in America. We can’t afford to lose our jobs because house payments are huge, the standard of living is inflated, and health-care benefits are linked with work. Although employers are convinced that longer hours mean more productivity, countless studies link longer work with carelessness and injuries. “Job stress and burnout costs the U.S. economy more than $300 billion a year,” estimates de Graaf.

John de Gaaf has become politically active on the work-time issue, meeting with politicians such as Barack Obama to find political support for legislation that has his organization advocates. This proposed legislation would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to grant three weeks of time off for anyone who’s worked at a job for a year. … [De Graaf says], “In France, for example, it’s not just the red wine that leads to lower health risks of heart disease, but the long, leisurely meals that create healthy bonds of friendship.”