How many hours per day would you like to work?

[Gori the Grey]

Imagine your livelihood didn't depend on it (annuity, UBI) so you were just working for whatever satisfaction you find in work itself.

I would like you to answer for your present job. (So the answer may well be zero if you do your present job only to support yourself)

Retirees answer for the last job you held before you retired. People who work more than one job, answer for the one of them you enjoy most.

Assuming a 5-day workweek. You get your weekends for playing Civ V.

 

[Lexicus]

A 10 hour week sounds good

 

[fy00sh]

answered with 4 hours before i saw 5-day work week, but i think my answer still stands. ideally itd be 4 hrs/day, 4 days/week or 5hrs/day, 3days/week at my current job (general merchandise clerk at a supercenter) mostly just cos i like having a reason to go outside the house and force myself to get exercise. but if it had to be 5 days/week i think itd still be 4hrs/day, any less than 4 and it feels like "why am i bothering to leave home at all today, again?"

 

[Kyriakos]

I voted zero. But I'd be ok with working 2 hours/day=>10 hours/week ^^

 

[elmurcis]

Wouldn't change anything from current status - Two hours a day outside all year round (so technically 16 hrs a week). Perfect amount of fresh air together with being around animals (cats, cows and chickens... I call it "3C") and keeping myself in relatively good shape (cylinder is good shape, right?)

 

[sophie]

4-6 depending on what I’m working on.

My current job has a lot of remote flexibility which allows me to already effectively set my hours, since remote for my job is mostly just responding to emails, writing the occasional po and answering budgeting questions in slack.

 

[JollyRoger]

Roughly 1 to 3 hours per day. That is my plan once I hit the point where I can pretty much travel non-stop if I want.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

4 hours a day would be nice, I’d feel like I could accomplish a lot at work effectively still, while having all afternoon and evening for myself.

 

[Birdjaguar]

When I worked, I worked as long as necessary but put in at least 8 hours a day. I liked my work and the people around me (most of the time).

EDIT: I miss read the question. Changed my vote. I'd likely put in 4 hours if the work was fun and interesting.

 

[amadeus]

I would say six. 9-3? I could accomplish everything then, easily, assuming I’m talking about a different job rather than the grinding wage slavery to which I’m currently committed.

 

[Gorbles]

Four is good. I need that kind of blocked-out time to develop anything of any complexity, software-wise. Any less and it's chopping-and-changing too much, any more and I'll invariably get interrupted anyway.

 

[Narz]

It would vary based on the day (big part of success imo is the right to be as lazy as you want if needed)

I voted 3 hours as an average but I'd say at most maybe 10 hours if I was super engaged w what I was doing and minimum zero if I wanted pure leisure/socializing/etc

In an ideal world work (how to actualize the service I want to give the world) would always be in the back of my mind.

In Office Space (fun movie) the protagonist is so burnt out/disengaged @ work he just wants to do nothing but deep down I don't think anyone actually wants to do nothing.

 

[emzie]

4 to 6 hours, averaged to 5.

 

[El_Machinae]

Completely depends on the type of work. My current work is quite unrewarding. There have been periods in other positions where 8 hours days plus two hours commute was happily done.

 

[Zardnaar]

Probably 0.

Work usually pays the bills I don't enjoy it generally.

 

[Hygro]

I believe in a 4x4 workweek

I would even say 3x3 but you’re sacrificing some of your flow state buffer zone and assured mental continuity.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Zero!

I'd spend my time self-actualizing and productive on things that I care about like mental health, personal development, and being a good steward of my local environment.

Hopefully AI and robots could make that a reality. Otherwise, I'd like the number of "work" hours to be as low as possible, please and thank you.

 

[PhroX]

I'd go for 15-20 hours a week, particularly if I had flexibility regarding how those hours are distributed. If I had to go for a fixed per-day hours, I'd lean towards 4 days of 4 hours.

 

[9gkj548hkm20vk79dj689bnj4]

Given the restraints of the question, I would have to say 4 hours (out of my current 8) every weekday. Because I'm usually done by about noon anyway, the rest of the day is just answering emails/phones.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

i don't actually know. i had a window of not being employed > 10 yr ago, and it sucked. i would probably prefer to work less total hours than now. but the answer "something between 0 and full time" isn't very precise.