Hi Maarten. You’re a great writer. Despite the dense subject I enjoyed the narrative of this piece. I’ve touched on a few of the same points in Fuck work. Jobs are broken. Culturally, we need to redefine what work means to people, or there’s going to be a lot more suffering in the next few decades.

I also find the psychological aspect of this intriguing. How we’ve come to feel guilt over not being productive all of the time, even time when we’re not at work and should be relaxing. I feel this myself all the time, despite recognising the problem and actively trying to correct it.

As a freelancer, I have greater control of my work and my purpose than most employees do, yet this Protestant work ethic that has been ingrained into our society still impacts how I perceive my value (or lack thereof). I recently discussed some of this in The freelancer’s mental load, which explores how the self-employed can have even greater trouble in the fight against extreme productivity.