my year of working less

and how less work allowed for so much more

“We operate in a society that rewards production and punishes rest. Worst, we think that we have to earn our rest. We feel good when we're productive, working towards something, and guilty when we aren't…” —Sheila Lam for How to be a Woman on the internet

For so long, I was exactly the type that thrived on this idea of productivity. I fully bought into the Girlboss movement when it emerged in the early 2010s and have only recently began to pry myself from its claws. I worked long and I worked hard. And when I wasn’t working my main job, I was working on a side hustle as secondary income. And when I wasn’t doing that, I was working on myself. Any free minute I had was a minute dedicated to making me better or smarter in some way, whether it was reading an educational book or listening to an informative podcast. Brushing my teeth meant getting updated on current events. Driving the car meant learning about the Indian Child Welfare Act (which is massively important, by the way, and is being wrongly debated in the Supreme Court). Going on walks meant brushing up on the influencer pay gap between white influencers and influencers of color. My hobbies – reading and going for walks – turned into opportunities for productivity. Like Sheila said, I felt good when I was productive, working towards something. And guilty when I wasn’t. I was always working, whether it was on my job, my side hustle, or myself. 

At the end of December 2022, I realized I wanted to do something about it… and I did. I did the unthinkable — I decided to work less than the year before. 

The idea of doing less was foreign to me. I was always taught to work as hard as I can for as long as I can. That success means doing more, making more. That when it came to work, having a full plate wasn’t enough – I needed to have a plate that was overflowing. But where does it end? If 5 years ago me had known all that I was working on and making last year, she would have thought I'd made it. Yet, there I was, feeling like it wasn’t enough. The more I made, the more I wanted. Regardless of the projects I took on, there was always a more impressive client or brand partnership that I could acquire. And I know it wasn’t just me who felt this way. My peers were operating the same way. Even others I knew, people who had all the money in the world, compared themselves to those with even more money and more power, and felt the same pressures to do more and make more even though they didn’t have to. 

For so many of us, these goalposts are always changing, constantly pushed out of reach, further and further the moment we get to them. So at the end of last year, I decided that I would move the goalposts – but this time, I would move them closer, not farther. I made a promise to myself that I would take on less work, less projects. And that I would put a cap on my income in order to stifle the temptation to do more.

Before I go further, I want to acknowledge that being able to do that comes with a lot of privilege. And not something everyone can do. There are bills to pay, family members to support, and important life goals to save for. But for many, especially those in my industry and specifically those in much higher tax brackets, this ability to do less is possible, yet the addiction for more – more money, more status, more things – makes the idea of working less and making less sound unimaginable.