1. Slow down, I want to get off!
Have you ever been irriÂtated because your train left ten minutes late? Or because there was a queue at the superÂmarÂket till? Or because people in front of you were dawÂdling or driving slowly? Or even because someone took their time to get to the point? Then accordÂing to carÂdiÂolÂoÂgist Meyer Friedman (1999) you suffer from âhurry sicknessâ. The funny thing about hurry sickÂness is that sufferÂers often think theyâre okay while those who are immune are porÂtrayed as being sick.
- Do you regÂuÂlarly work thirty minutes a day longer than your contracted hours?
- Do you check work emails and phone mesÂsages at home?
- Has anyone ever said to you: âI didnât want to trouble you because I know how busy you areâ?
- Do your family or friends comÂplain about not getting time with you?
- If tomorÂrow evening was unexÂpectÂedly freed up, would you use it to work or do a houseÂhold chore?
- Do you often feel tired during the day or do you find your neck and shoulÂders aching?
- Do you often exceed the speed limit while driving?
- Do you make use of any flexÂible working arrangeÂments offered by your employÂers?
- Do you pray with your chilÂdren regÂuÂlarly?
- Do you have enough time to pray?
- Do you have a hobby in which you are actively involved?
- Do you eat together as a family or houseÂhold at least once a day?
If you mainly answered âyesâ to quesÂtions 1â7 and ânoâ to quesÂtions 8â12 then maybe you have a busyÂness problem.
Busy at work
The average British worker puts in an 8.7-hour day. If you enter the office at 8.30am and take an hour for lunch that means you leave at 6.12pm. The average German or Italian worker leaves one hour before you. Theyâre already at home enjoyÂing a lager or glass of Chianti. Thatâs if your contiÂnental counterÂpart actuÂally went to work. While UK workers get 28 days holiday a year includÂing bank holÂiÂdays, French workers get 47 days, Germans 41 days, Spaniards 46 days and Italians 44 days. Brits do, however, work less than the Americans, who work a 47-hour week â longer now than in the 1920s.
Contracted working hours have in fact changed little in the last fifty years, but they donât reflect the hours people actuÂally do. The average British worker does the equivÂaÂlent of eight weeks unpaid overÂtime each year. Itâs as if you worked each January and February without pay. Three-quarÂters of manÂagÂers feel working late or at weekÂends is the only way to deal with the workÂload. Itâs not just office workers. Machine operÂaÂtors and superÂmarÂket checkÂout staff comÂmonly work five extra hours a week. Less than half of all workers use their full holiday entiÂtleÂment, while the average lunch âhourâ actuÂally lasts 27 minutes. Plus it takes an average of 38 minutes to get to work. UK manÂÂagers have the longest commute in Europe â 53 minutes. And none of these staÂtisÂtics takes into account the time spent thinkÂing about work issues while youâre sitting in the bath or dining with your family.
No wonder over a third of people agree that âin the evenÂings I am so tired I just fall asleep on the sofaâ (Jones, 2003). Moreover, the pensions crisis sugÂgests most of us will be on this treadÂmill until weâre 70. âOne of the greatÂest chalÂlenges facing Christians in the UKâ, says Mark Greene (2004) of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, âis to live the abunÂdant life of Christ in the face of the dehuÂmanÂizÂing, relaÂtionÂally destrucÂtive and emoÂtionÂally, physÂiÂcally and spirituÂally debilÂiÂtatÂing effects of the conÂtemÂpoÂrary work-place.â
Busy at play
Even our time off can be hard work. Our secular age tends to give Âmaterial answers to spirÂiÂtual probÂlems. So leisure has become a thing you âdoâ or âbuyâ. We ârelaxâ by going to the gym, driving across town to a late night movie or spendÂing an afterÂnoon shopÂping â and nothing is more tiring than shopÂping! We no longer âstrollâ or ârambleâ; now we âhikeâ with walking poles to propel us along. Leisure is no longer rest; leisure is conÂsumpÂtion. And so we must work hard to afford our new leisure lifeÂstyles! As Ellen Goodman (2004) comÂments: âNormal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work, driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need so you can pay for the clothes, the car, and the house that you leave empty all day in order to afford to live in it.â Labour saving devices have increased, but we also have larger homes and more posÂsesÂsions that need more mainÂteÂnance.
âThe problem with teleÂviÂsion is that people must sit and keep their eyes glued to a screen; the average American family hasnât time for it.â So said the New York Times in 1939 (Ward, 2003). Looking back it seems a crazy stateÂment. But is it? Maybe it was true then and maybe itâs true now. We have enough to do without watchÂing teleÂviÂsion, and yet watch teleÂviÂsion we do for hours on end. And then we wonder why the rest of life seems so busy.
Too busy to be healthy
More than eight out of ten British workers feel their health has been harmed by work demands. One in five men has visited the doctor with work-related stress. Sixty percent of us feel our workÂloads are someÂtimes out of control. One in five feels this way most of the time. For many, a nervous breakÂdown is the only way out. One church leader told me: âI someÂtimes long to be hosÂpiÂtalÂized â nothing too painful, but Iâd have no responÂsibilÂities and lots of attenÂtion.â
âWeâd like to be unhappy,â sang Bing Crosby, âbut we never do have the time.â Once upon a time people âconvalescedâ after illness. âTime will heal,â we said. Not any more. Adverts for cold remÂeÂdies used to portray a patient tucked up in bed sipping a hot drink. Now they show people turning up unexÂpectÂedly at work, high on medÂiÂcine to beat off the comÂpeÂtiÂtion. You donât even have to stop to take your medÂiÂcine. âWe even have prodÂucts which disÂsolve on the tongue,â they boast, âso you can take them on the go!â In the sevenÂteenth century Samuel Pepys had a 40-day recovÂery period after a kidney stone operÂaÂtion. Today three-quarÂters of us go to work when weâre ill, even though a ten-year study by University College London showed that workers who donât take time off when ill have double the rate of heart disease.
With so much going on in our lives, where can we steal some extra time from? These days eight or nine hours sleep seems posÂiÂtively feckÂless. And so on average we sleep one hour less than we need each night. Although the need for sleep can vary from six to ten hours between differÂent individÂuals, adults require on average eight hours. In fact the average nightâs sleep is 7.04 hours. Thatâs down two hours from the 1910 average! No wonder weâre all so tired.
Too busy to think
âI get the impresÂsion that the biggest sacÂriÂfice for people engagÂing with anyÂthing is that they just donât have the time and space to think about it!â Jill works for a Christian anti-poverty camÂpaign. She told me: âPlenty of people want quick actions, but the actual work of taking time to think seems unmanÂageÂable. Peopleâs minds are full and the âno more roomâ light is flashÂing!â
âTime will tell,â people used to say, but today we canât wait that long. We confuse inforÂmaÂtion and wisdom. Access to data does not make you wise. Wisdom takes study and reflecÂtion. Indeed true wisdom is found through a relaÂtionÂship with God. âThe fear of the LORD is the beginÂning of knowledgeâ (Proverbs 1:7). But this wisdom does not become out of date with the next bulleÂtin. âAll men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field...The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands for everâ (Isaiah 40:6,8).
Too busy for relationships
In Bill Forsythâs film Local Hero (1983) Mac MacIntyre is an American oil execÂuÂtive sent to the Scottish village of Ferness to negoÂtiate the buildÂing of an oil refinÂery. At first he is puzzled by the eccenÂtricÂities of the inhabÂiÂtants, but as the film proÂgresses he is charmed by this comÂmuÂnity whose slow pace of life has weaÂthered the cenÂtuÂries. Although someÂwhat romanÂtic, the charm works on the viewer as well. Films of small, rural comÂmuÂnities â films like Local Hero, Waking Ned and Amazing Grace â appeal to us because they portray the slower, more relaÂtional way of life for which we yearn. We want to live in the Shire rather than in Lord of the Ringsâ Isengard. One survey found that 72% of manÂagÂers had been critÂiÂcized by family and friends for spendÂing too much time working.
We are âbowling aloneâ, as Harvard Professor Robert Putnam puts it (Putnam, 2000). There used to be bowling leagues across the United States. But, he observes, people no longer commit to clubs and sociÂeties. They still go bowling, either alone or in âinforÂmal groupsâ â we donât have time for a regular activÂity. And what is true for sports clubs is true for social involveÂment. Seventy-two percent of manÂagÂers claim overÂwork has restricted their ability to get involved in comÂmuÂnity affairs. Graduate women used to combine homeÂmakÂing with comÂmuÂnity work; now theyâre in the workÂplace. Plus âflexibleâ working means your free time may not coinÂcide with mine so itâs hard for us to work together on a local project.
Paul Tripp describes a married couple whom everyÂone thought were stalÂwarts of the local church. Then one day Paul got a call from the husband asking for an urgent meeting. It turned out they had been physÂiÂcally fighting for years. How was it, Paul asks, that this had been hapÂpenÂing without any one in the church knowing? He conÂcludes:
Perhaps the simplest reason for our lack of self-disclosing candour is that no one asks. The typical rhythms of our lives militate against going below the surface. In the busyness of life it seems intrusive to ask questions that cannot be answered without self-disclosure. Yet there is a way in which we all hunger for relationships of that quality. These are the relationships in which the Redeemer does his good work.
(Tripp, 2002)
Too busy for Jesus
Christians are susÂcepÂtiÂble to all the time presÂsures other people expeÂriÂence, but we add a few of our own. We make a virtue of hard work. We place a high premium on family time. And then we add in Christian meetÂings and responÂsibilÂities in church. As a result, sugÂgests Robert Banks, âwith respect to time, Christians are a good deal worse off than manyâ (Banks, 1983). A friend told me his church had idenÂtified âtime impoverishmentâ as one of the major chalÂlenges it faces. Does your daily prayer time ever feel hurried? Do you even have a daily prayer time? Does church involveÂment ever feel like another unwelÂcome demand? In 2004 artist Michael Gough created an exhiÂbiÂtion entiÂtled âIconoÂgraphyâ. An actor dressed as an archeÂtypal Jesus posed around London, blessÂing passers-by, while Gough disÂcreetly photoÂgraphed the results. âNo-one engages him in conÂverÂsaÂtion,â Gough comÂments. âPeople in the City have appointÂments to honour, meetÂings to attend, deals to make, lunch to buy.â We are too busy for Jesus.
Who hit the accelerator?
Whatâs the first thing you do when you wake in the morning? Chances are you check the time. In medÂieÂval times people lived by the sun and the seasons. But the facÂtoÂries of indusÂtrial revÂoÂluÂtion required a co-ordiÂnated workÂforce. âThe clock, not the steam engine,â claims Lewis Mumford, âis the key machine of the indusÂtrial ageâ (cited in Banks, 1983). The first factory floors were domÂiÂnated by large clocks and workers were conÂdiÂtioned to accept clock time through a system of fines. Plus the new light bulbs turned night into day. Henry Ford realÂized he could run three eight-hour shifts every day instead of one nine-hour shift. Tonight seven million people in the UK are working. Historian Eric Hobsbawn (1969) comÂments: âIndustry brings the tyranny of the clock...the measÂureÂment of life not in seasons or even weeks and days, but in minutes, and above all a mechÂaÂnized regÂuÂlarÂity of work which conÂflicts not only with traÂdiÂtion, but with all the incliÂnaÂtions of a humanÂity as yet unconÂdiÂtioned into it.â Today we live life under the shadow of the clock. Children are conÂdiÂtioned to live by âperiodsâ at school. Church life, too, is affected. We donât take as long as it takes; instead meetÂings run to schedÂule. British Christians someÂtimes laugh at African churches where everyÂone arrives late and meetÂings can run on for hours. But that we find such habits strange reveals the extent to which we have become slaves to the clock.
Changing patterns of work and rest
Pre-Industrial Life | Industrial Life | Post-Industrial Life |
the workÂplace is in the home | the workÂplace is seperate from the home | the bounÂdarÂies between work and home are blurred |
the whole family is involved in domesÂtic and commerÂcial activÂity | men go out to work while women work in the home | men and women are in the workÂplace, but women do most of the domesÂtic chores |
work and home in the same locaÂtion | walk to work | a long commute to work |
seaÂsonal flucÂtuÂaÂtions in workload plus many holy days | long working hours and no holidays | conÂstant presÂsure at work with two to four weeks' holiday |
people working enough to maintain their standard of living | people working enough to maintain their standard of living | people working to attain an ever higher standard of living |
high autonomy | low autonomy | high autonomy |
specialized manual skills | one or two skills honed by years of practice | constantly needing to update skills and knowledge |
a slow pace of life | a slow pace of life outside work | a fast pace of life in both work and leisure |
regulated by daylight and seasons | regulated by the clock | self-regulated |
dividing time into days | dividing time into hours | dividing time into minutes |
work itself is seen as fulfilling | work itself is seen as fulfilling | aspiring to jobs that are intrinsically fulfilling |
This table sumÂmarizes how patÂterns of work and rest have changed. You would be unwise to comÂplain too loudly about your working hours in front of your Victorian ancesÂtors. Today we work fewer hours than nineÂteenth century factory workers and domesÂtic serÂvants. The 1847 Ten Hours Act limited the working week in the textile indusÂtry to 60 hours â still a lot more than the contracted hours of most people today.
But the nature of work has changed. People speak of âwork intensificationâ. Jobs in our inforÂmaÂtion age typÂiÂcally involve complex tasks and lots of autonÂomy. Such high disÂcreÂtion jobs create more opporÂtuÂnities for self-fulÂfilÂment, but also more opporÂtuÂnities for stress. A hundred years ago people went home physÂiÂcally tired. No trip to the gym. Now most of us go home menÂtally worn out. We go to the gym to work out the frusÂtraÂtions of the day. A hundred years ago blue collar workers worked longer hours than white collar workers; now itâs the other way round. When people say we are busier than ever, âweâ means âwe the middle-classesâ. It could be that the issue of busyÂness has âourâ attenÂtion because itâs now a middle-class pheÂnomÂeÂnon.
In pre-indusÂtrial times famÂiÂlies lived, worked and played together. The exhorÂtaÂtion to âmake timeâ for family would have been meanÂingÂless. But with the indusÂtrial revÂoÂluÂtion men went out to work while women worked at home. In post-indusÂtrial sociÂeties women have again entered the workÂplace â 70% of them. The result is that many women find themÂselves working a âdouble shiftâ: out at work during the day, houseÂhold chores at night. In the inforÂmaÂtion age, work is intrudÂing into leisure time. Sixty percent of us read work emails at home or on holiday. Government figures suggest that working parents spend twice as long dealing with emails as playing with...