"Overworked Americans" or overwhelmed Americans? Learning to relax and choose which decisions to make and inputs to respond to is the key to getting rid of that overwhelmed feeling - includes bibliography

Business Horizons, Jan-Feb, 1994 by Jeff Davidson

Which word best describes the typical working American today?

a) Overworked.

b) Underworked.

c) Energetic.

d) Lazy.

Although much has been written of late as to whether (a), (b), (c), or (d) is correct, the most appropriate answer may well be "None of the above." Powerful social forces have the potential to turn each of us into human whirlwinds charging about in "fast forward." Work, time away from work, and everything in between appear as if they are all part of a never-ending, ever-lengthening "To Do" list, to be handled during days that race by.

To say that Americans work too many hours, and that too much work is at the root of the time pressure we feel and the leisure we lack, is to miss the convergence of larger, more fundamental issues. We could handle the longer hours (actually less than 79 minutes more per day) we work compared to the Europeans. It is everything else competing for our attention that leaves us feeling overwhelmed. Once this happens, the feeling of being overworked quickly follows.

Nearly every aspect of American society has become more complex even since the mid-1980s. Traveling is becoming more cumbersome. Learning new ways of managing and increasing productivity takes its toll. Merely living in America today and participating as a functioning member of society guarantees that your days (weeks, months, years, life)--as well as your physical, emotional, and spiritual energy--will easily be depleted without the proper vantage point from which to live each day. Do you personally know anyone who works for a living who consistently has unscheduled, free stretches? Five factors, or "mega-realities," are simultaneously contributing to the perceptual and actual erosion of leisure time among Americans:

* population growth;

* an expanding volume of knowledge;

* media growth and electronic addiction;

* the paper trail culture; and

* an over-abundance of choices.

Population

In 1850 the world's human population reached one billion. It grew to two billion by 1930, three billion by 1960, four billion by 1979, and five billion by 1987, with six billion now in sight. Every 33 months, the current population of the United States--257,000,000 people--is added to the planet.

The world of your childhood is gone forever. The present is crowded and becoming more so. Each day, world population (births minus deaths) increases by more than 260,000 people. Geometric growth in human population permeates and dominates every aspect of the planet and its resources, the environment and all living things. This is the most compelling aspect of our existence, and will be linked momentarily to the four other mega-realities.

When John F. Kennedy was elected president, domestic population was 180 million. It grew by 70 million in one generation. Our growing population has not dispersed over the nation's 5.4 million square miles. About 97 percent of the U.S. population resides on 3 percent of the land mass. Half of our population resides within 50 miles of the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean, and 75 percent of the U.S. population live in urban areas, with 80 percent predicted for the end of the century.

More densely packed urban areas have resulted, predictably, in a gridlock of the nation's transportation systems. It takes us longer merely to drive a few blocks; it is not our imagination, not the day of the week or the season. Nor is it going to subside soon. Our population and road use grow faster than our ability to repair highways, bridges and arteries. Vehicles (primarily cars) are multiplying twice as fast as people: we are currently approaching 400,000,000 vehicles, compared to 165,000,000 registered motorists.

Some 86 percent of American commuters still reach work by automobile, and 84 percent of inner-city travel is by automobile. The average American now commutes 157,600 miles to work during his working lifetime---equal to six times around the earth. Commuting snarls are increasing. City planners report that there will be no clear solution to gridlock for decades; all population studies reveal that our nation's metropolitan areas will become home to an even greater percentage of the population. Even less populated urban areas will face unending traffic dilemmas. If only the gridlock were confined to commuter arteries. However, shoppers, air travelers, vacationers, even campers---everyone in motion is or will be feeling its effects.

Knowledge

Many Americans fear being under-informed. This moment, you and everyone you know are being bombarded on all sides by a level of information that wreaks havoc on the receptive capacities of the unwary. The volume of new knowledge broadcast and published in every field is enormous, exceeding anyone's ability to keep pace. More words are published or broadcast in one day than you could comfortably ingest in the rest of your life. By far, America leads the world in the sheer volume of information generated and disseminated.

No body of knowledge exists that everyone can be expected to know. In its 140th year, for example, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. added 942,000 items to its collections. Even our language keeps expanding. Since 1966, more than 60,000 words have been added to the English language---equal to half or more of the words in some languages. Harvard's library subscribes to 160,000 journals and periodicals.