Working hard outside of work

At the risk of turning this blog into a series of responses to Democracy in America posts, I'd like to briefly highlight a post from the beginning of this week entitled "Work for Post-Materialists."

The post is mostly a discussion of the idea of 'threshold earners' and their place in today's rather shaky economy. Threshold earners are, according to the excellent Tyler Cowen essay on American income inequality cited in the DiA post, "someone who seeks to earn a certain amount of money and no more...That person simply wants to 'get by' in terms of absolute earning power in order to experience other gains in the form of leisure--spending time with friends and family, walking in the woods, and so on."

I say with the (as ever) unnamed Economist writer: "This is me. I don't want to maximize income. I want to maximize autonomy and time for unremunerative but satisfying creative work."


Most people consider themselves hard workers. I'm no exception. The issue for me is that much of the work that I really want to do wouldn't likely earn me a reasonable living. Performing loud angry guitar music doesn't pay well, as I've said before on this blog. Nor does writing blogs and reviews of loud angry guitar music. Reading books, running, and drinking beer on a porch in the summertime don't pay at all, and probably aren't work in the first place. Writing about politics and culture is a somewhat more feasible career path, but the competition is so fierce that I find the prospect intimidating.

There are other kinds of work that appeal to me as well. Many of them, like practicing law, require such devotion that I'd have to give up most or all of my other interests. Doing so would not be good for my mental health. Spending my life doing menial work that I despise (like my current job) wouldn't be good for me either, though.


So I'm willing to work hard, but I'm not willing to spend all my time 'at work.' My goal is to find adequately-paying work that I enjoy which allows plenty of time for my creative pursuits. And it'd be nice if I could retain some sense of autonomy while doing that work. As the DiA writer says, "I don't want to be a tiny business that hires myself. I don't want to be my own boss, or to have a boss at all. I just want to work and get paid for it, on terms that are agreeable to both parties involved." And I think that a lot of people in my position feel the same way.