from the Introduction

Hard work is part of the American dream. We all know that in order to succeed, you must pull yourself up by your bootstraps, put your nose to the grindstone, work, work and then work some more. Over the last couple of decades, this push to work has grown from an encouragement to innovate and create to a soul-sapping force driving people to 80-hour weeks chasing careers they may not even find satisfying. And the real cost for all these extra hours? Many people can no longer relate to their friends, participate in the political process or even keep themselves sane. Legions of burned-out workers volunteer to be laid off so they can get “the package” and try to catch a breath. It’s misemployment madness! Someone needs to cut us a break.

We wrote Time Off! The Upside to Downtime to help you give yourself a break, to help you figure out how to work and live. Think of time off as not only just as important as work, but also as a way to refresh and rejuvenate that enables you to work more effectively, and with greater fulfillment. In fact, “time off” and “downtime” are in some sense misnomers. There is perhaps no greater potential for the human spirit to be “on” or “up” than during a break from work.

Who This Book Is For

You don’t have to quit your job to enjoy Time Off! If you are out of a job, you’re perfectly poised to rediscover what’s important to you. If you merely aspire to take a break, we hope to tip the scales in favor of gaining a new perspective on the familiar.

Maybe you have a job but it’s part-time or project-based. If you’re not into hustling 60 hours a week for The Man and would rather save some daylight hours for feeding your own soul, this book is for you too. And if you’re lucky enough to like your job, or have a secure job and want to keep it—well, what’s wrong with playing a little hooky now and then? Even workaholics need a vacation day once in a while.

Whether you were “downsized” or are gainfully employed, proactively taking a sabbatical or reacting to a sudden layoff, you’ll find hundreds of ideas in Time Off! on how to take advantage of and savor your free time, without burning through piles of money.

Click here to read the press release.