In all, we need a vision for the praising of idleness for the 21st century— embracing Bertrand Russell’s dedication to less work and more play for all while adapting it to the unique challenges we face today. We must go against the grain of the mindset of overwork and develop a healthy balance between labor and leisure, one that places work in the proper perspective: as a means for us to achieve all the things we want to do and not as the end that we constantly judge ourselves by. One of the only silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic was that it gave us more time to be home with our loved ones, to finally read that book we’ve been wanting to read for forever, or to bake the perfect loaf of sourdough bread. It was a moment for us to radically reevaluate the basic conditions of our overworked, underpaid, and wildly burnt out society. People realized, many for the first time, that there was a world beyond work.

As such, they started to reconsider the basic work arrangements in this country, which have not changed in a major way in nearly 100 years. It is high time we reevaluate this setup and move towards a leisure-oriented society; it will not just help those like me who work in an office, but it will help gig workers and part-time folks to improve their wages and benefits. A better balance between work and leisure won’t only make for better employees, but it will make for better citizens. With workers having more free time and less economic precarity, they will be able to fully participate in our representative democracy. They can devote energies towards improving our societies— from education and healthcare to election workers and candidate canvassers. They can build the social movements and political programs necessary to improve our world. The fight for less work is not merely a slight change in our daily arrangements; it's a revolution that will radically alter our lives and our country for the better.