The ultimate tool for corporations to sustain a culture of this sort is to develop the 40-hour workweek as the normal lifestyle. Under these working conditions people have to build a life in the evenings and on weekends. This arrangement makes us naturally more inclined to spend heavily on entertainment and conveniences because our free time is so scarce.
I’ve only been back at work for a few days, but already I’m noticing that the more wholesome activities are quickly dropping out of my life: walking, exercising, reading, meditating, and extra writing.
That part resonated with me. I'm a teacher so I've been on summer break for 2 months now, and the things I got to do with no pressure or time constraints... wow. Now the school year's starting up again, and I can see that all that time I had for reading, writing, napping, biking, is evaporating. Not because the motivation's gone, but because I basically work 12-hr days.