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October 24 is Take Back Your Time Day.On that date, Americans will have worked the same number of hours that Europeans typically work in a whole year. In other words, Americans work nearly nine more weeks per year than their European counterparts.A U.S. and Canadian initiative, Take Back Your Time Day, draws attention to the twin problems of overwork and "time poverty." Organizers say the number of hours Americans spend working has risen dramatically over the last 30 years. Consider these items from the "Take Back Your Time" handbook:* Between 1979 and 2000, married couples aged 25-54 saw their total number of hours of paid work rise by 388, about 12 percent.* Almost 40 percent of workers put in more than 50 hours per week.* 26 percent of American workers dont take any vacation time.* Since the 1980s, work hours have risen by about half a percent annually.Experts say "time poverty" is hurting our marriages, our physical and mental health, our civic life, our kids and the environment.Maybe you feel the pressure: Having too little time to exercise or prepare healthy meals. Being electronically leashed to your job when you crave a chance to relax. You or someone in your family putting in ever longer hours at work for fear of being "downsized." Then there are the more subtle signs. Ever notice the way getting time with friends requires searching your calendars to find a small patch of mutually available time weeks away? Or maybe your dog looks under-exercised and lonely.It wasnt always so. Around 1900, American working hours had long been declining, and economics books and articles predicted the continuing expansion of leisure time, writes leisure scholar Benjamin Hunnicutt. In the 1920s, Hunnicutt states, Julian Huxley said in a speech that a two-day work week was inevitable because "the human being can consume so much and no more...." In the 1930s, economist John Maynard Keyes observed that "when we reach the point when the world produces all the goods that it needs in two days, as it inevitably will...we must turn out attention to the great problem of what to do with our leisure." I was amazed to learn from Hunnicutt that the Kellog cereal factories began a 6-hour workday in the 1930s. Productivity rose, workers lavished timed on their families, and commercial recreation and nonprofit organizations flourished.Yet, here we are, 70 years later, with complex economic, political and cultural realities leading to ever-shrinking windows of time for nurturing ourselves and our ties to each other.What to do?On one hand, activists suggest, you could respond as an individual. You might: * Schedule once-a-week or once-a-month family times.* Keep a "time diary" to raise your awareness of how you spend time.* Write to your newspaper about time poverty.* Organize a civic or religious gathering to discuss time issues.* Claim a block of time for cooking slow food, cuddling your pets, making music or photographing something beautiful.Or, you can join with an organization. Advocacy groups around the country are organizing teach-ins, conferences and discussion groups about overwork and time poverty. A new "Its About Time" Coalition is bringing overwork to the attention of candidates for public office.To learn more, visit www.timeday.org and www.worktolive.info.(c) 2004 Norma Schmidt, Coach, LLC

About the Author

Norma Schmidt, Coach, LLC, specializes in helping women who are both professionals and parents to create balance. Visit http://www.NormaSchmidt.com to subscribe to her free newsletter or sign up for a free sample coaching session.