Companies Put You on a Happiness Treadmill and Keep Cranking Up the Speed
The Corporate Happiness Treadmill and the Case for Doing Less
The modern office offers free snacks, gyms, and a 'family' culture, but all of it is a treadmill: a happiness carrot that keeps you running while the company speeds up. Fall, and the family talk means nothing—you're replaced by the next would-be 10x engineer. The alternative is to do less, be boring, and still be happy. Remote-first, async companies like Todoist, 37signals, and Linear prove it works without burning down.
Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar.