Something About Work Isn’t Working Anymore
The 9-to-5 was built for a world that doesn't exist anymore. So now what?
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking… and reading… and having conversations…and then thinking some more.
And what’s become clear, regardless of any new shiny technology “advancements,” is that what we once considered work, and how we work is changing.
It’s not just a data point or a study. You can feel it.
You can feel it in what we read, in the updates in our LinkedIn feed, even in the seemingly unrelated conversations that we are having both online and off.
Now of course it could be the barrage of layoffs that get publicized in the news whether we’re tracking it or not, or the narrative that “AI is already doing your job.”
Whats clear underneath all of that is the 9-to-5 that was actually supposed to be the “safe path” is starting to feel like it was built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.
I’ve been sitting with this for a while now…not the headlines, but the feeling underneath them. And the conversations I’m having via the many restacks, messages, and comments on my latest essays has been illuminating on what the actual issue is.
Most of us are somewhere between “I know things are changing” and “I have no idea what to do about it.” And the only answer we’re being given is: optimize harder. Hustle more. Upskill. Pivot. Figure it out on your own.
That’s not a plan, it’s exhaustion dressed up as strategy. And most of us don’t actually have the energy for it.
Last week I read a recent study on the future of the American Dream found that 8 out of 10 younger people say a stable career is one of the most important things to them ; but the systems that were supposed to deliver that stability are actively fragmenting. The report describes an entire generation “expected to self-create and self-optimize in a world of unstable work, unaffordable housing, and eroding trust in institutions.”
I highly recommend reading the full report here.
It names career instability and burnout as a combined threat; not two separate problems, but one feedback loop.
Read that again: career instability and burnout. Together. As one thing.
When I read it in black and white it was obvious, yet also a realization that people are not connecting the two issues as an overlap of what is currently happening and frankly what we all are feeling.
The conversation about AI and jobs is happening over here. The conversation about rest and burnout is happening over there. But they’re the same conversation.
When models change, like whats happening with the way we work, the status quo typically stops working. That got me thinking about what the current status quo and how we work (or how we are told we need to work) to become successful.
The idea that hustle culture, grinding, and putting your head down and grunting through has been the status quo since the dawn of the industrial revolution. The 9-5 created a system for society to work within largely driven by the business needs of Henry Ford.
That got me thinking about the antithesis to that and what is likely to come next.
If working harder has been the status quo, then rest is actually the antithesis.
The presumed productivity gains led by AI, the commoditization of information delivery, the fragmentation of lived experience all point to something new emerging in terms of the way we work.
When you layer on broader societal changes, an unstable geopolitical landscape, and the decline of critical thinking skills the argument for rest becomes intriguing to say the least. It can be hard to think and process information in a chaotic world. Some will say that that is the actual point, because have you every tried to think clearly in a chaotic environment?
The ones who are rested enough to think clearly, creative enough to do what AI can’t, and honest enough to put a real number on their value are what’s next. Not another 9-5 per se.
The old model of work — show up, trade your time for money, do what you’re told, retire — that model was designed for the industrial era. We’re not in that era anymore. AI is doing the repetitive labor. The 9-to-5 is a relic. And most people are still trying to operate inside a structure that wasn’t built for what’s coming next.
So what replaces it?
That’s not a rhetorical question. I think there are real answers. I think they involve knowing what you’re actually worth in a market; not what a job title says, not what a salary band dictates, but what your thinking, your creativity, your point of view, and your data are worth in an economy where AI does the labor and humans provide the intelligence and lived experience. And I think rest — real, structural rest, not a meditation app — is what makes it possible to access that value.
This effects every one of us and deserves public discourse.
Let’s Talk About It: Free Substack Live
I’m going live this Tuesday, March 31st at 7 PM ET with Amanda Miller Littlejohn — author of The Rest Revolution (Wiley), Forbes contributor, and someone whose work on sustainable performance for high achievers maps directly onto everything I just described.
My goal isn’t to host a panel. It’s to host a real conversation, in discussion with the public, about:
What’s actually happening to work right now — and what’s coming next
The gap between “I know things are changing” and knowing what to do about it
How you figure out what you’re worth when the rules are being rewritten in real time
Whether the 9-to-5 even makes sense anymore — and what replaces it
Why rest isn’t self-care — it’s survival infrastructure for this transition
This live conversation is free to join. Just be subscribed and you’ll get the link when we go live.
Coming Next: What You’re Actually Worth in the AI Economy
The live with Amanda is the conversation. But if you’re a little more tactical and analytical like me you may actually want to put a number on your value and build the structure to command it. That’s what my next Working Session is for.
“What You’re Actually Worth in the AI Economy” is a 90-minute working session where we get into the specifics: how to assess your market value right now, how to think about pricing yourself when traditional employment isn’t the only path, and how to position your skills, your thinking, and your point of view as assets that generate income — whether or not you have a job title attached to them.
This isn’t theory. You’ll leave with something you can use.
The way we’ve been taught to work is ending. What comes next depends on whether we keep optimizing inside a broken system or start building something different.
I’ll see you Tuesday.
— Angela
The 9-5, 5 day work week was always an artificial construct.
I will want to watch your Live. This is an interesting topic.