The tragedy for most people isn't how much they work, but how little they get from it. Start at age 18 (college counts), retire at age 68 (a minimum age if you're under 40 now), and you are likely to accumulate 6,000,000 minutes of work. Too many people (maybe you) derive little satisfaction or sense of purpose from work. Too many people (maybe you again) will have too little to show at the end of those 6,000,000 minutes. It doesn't have to be that way.