But in recent years, at MIT and elsewhere, there has been an increasing interest in the importance of valuing not only hard work and achievement, but also time to think, to gather new ideas, and to spend time with family and friends. Experts agree that balance should be very much part of life. It affects us universally, biologically, and individually. It affects us mentally, physically, and emotionally. Living a life in balance calls us to remember that just as it is imbalance to do too little, so it is imbalance to do too much.
Overwork is an issue that many in America grapple with daily.
For example, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that an executive-search firm in Cleveland found that 38 of 100 surveyed chief executives either had canceled or shortened a family vacation within the past 12 months. Our culture is built on working hard and going after things, but recently there seems also to be a slight shift in the opposite direction. There is research now going on at the Institute that reveals that both leisure and health will play an increasingly dominant role in the future. Economics Professor Dora Costa recently did a study that reveals that people of all income levels are spending more time and money on leisure than in the past. Prof. Mitch Resnick of the Media Lab is a big believer in play.