We all know that all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Apparently, it makes Johnny medically depressed too. In America and Asia, long hours are de rigor for fast-track executives and those who want to become fast-track executives. Law firms and management consultancies, who charge clients by the hour, encourage this behavior as it brings in more revenue and the more revenue you produce, the more the firm will like you and, presumably, keep you on if/when the going gets tough. So for reasons of both corporate nationalism as well as good old-fashioned job security, people are working more than ever before. And if you own a small business or work at a start-up (where bodies are scarce) there's often no choice to long hours; if you don't do it, it doesn't get done. There is a steep price to pay for workaholism. The lack of time spent with one's loved ones and/or simply unwinding are two obvious costs and you don't often get the chance to make up for either. There is also sudden death syndrome which claimed the lives of several dozen Japanese executives earlier in the decade. Now the Journal of Marketing Research has published an article about "hyperopia" which Wired magazine aptly summarized as "an excess of farsightedness. " Essentially it speaks the the fact that we all look back on the choices we make and feel a particular and an acute sadness over the instances where we failed to enjoy ourselves choosing work over, say, everything else. As our time on earth draws to a close it's regret about what we didn't do that haunts us most. Wishing one worked longer hours is rarely a regret. Now by no means am I advocating that we stop working and become slackers (however attractive that mode might be). We're parents and have a responsibility to care for and/or earn enough to feed our families and sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do. The thing to remember, however, is that food is not the only our families are hungry for. They are hungry for us. Cannibalism jokes, notwithstanding, this means (in feudal terms) we have to find a way to serve two lords, our overlord as well as our families. We serve one by showing up and doing good work and do what we most when we must but do our best to ensure we still have time and energy to care for and nourish ourselves and our families.  By doing the later we are more mentally and spiritually and physically able to perform better at work. So it's really a virtuous circle that we are creating. That it's in everybody's interest that we fulfill our duties to all parties is what synergy is all about. Given so little synergy actually ever occurs in the workplace perhaps it's up to us to create it ourselves, i.e., homemade.