The Hidden Struggles of Ambitious Individuals

Do you ever feel like there’s never enough time? That life is a constant sprint from one task to the next, with little room to breathe—let alone rest? You’re not alone. Many of us feel busier than ever, but it raises an important question: Are we truly busier than our parents and grandparents were, or does it just feel that way? 

The answer lies in a combination of research, shifting cultural expectations, and how we experience time in today’s world. 

Then vs. Now – What Has Changed? 

Work structures and lifestyles have evolved dramatically over the past few decades. In many Western countries: 

• The 40-hour workweek has remained fairly stable since the mid-20th century, yet the nature of work has changed. We are no longer leaving work at the office—thanks to smartphones and email, our jobs often follow us home. 
• In our grandparents’ era, most households operated on a single income, and domestic responsibilities were more clearly divided. Today, with most households dependent on dual incomes, both parents are balancing careers, parenting, household management, and often aging family care. 
• Children’s schedules have also shifted. Today’s kids are more scheduled than ever, with extracurriculars, tutoring, and social activities often requiring heavy logistical management—usually by parents. 

What the Research Says 

Despite our perception, we may not actually be busier in terms of raw hours worked or spent on tasks. 

A 2019 study by the OECD found that average hours worked per week have declined in many developed countries over the past 50 years. Similarly, a BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) time-use study shows that adults today have roughly as much, or even more, leisure time than previous generations—especially due to less time spent on chores, thanks to automation and modern conveniences. 

So why do we feel so stretched? 

This is where psychology steps in. 

The “Time Famine” Phenomenon 

Researchers call it a “time famine”—a persistent feeling of not having enough time, even when objectively we might. A key factor here is mental load—the invisible labor of managing responsibilities, appointments, tasks, and family logistics. It’s particularly heavy for working parents, and especially for women. 

According to a study in the journal Sociological Science (Offer & Schneider, 2011), mothers in dual-earner families experience significantly higher levels of “contaminated time”—time that’s technically leisure but interrupted by multitasking, caregiving, or planning the next task. 

This mental fragmentation can make life feel far busier than it once did. 

Why It Feels Worse Now 

Even with similar hours and more convenience, there are several modern dynamics that make busyness feel more intense: 

• Technology: We’re “on” all the time. Smartphones, Slack, and email blur the line between work and life. 
• Social comparison: On social media, everyone’s busy—and accomplishing more than you. The pressure to “keep up” is constant. 
• Productivity culture: Modern society glorifies busyness as a badge of honor. Doing more is often equated with being more valuable. 
• Information overload: We’re bombarded with decisions daily—what to eat, watch, do, read—creating mental fatigue that didn’t exist in the same way 40 years ago. 

What We Can Learn from the Past 

Despite fewer conveniences, our parents and grandparents often lived with a greater sense of rhythm and separation between life domains: 

• Work ended when the shift ended. There were no after-hours emails or “just checking in” Slack messages. 
• More face-to-face community and less digital noise helped maintain emotional connection and support. 
• Less choice overload—fewer channels, fewer consumer options, and less pressure to optimize every decision—freed up mental space. 

While we can’t turn back the clock, we can take inspiration from those rhythms: structure, boundaries, and simplicity. 

Reclaiming Time and Presence 

The takeaway isn’t that we’re imagining our stress—it’s that how we experience time is just as important as how we spend it. 

We may not be busier in raw numbers, but we’re more distracted, more pressured, and more emotionally overloaded than generations before us. Our challenge today isn’t just to “do less,” but to reclaim control of how we experience our time—through boundaries, presence, and intention. 

If you feel like time is slipping through your fingers, you’re not alone. In coaching, we explore exactly these patterns—not just time management, but energy, values, and focus. 

Would you like to feel less busy without quitting your life? 

Let’s talk. Book a free consultation, and together we’ll explore how to create space for what matters. 

References 

1. OECD (2019). Hours Worked data. https://data.oecd.org
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022). American Time Use Survey. https://www.bls.gov/tus/
3. Offer, S. & Schneider, B. (2011). Revisiting the Gender Gap in Time-Use Patterns: Multitasking and Well-Being Among Mothers and Fathers in Dual-Earner Families. Sociological Science.