If you had ten more hours a week starting tomorrow, what would you do with them? Why not start now?
A Hundred-Year-Old Warning About the Future of Work
Keynes believed productivity would keep improving and that, over time, humanity would largely solve what he called the “economic problem.” He famously suggested that by around 2030, people might only need to work about fifteen hours a week to meet basic needs. That prediction often gets brushed off because most of us still work full schedules. But the number of hours was never the real point.
What Keynes was actually worried about was meaning. He believed that once work stopped being the main organizing force in our lives, people would struggle with how to use their freedom. Producing enough would be easy. Knowing how to live well would not. Nearly a century later, that concern feels less theoretical and more like a preview.
Will AI help us find meaning and purpose or simply take it away?
Watching the Future Become Visible
That long-term warning sat quietly in the background for decades. Recently, it snapped into focus for me.
I spend a lot of time following AI. I read about it, listen to conversations, and talk to people building in this space. Even with all that exposure, I recently watched a segment on 60 Minutes about AI-powered robots entering factory environments, and something finally clicked.
As I watched it, I did not feel fear. I felt clarity. Seeing robots learn physical tasks, adjust in real time, and improve with repetition made a lot of abstract ideas suddenly feel very concrete. This was not a concept or a prediction. It was capability meeting real work, right now. If you have not seen the segment, it is worth watching. It may help connect the dots on what is coming in the same way it did for me.
Blue-Collar, White-Collar, Same Direction
At this point, we are no longer debating whether AI will change work. We are watching how it is already changing it.
White-collar roles are being reshaped by tools that help with writing, research, analysis, and decision-making. Blue-collar roles are being transformed by machines that can see, move, and learn. The surface-level changes look different, but the direction is the same. Human time is becoming less tightly tied to the jobs we have always relied on.
That brings us right back to Keynes. If technology continues to give us more time, intentionally or not, the most important question shifts. It stops being only about what job we have. It becomes about what we do with ourselves.
Community and Purpose Are Not Optional
This is where I want to take a deliberately optimistic, glass-half-full view, without pretending any of this will be easy or evenly distributed.
More free time does not automatically lead to a better life. In many cases, it exposes gaps we have been able to ignore. Work has quietly given us structure, routine, identity, and community. As that structure loosens, we will need to be much more intentional about where meaning comes from. And to be clear, scrolling TikTok or grinding through another Fortnite season is not a substitute for purpose or real community. Distraction can fill time, but it does not create belonging.
This is not about giving up fun or entertainment. It is about recognizing their limits.
How I Think About Purpose Personally
For me, purpose shows up in very practical ways.
I coach youth sports. That puts me in a community and gives me a reason to show up consistently for kids who are learning more than just how to play a game. I teach Sunday school, which keeps me grounded in service and reflection. I podcast and write because I enjoy learning, asking hard questions, and sharing what I discover with others. Educating, connecting, and passing knowledge forward is where I find a deep sense of fulfillment.
None of these things are about efficiency or productivity in the traditional sense. They are about contribution, relationships, and being part of something bigger than myself.
I am not sharing this as a playbook. I am sharing it as an example of what it looks like to actively build purpose rather than assume it will appear on its own.
The Question That Matters Most
If AI and automation continue on their current path, many of us will eventually find ourselves with more extra time in our days. That might come through shorter workweeks, career changes, or new ways of organizing work altogether. When that happens, community and purpose will not be optional. They will be essential.
So here is the question I want to leave you with.
If you had ten more hours a week starting tomorrow, what would you do with them? Who would you spend that time with? What would you build, teach, explore, or support? Where are you already finding community and purpose outside of work, and where might you want to invest more intentionally?
Keynes worried that humanity would struggle with this transition. I think he was right to worry. But I also think we have an opportunity he could only imagine. If we choose to lean into it, the age of AI does not have to be defined by loss or displacement. It can be defined by deeper relationships, stronger communities, and a clearer sense of why we do what we do.
The technology is moving whether we are ready or not. The more important work is making sure we are ready for ourselves.