From a financial perspective, looking at the workplace: Slacking off = Risk-free arbitrage in the workplace Overtime = Naked shorting health put options, extremely low returns with unlimited risk Managing up = Hyping up the boss's emotional value to seek excess returns Frequent job-hopping = Searching for workplace liquidity to earn an information asymmetry premium The essence of working is just DCA (dollar-cost averaging) into someone else's dream, with all the profits going to the house.