Book excerpt: What if the door is open and we can leave any time we like? We will each spend an average of 87,000 hours at work before we die. We will spend another 5,000 getting to and from work. And we will spend countless more preparing for, worrying about and recovering after work. Most of us hate our jobs, so why do we insist on grinding away only to be rewarded with stress, debt, isolation and general unhappiness? Where does our commitment to these traps come from? In I’m Out: How to Make an Exit, Robert Wringham examines these questions and more, showing us how, if we are daring enough to make the attempt, we can take control of our fate and say goodbye to a lifetime of meaningless drudgery.