We live in a world where we are measured by the hours and years we put in at a conventional company but, strangely, we admire, model, and study individuals who have “made it” by not following that same path. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?
Take Sir Richard Branson of Virgin-everything fame. Sir Richard never held a Monday-Friday, 8-5 job working for anyone other than himself. Now, I am not knocking conventional work schedules but it makes me wonder why we humans are so eager to adopt the 40-hour work week, sometimes in environments that absolutely stifle ingenuity, and then chalk that up as being a measure of success. We’ve got people being catapulted head-long toward retirement, without so much as giving a sideways glance to what’s going on around them, and not even really remembering the trip. It’s a lot like taking the bullet train in Japan. You’ll get where you’re going in a hurry but chances are you ain’t gonna’ remember anything you saw en route. Is this what we’ve become?
However, there is a bright spot here even if it seems its all doom and gloom. I once heard that whenever there is a crisis, money changes hands. I mentioned this before in another blog but I think now, more than ever, the present state of unemployment, etc. can actually result in some ingenious people turning this to their advantage. Timothy Ferris has a whole new take on this. For those of you not familiar with Timothy Ferris, he wrote the interesting book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. A quick perusal of the back jacket cover claims: “Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan – there is no need to wait and every reason not to” and “How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week.”
I once worked for a company where my boss told another VP (actual conversation): “If Kathy never worked another day this year (it was April or May), she would still have exceeded her annual quota.” At the time, I felt pleased with myself, but then I started thinking. However, instead of thinking, if I had already earned more than what was expected or needed, why couldn’t I take off the rest of the year and travel, write a book, sleep in … no, the thoughts went to, I can do more work and then once or twice a year take a week off to recover from all the hard work. If I can accomplish more in ¼ of the time it takes some people to accomplish, and if I am satisfied with those earnings, why not take off? But that old Puritanical work ethic thing keeps getting in the way of taking time in life to enjoy, well … life.
I think the big question here is: Is there a real reason you, specifically, need to be working in a structured environment with set days and hours? I emphasize the word “real” because for those who have “made it”, they don’t seem to view ‘work’ the way most of us do.
"Perfection is not when there is more to add, but no more to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)
Take Sir Richard Branson of Virgin-everything fame. Sir Richard never held a Monday-Friday, 8-5 job working for anyone other than himself. Now, I am not knocking conventional work schedules but it makes me wonder why we humans are so eager to adopt the 40-hour work week, sometimes in environments that absolutely stifle ingenuity, and then chalk that up as being a measure of success. We’ve got people being catapulted head-long toward retirement, without so much as giving a sideways glance to what’s going on around them, and not even really remembering the trip. It’s a lot like taking the bullet train in Japan. You’ll get where you’re going in a hurry but chances are you ain’t gonna’ remember anything you saw en route. Is this what we’ve become?
However, there is a bright spot here even if it seems its all doom and gloom. I once heard that whenever there is a crisis, money changes hands. I mentioned this before in another blog but I think now, more than ever, the present state of unemployment, etc. can actually result in some ingenious people turning this to their advantage. Timothy Ferris has a whole new take on this. For those of you not familiar with Timothy Ferris, he wrote the interesting book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. A quick perusal of the back jacket cover claims: “Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan – there is no need to wait and every reason not to” and “How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week.”
I once worked for a company where my boss told another VP (actual conversation): “If Kathy never worked another day this year (it was April or May), she would still have exceeded her annual quota.” At the time, I felt pleased with myself, but then I started thinking. However, instead of thinking, if I had already earned more than what was expected or needed, why couldn’t I take off the rest of the year and travel, write a book, sleep in … no, the thoughts went to, I can do more work and then once or twice a year take a week off to recover from all the hard work. If I can accomplish more in ¼ of the time it takes some people to accomplish, and if I am satisfied with those earnings, why not take off? But that old Puritanical work ethic thing keeps getting in the way of taking time in life to enjoy, well … life.
I think the big question here is: Is there a real reason you, specifically, need to be working in a structured environment with set days and hours? I emphasize the word “real” because for those who have “made it”, they don’t seem to view ‘work’ the way most of us do.
"Perfection is not when there is more to add, but no more to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)
No comments:
Post a Comment