I have, several times in my life, worked myself right into a nervous
breakdown. My vacations are usually the kind that last for months and
are a result of burnout. Looking back, I realize that if I had just
taken a week's vacation every few months, I would have been fine.
No one ever told me to rest. All I ever heard growing up was “work
harder!” Hard workers get ahead. No one ever explained to me that
the hare stopped to nap, not because he was lazy, but because he had
started off too fast and wore himself out.
I'm the same way with writing. I'll push myself to the very end and
happily jump off the ledge. Then I suffer through a month or two (or
more) of writer's block, unable, even then, to step away and rest.
Thankfully, last week, I listened to intuition for once. I took
four and a half days off from writing. I didn't do anything. No
writing, no networking, no editing, no thinking, plotting, or
anything else.
Americans are workaholics. We're quite different from people in the
rest of the world. Not that there aren't workaholics in Asia or
Europe, but their cultures are different. In Europe workers often get
six to seven weeks of paid vacation. Six weeks of vacation—you'd
think it was a sin. I've heard Americans rant on Europe's very
liberal vacation time. There are 365 days in a year. Italians get 42
days paid vacation. Americans get 16. (I got 5 at my last job.) Some
say they're lazy. I say we're stupid.
Americans have bought into the idea that working our fingers to the
bone is virtuous. We think productivity comes from long hours. Forget
that Europeans are, generally, happier people than Americans are. We
get more work done! After all, that's our purpose, right?
We've confused working long hours with working hard. They're far from
the same. Virtue isn't working a 60 hour week, it's getting
the same amount of work done in half the time. Virtue is working
smarter, not harder.
In my own experience, rest is more important than work. It's
impossible for me to work day after day, sometimes six days a week,
sometimes skipping days off entirely. I do serious harm to my body,
but I'm not the only one. A lot of people sacrifice productivity for
time spent on the job. I've always been more productive
working part time than full time. I've always been more
productive on a Monday morning following a long weekend, than on a
Friday after a fourteen day stretch. I've always hit the point
where, after working too much, I just don't give a damn about
anything anymore.
The time on the punch-card doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't
say how much work was really done. For me, it's always been
the case that the more hours being logged, the less work is being
done. Always.
Will times ever change? Will Americans ever sit back and appreciate what they have, instead of trying to get more? When will we finally realize that less is more?
I ask these questions because sometimes I don't know when to stop.
Posts
You're talking about a nasty snowball that keeps getting bigger the more you roll it around. People work more hours because the cost of living keeps going up because people (supposedly) will have the money from all their long hours to pay for it so they work even more long hours - you get the viscous picture. For me - I work like that for the summer. Summers are short but I have all winter to look forward to the 'easy' life. Not that there's not work to do in the winter too but life is tons more leisurely then. My advice to those who work with me for those intense summer months. "Pace yourself. If you have an opportunity to sleep, take it."
ReplyDeleteA good pace is a wonderful thing ;)
DeleteNova we Indians have this stupid culture of working long hours and I too really dont appreciate this because we always lack on social and personal life and feel that americans are on better front than us on this matter as they thoroughly enjoy their social and personal life as well.
ReplyDeleteI have to work at times just because its my responsibility otherwise I can never bind myself into anything unless until I feel doing it...Even I take rest one can write when one feels but still sometimes my mind says discipline is very imp in things...
Mani
That's no way to live. I think in the 19th century many Americans worked hard because they had to (the alternative was literally starving to death, and though today some people starve, few in America are literally starving "to death"). I see some similarities between then and modern India, but I hope Indians have enough sense that when you "make it" you slow up a bit and enjoy things today more than you work to enjoy things tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come, or it may be fraught with its own challenges. A bird in hand is better than two in the bush :)
DeleteI've also worked my whole life but recently realized that if I don't stop to appreciate and enjoy life, I may never get another chance. So far, I think it's one of the wiser decisions I've made.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you've made that decision.
Delete