Lately, I've been exchanging lots of articles, books and posts with friends. They get my gears turning and it's the stuff I want to be having conversations about. So, while the rest of the internet is a little more quiet, I've decided to start a weekend series here to share some of these thought-provoking posts. Grab a pot of coffee (or tea) and sit down with some of these articles. Close your email and turn your phone off. Really read these articles and let the words sink in. Maybe even read your favorite one again. Then share it with a friend and have a conversation about it (or feel free to report back here with your thoughts on the topic).
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The ultimate tool for corporations to sustain a culture of this sort is to develop the 40-hour workweek as the normal lifestyle. Under these working conditions people have to build a life in the evenings and on weekends. This arrangement makes us naturally more inclined to spend heavily on entertainment and conveniences because our free time is so scarce. I’ve only been back at work for a few days, but already I’m noticing that the more wholesome activities are quickly dropping out of my life: walking, exercising, reading, meditating, and extra writing. The one conspicuous similarity between these activities is that they cost little or no money, but they take time.
All of America’s well-publicized problems, including obesity, depression, pollution and corruption are what it costs to create and sustain a trillion-dollar economy. For the economy to be “healthy”, America has to remain unhealthy. Healthy, happy people don’t feel like they need much they don’t already have, and that means they don’t buy a lot of junk, don’t need to be entertained as much, and they don’t end up watching a lot of commercials.I'll be thinking about this one for a while. But I want to know – what's more valuable to you: time or money? For me, the obvious answer is time but I maybe that's only because I have enough money.
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This Column Will Change Your Life: Helsinki Bus Station Theory – A great read for creatives who always feel like they're starting over – found via Sandra at Raincoast Cottage.
Sometimes it takes more guts to keep trudging down a pre-trodden path, to the originality beyond. "Stay on the fucking bus."Are you guilty of hopping off the bus? While you're at it – go ahead and read Sandra's post on putting your work out there and Never Enough Likes.
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The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – A Twitter friend sent me this one. I immediately sent it to Jeremy and Tara. Tara responded with, "Oh man, I want to read this like 20 times. I want to read it every day." ME TOO.
Why don't successful people and organizations automatically become very successful? One important explanation is due to what I call "the clarity paradox," which can be summed up in four predictable phases:
Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success.
Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities.
Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts.
Phase 4: Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.
Curiously, and overstating the point in order to make it, success is a catalyst for failure.
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The Not Knowing Path of Being An Entrepreneur - Zen Habits has been a favorite read of mine for a while. I just think Leo Babatua has it down. He's all zen and goal-free but at the same time clearly ambitious and gets stuff done. I'm feeling especially anxious about launching our first Braid Workshop so this read was a good reminder to let go of the outcome.
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What have you been reading lately? Let me know your thoughts on some of these articles – or share with me something that has you thinking.
In regards to the first question... I feel time is more important, but I feel required to live as though money were more important. The reason is simple - I can live without free time, but I cannot live without money. Not in this place, in this culture, with the people I love. I would have to leave my husband and family to live as a hunter/gatherer in the bush! I will not leave them for that.
ReplyDeleteI have searched for people who say they do not need money in current society, and they do it one of two ways. The first is that they live in a larger community of people who share skills and trade - a commune of sorts - which would also require that I leave those I love behind. The second, and most common way, is that they live off the wealth of others. They either take the cast-offs of those who bought them, or they live off the goodwill of others: ride in cars others pay for, in homes others pay for, eating food others buy. My conscience can't support that type of lifestyle... and anyway, even though it is untraditional, isn't it just as much a part of the system? SOMEONE has to buy those things before someone else can use it for free.
Teenager, hippie me would be ashamed of grown me placing such importance on money, but hippie me did not realize that living a life without money would be tantamount to either living as a beggar or living without those she loves most. I just hope that hippie me will forgive grown me in the future.
The first article's topic has been on my mind recently. My husband just started a new job where he travels for weeks at a time but makes a lot more bank. At first we are like chicka chicka extra cash! Now that we are in the middle of a job where he has been gone for a couple weeks I'm questioning our decision. Is this extra money worth missing out on our time together? Right now I would trade the money for my time with my hubs.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has worked 40 hour weeks for nearly a decade, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the first article posted.
ReplyDeleteAs I've often said, it is rarely that someone doesn't "have time" but rather they choose not to "make time". If there's a pursuit you're especially interested in, it becomes a priority to make time and integrate it into your life. This article simply illustrates that most people don't prioritize making time for healthy pursuits like exercise, relaxation, etc. It is their own lack of discipline that then results in the crutch of a statement, "I just don't HAVE time to work out." After I get home from the office, I've got a solid 6 hours of freedom with which I can do what I please before hitting the hay and still getting the recommended 8 hours of snooze time. Perhaps I'm completely unique in this, but more likely it's that people love to victimize themselves rather than taking responsibility for the laziness that results in spending that leisure time on the couch and deluding themselves into believing they've not got time for anything more productive/enriching.
Time itself is not the answer to the woes of our society such as obesity, but rather a shift in priority for the time we already have.
Of course, this is just one girls opinion. :)
honestly? i've been reading (a lot of) moby dick and paddington bear and dr. seuss. that is when i'm not singing princess songs THATIKNOWEVERYSINGLEWORDTONOW. truth. iz goo tho. no complaints.
ReplyDeleteanyway, i'm intrigued by your first and third read. time, yes, definitely time. and i really appreciate that you qualified your answer with "but maybe that's because i have enough money" (i get it! and i agree!), but it made me think for a second and realize that i ALWAYS valued my time more - which is probably why i have "enough" money now.
which - full circle - leads me to your third read...
These are all such great articles!
ReplyDeleteI definitely value my time over money. I've come to realize that if I'm going to spend 40 hours a week doing something with a group people, I need to be excited about what I'm doing and the people doing it with me in order for me to not feel like I'm wasting my time. And if that means making less money to do something I'm over the moon excited about, then so be it, the rest always seems to work itself out. Did you see Tina Eisenberg's SXSW talk this year? She talked a lot about valuing experiences over money, which I think she is spot on about (I also think you'd enjoy her take on babies and how her's effected her life and career).
And I'm now fixated on this idea of "Everything changes when we give ourselves permission to eliminate the nonessentials". It's definitely got the wheels spinning.
The first article is great. Having been self-employed and now back in the work week, I've found my valuable, free activities are dwindling as well. And I'd like to add that my priorities are not a problem, too much television, lack of will, these are not a problem for me.
ReplyDeleteRather, I find it difficult to use the nature of my body and energy to its best advantage. When I first wake up and am ready to move and get things accomplishes, instead I have to dress and rush off to work. So no gardening, laundry, taking a run by the river are happening at these times as they used to. By the time I get home, usually 10 hours later, the lack of sunlight, heat, etc keep me from those as well. Do to activities in my community, I usually have meetings 3-4 nights a week, leaving a lot less than 6 hours of time for productivity.
All that said, my biggest source of strife with the 40 hour work week isn't the hours, but lack of control on where I put those hours within the ebb and flow of my day.
Great articles!
I happened across your blog about a year ago and have been a regular creeper ever since. Long time reader, first time commenter. Lol? You're evolution into Paleo and your experience with Whole30 were inspiring to me. I'm half way into reading "It Starts With Food". I feel like it's a life changer! Thank you for sharing your life and your adventures.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been commenting much lately (still read everything), but I want you to know: this post and it's words have lived in my brain for a real long time. I love all the thinking I'm doing reading all this stuff. Stuff I really agree with in most parts. Cheers and here-here's and all that jazz. As for what I'm reading, I recently picked up all of Franzen's books at a used bookstore. So I'm working my way through those. Something else that has me thinking? Well, I think a big part of why people consume so much, food + THINGS, has to do with this desire to fill up one's self. Think about all the diets + self-improvement fads - they're about self healing - I feel lately (really since becoming a mother) that I desire more community healing. I want to give out more than I give in. Of course, this came after I started to take better care of myself. Maybe it needs to start inward - but not STAY inward. I hope that makes sense. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't been commenting much lately (still read everything), but I want you to know: this post and it's words have lived in my brain for a real long time. I love all the thinking I'm doing reading all this stuff. Stuff I really agree with in most parts. Cheers and here-here's and all that jazz. As for what I'm reading, I recently picked up all of Franzen's books at a used bookstore. So I'm working my way through those. Something else that has me thinking? Well, I think a big part of why people consume so much, food + THINGS, has to do with this desire to fill up one's self. Think about all the diets + self-improvement fads - they're about self healing - I feel lately (really since becoming a mother) that I desire more community healing. I want to give out more than I give in. Of course, this came after I started to take better care of myself. Maybe it needs to start inward - but not STAY inward. I hope that makes sense. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know what, I know this is why after the fact, but I kept thinking about it. That article I commented on puts it in too much Black and White. The choice between money and time is illusory.
ReplyDeleteI mean, sure, it would be nice to have a shorter work week. But having this typical work week gives me the money to be able to support myself, and it does NOT mean that I am doing it only for the money, either.
Wanting to support yourself is a reasonable thing to do. We do not all have trust funds. And I could TOTALLY quit my job and find one that pays better (easily), just for the sake of being paid better.
But you know what? I work this 40 hour week at moderate income because I like it. Because I feel like I am-or I might be- contributing something good to my community, while making enough money to buy organic produce and pay my mortgage. And I refuse to feel ethically compromised just because I work a 40 hour week. That's more than silly.
Besides, I used to work more than 40 hours, and I totally realized my mistake! Took a long time, though...