The virtue of slowness
I ran across this great essay about ‘the virtues of idleness‘ which I just love (via BoingBoing), though it’s a bit heavy handed, politically. Later I stumbled across a reference to Ricardo Semler’s latest book (never heard of Semler before, but I think I’m in love with him–don’t tell my wife). And then I stumbled over Jeffrey’s post about Thinking for a living and it all just begged for a little riff.
But if you read all those links I posted, what’s left to say? Slow is good. Taking time to think and reflect is good. Too many of us don’t do it enough. I’ve got a friend who is probably the single busiest person I know, professionally speaking. Yet each week, he takes around two hours of "work time" and spends them in quiet reflection at a nearby Franciscan monastery. And he’s better for it, really.
That picture at the top of this page really does represent how I spend a decent portion of my workweek. Looking out the window and thinking. Ok, sometimes I give up on the thinking and just enjoy watching the squirrels fight outside my window. But you get the idea. Either way, I sure look like a slacker to the folks walking outside the window, or peeking in the office door. :-)
The bottom line is that I just can’t imagine never having that kind of time. It happens to me some weeks, when I’m scurrying around trying to get this or that done by some deadline, and at home we’ve got committments every night. I really begin to feel the lack of space–it’s nearly claustrophobic for me. When that happens I start dropping committments like hot potatoes. I start planning ‘mental health days’ at work and going surfing (which, for me, is the same as the monastery for my friend). Physically, I have a relatively high tolerance for pain, but in this domain (psychic? spiritual? emotional?) I have a pretty low tolerance for the pain of busy-ness.
So, I dunno. I think I’m just built differently than a lot of folks. I’d love to stand on my soapbox and rant about the virtues of slowness, but all I really know is that it works for me. I know there are untold benefits to quiet reflection and inward turning, but for a lot of folks, the busy-ness of business is easier to swallow. It’s my suspicion that the folks who turn up their noses at the idea of slowing down, might actually be a little bit afraid of the idea. After all, if they slow down, who would do all the work?
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3 opinions for The virtue of slowness
Mindwalker
Dec 15, 2004 at 7:32 am
Semler’s book is amazing. I also bought it after reading about it on Evelyn Rodriguez’s blog. More than anything, it made me repeatedly ask myself, “Why not?”
What’s *really* interesting, though, is seeing the reaction of others when you refer it to them. I’ve lent it out to two other colleagues of mine here at the BigCompany I work for and both were extremely negative, to say the least. “It could only work in Brazil” and “It’s easy for him to say because he’s still ‘the boss’” were the most common complaints I heard back.
Truly radical democracy in the workplace like Semler advocates would be a world-quaking shift in most companies. Even though it’s an antidote to the day-in/day-out soul-crushing numbness of today’s corporate world, many people reject it like a bad organ transplant.
…Michael
brett
Dec 15, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Great post. The Harper’s article makes some great points; too bad its author couldn’t resist sullying his essay with the reflexive Bush-bashing that passes for wit among the literati. (”I hate the misuse of the epithet ‘fascist’, but Bush is a fascist.”) It’s totally unnecessary in this case.
Unfortunately, I work in an industry that bills by the hour, which means that when I stare out the window at the squirrels, I have to stay later or come in on the weekend. I picked the wrong career.
David St Lawrence
Dec 16, 2004 at 1:24 am
Great weblog! Great ideas!
It took me far too long to appreciate the value of taking time to reflect constructively.
By constructively, I mean reflection with the goal of turning thought into action.
Busyness for its own sake is one of the most mind-deadening occupations I can imagine. It is symptomatic of a host of organizational ills.
I am adding your weblog to my must-read links.