Have you heard the term, "gilding the lily"? If you're familiar with Shakespeare then you're probably aware that it means "to apply unnecessary ornament --to overembellish"as used in King John to describe his second coronation, which his courtiers called superfluous.Trisha, my amazing intern, approached me about doing a project with all gold paper flower lilies and using this phrase and I thought it was appropriate to relate it to the state of being busy. Overly busy. So busy that "being busy" is viewed as something commendable and respectable. Superfluous work.
There's a lot of talk about this subject right now, like the Busy Trap article in the NY Times a couple of years ago" and just last week, Grace Bonney of design*sponge discussed it on her podcast, After the Jump (episode 64). It's something I've been meaning to discuss here on the blog because I have a new take on it after spending a few years in Scandinavia.
I'd consider myself as someone who works hard to achieve what I want (in my case it's working hard to learn what it is that I want). To me, that has meant working long hours for many years in whatever stage of life I'm in, whether that be school or work. I've made contacts, maintained contacts, performed the basic requirements and then gone the extra mile to fulfill every "extra credit" assignment even though I don't need it. I'd say it's very much the American Dream. I can recognize that after living away and realizing that the American Dream is a real thing. You work and work and work to achieve whatever it is you're out to achieve.
When I moved to Denmark after getting married to a Dane, it took me awhile to realize that not everyone or every culture operates that way. When my new husband would arrive home from work at 4:30pm--a typical work day is 8-4--I remember feeling flabbergasted...isn't he going to be fired for just taking off like that? Growing up, I was used to a father who didn't get home until 10:30 or 11 every night. Doesn't he need to show his boss that he's the first one in and the last one out in order to keep growing within the company?
Paul's response was no. He was not expected to dedicated his life to his job.
What???
I didn't quite understand. But he insisted that everyone left at that time and it was ok. In fact, encouraged. When work was done, it was your time to be with your family or friends, or however you chose to spend your time.
I still didn't understand.
It took many months to realize that the Danes believe that you work to live, you don't live to work.
Mind blown.
In fact, the government encourages this lifestyle with a 37 work week, paid maternity/paternity (one year), holidays, vacations (Paul had 5 weeks off a year), sick days, etc. Many company cultures are quite lenient if you have to take work off for "stress" or if your child is sick (maybe a little too lenient if you ask me...but hey, I'm the American here). I even heard mentioned that if you are sick from work one day it's expected you take at least 2 days off because just 1 day off might seem like you were faking it. I realize that this is probably not the case in every company, but it was my experience.
After about 2 years of living in Denmark, I moved into a shared studio space in downtown Copenhagen with two other creatives. They would often comment to me about how much I worked and how I encouraged them to go for what I wanted, which was news to me. I genuinely like what I do so I don't necessarily consider it "work". I think they thought the same thing about their work too. Anytime you you work for yourself you realize that the only way to earn a living is to work more. The difference came in the mentality viewing working hard.
You see, in Denmark (and Sweden and Norway) there's this thing called Law of Jante, or Janteloven. I think Wikipedia did a good job of defining it as a "group behavior towards individuals...that negatively portrays and criticizes individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate." Basically, it criticizes anyone who tries to get ahead because "You are not to think you're anyone special or that you're better than us." This mentality has been shaped since the 1930s and though I think it may not be as strong as it once was, it definitely still exists and shapes the minds of the people.
I found it debilitating in acting out on dreams and getting things done. There were people with real dreams and ideas, yet the reality of making it happen wasn't applauded or expected so ideas would sit on the shelf and life would continue on as normal. Of course, there are people doing extraordinary things, but I found this to be the common attitude.
Gratefully and miraculously, I ended up becoming a part of a group of creative women who were defying this mentality. They had ideas, they were clever and creative, and wanted to shake things up. I was so thrilled to be a part of anything (it takes awhile to fully be accepted as part of Danish culture) that I don't think I realized just how novel the group was. After a few months a few ladies dropped out one by one. My instinct is because the group was out of the norm and wanted to do things differently. Those who stayed were gung ho and determined to make things happened and I applaud them for it.
How does this relate to busyness, you ask?
We moved to America last year and I noticed that my years in Denmark had shifted my mentality. Though I work very hard on my freelance design business, this blog, and my shop, because I have to and because I love it and I want it to grow and improve, I don't think that working yourself into the ground is commendable. Work should not own you. It's not healthy to work so hard that you drive yourself sick. It's not healthy to show up to work sick because you just HAVE to work--you're threatening yourself and others. TAKE A BREATHER! You'll improve your body, your mind, and be that much more capable when you return.
I also have a new view of holiday time and vacation and maternity/paternity. When you have 5-6 weeks off a year, you can imagine that I might, right? Ultimately, I believe that you should have the opportunity to travel and refresh your mind so that you come back energized and able to tackle the new project. Even when people technically have 2-3 weeks off a year here in America, they are fearful to take it because of the repercussions of actually doing so. Not cool.
In an ideal world, work is something you do (and you do well) and when you're done, you play well too.
I know that's easier said than done because you have bosses and companies who expect certain things. But hopefully those bosses also eventually acknowledge the improvement that ensues when people are happy and able to focus on their work and personal lives. I believe it's a mentality that must be acquired as an entire culture, not just a few people, in order to make real change. I don't mean to set The Man as the culprit, because we are just as guilty in running with the expectations loaded on us by answering emails on the weekends and late at night and everything else that comes with "doing a good job."
I often have people ask me, "how do you do it all? You're so busy?" and I kind of cringe. Oh man! I look busy? It's not a compliment to me. Busyness to me now means, "you don't know how to manage your work." Though I admit to being involved in a number of things--workshops, blog, shop, designing, events, etc.--AND I LOVE IT--I do it because right now in my life, I have to do it all to make ends meet, though admittedly I'd probably do it anyway because I love it so much. I write this article fully aware that I don't live a life of balance. I work from early morning until late at night. Thought I love what I do, I do need to figure out that magical quotient of working smarter, not longer. Anyone know that formula? I'd be much obliged to hear that secret.
My hope in expressing these thoughts is to add to the number of voices out there that in order to affect change, we need to recognize the need to do so as a whole.
