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Maybe you should do less 'work'

johnwhiles.com

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Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#251

Post by bckr »

ftlio wrote: post #212
lotsofpulp wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different perspectives for looking at the same thing provide different benefits, and they can be held simultaneously. For example, getting married to someone involves love and commitment and all that jazz, but I also like to advise also looking at it as a business, especially if you have or are going to have children. It is no different in that the two parents (and maybe even other adults in a multi family household)…

Yes, the idea that you can't hold "the neoliberal view" of your household, and "the communist view" and the "romantic view", and the "spiritual view" all together for all their benefits and tradeoffs seems worse to me than even subscribing to one holistically without this imperative. I've had this called out as absolutely faux pas if not totally asinine by people who are deep into philosophy, but I'm doing great, a l…

> faux pas if not totally asinine

These people are embarrassed that you can think for yourself.

Life has such a high fractal dimension. It's highly unlikely that a single theory, expressed in a serial language, can be a very good description of life, at all.

But it feels good to believe one thing strongly. It feels so, so good. And it feels good to hate people who believe the other thing, and to think they're wrong.

But the right way really is to believe in all the things at once. It's weird, schizoid, scary, and completely logical.

I'd like to put something together to help people understand this. I think the quickest way to get there is:

* math doesn't work the way you think: see Wittgenstein

* space and time don't work the way you think: see Einstein

* matter doesn't work the way you think: see the double slit experiment

* rationality doesn't work the way you think: see tons of psychology

Given the above, do you think anything could possibly work the way you think it works? The best way forward is to just be incredibly weird. (And yet, somehow, be incredibly normal at the same time).

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#252

Post by zormino »

caffeine wrote: post #135

You are the boss of a company of one. Your company sells labor to the labor market, it makes investments in assets, it borrows funds, etc. It’s your job to decide how that company is run. It’s your job to decide what investments that company needs to make to get good returns. It’s also your job to interpret the contracts your company enters into and decide what is acceptable, and to appropriately risk-manage legal ha…

Wow people are not liking this for some reason. This way of thinking about selling your labour in a market is exactly why it's called the labour market. People selling labour need to understand how the market works in order to participate in the most advantageous way for their own situationq. Nothing said here detracts from the fact that the calculus of how you go about this changes with your priorities, for example having children might lower your risk tolerance when deciding where to sell your labour, so maybe the 'company of one' way of naming it doesn't fit, but the concept is solid. It isn't meant to gut you of your humanity, just provide a thought framework to make sure you are competing in the market fairly.

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#253

Post by giantg2 »

TameAntelope wrote: post #121
giantg2 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and most of that similarly doesn't count when it's time for the chips to fall.

My point is it absolutely does "count"; what your boss values is not what's best for your career. That's extremely short-term thinking.

I guess I've only ever had a job and never a career.

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#254

Post by javajosh »

0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #244
caffeine wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We are hardcore social animals with huge biological & affective needs, this is scientifically proven. Totally agree. > We are NOT companies Actually, we are humans. However, when it comes to our economic activity, we are also a company. Both things can be true at once. > this is so one-sided, extreme, partial and damaging. What decades of neo liberal brainwashing has done to people. Woah. Anything you specifically…

Despite enjoying Smurfs, a show about hardcore social animals, as a kid, I still hope young people believe they can fail.

Being a parent, you get a sense for what young people believe, and why. It comes from you, but also from friends at school, and of course media - books, tv, movies, games. IMHO the 'ability to fail' message is quite poor, overall, from media. Mr. Rogers being the (usual) exception. That said, failure occurs often in real life, desired goals always exceed capability, hopefully you can give them iterated games they can experience failure, adaptation, and success at their own pace. Often they will invent their own games, which we too often call "misbehavior".

But yes, entertainment obsession in kids (on-demand media plus working single parent works out quite badly for the kids), media emphasis on those who are unaccountably good at a thing, means media portrays failing far less often than is realistic, and when it does it's a Rocky style training montage. Plus no-one really wants to write the manual for kids on how to give up on your dreams.

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#255

Post by saiya-jin »

vkou wrote: post #225
lliamander wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of bad faith interpretation and just missing the point in response to this solid bit of career advice is just astounding.

There'd probably be a lot less bad faith interpretation if it didn't end with a double-zinger of 'And once you reduce your life to a neo-liberal economic model, is when you will finally grow up and become an adult'. That last part in particular poisons the rest. Sure, it could be interpreted in good faith, but as it's so damn condescending - why put the work in?

I don't get these knee-jerk reactions, clearly a lot of people here are putting their wishful statements into his mouth/keyboard - where I see none.

Take ownership of your life, nobody else will. Set priorities straight, nobody else will. Beware of far-reaching mistakes, you can screw up your life irreparably, nobody is going to magically save you like in Hollywood stories.

What the heck? These are some solid life advises. They are crystal clear to any adults, yet so many people fail with those, often badly, and their lives are ruins.

Were you told these things at least once when growing up in a manner that actually sticked with you? I didn't and for sure I wish I did (I ended up all right but I believe I had more luck than average and sometimes risked way too much)

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#256

Post by alexk307 »

dahfizz wrote: post #88
alexk307 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Everyone has to be maximally productive at all times?

No, but I should not have to subsidize your laziness. I don't care if you want to lay on the couch all day, but it is not okay to steal money from me to do so.

You're just making things up now. They said they want to work 20-30 hours a week, not lay on the couch all day. How would someone else working 10-20 hours less than you equate to them stealing money from you?

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#257

Post by AlwaysRock »

I've been in jobs where was less was expected of me than I was capable of delivering and, more often than not, jobs where more was expected of me than I was capable of delivering, at least for any considerable length of time without burnout.

Both were difficult. I like to think that if I had one of the lower effort needed jobs now that I would find other useful things to do like the author mentioned. At the time I mostly read books or played video games with other staff when I was done with my work. It was nice but a bit frustrating because I would go home and feel like I had already read and/or played video games so I didnt have fun things to do after work.

Absolutely a problem from the top of the hierarchy of needs but still a problem.

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#258

Post by AlwaysRock »

caffeine wrote: post #135

You are the boss of a company of one. Your company sells labor to the labor market, it makes investments in assets, it borrows funds, etc. It’s your job to decide how that company is run. It’s your job to decide what investments that company needs to make to get good returns. It’s also your job to interpret the contracts your company enters into and decide what is acceptable, and to appropriately risk-manage legal ha…

Companies === People. People === Companies. Understood.

Re: Maybe you should do less 'work'

#260

Post by AlwaysRock »

0des wrote: post #5

Getting my task completed at my own pace makes me feel good. Often that is fast and on time. In my heart, when I touch the keyboard, I feel like a greyhound dog with a little Bob Ross afro - it can be a race, a competition, but it is also an expression of my art. This article makes me feel bad because in the authors world, people like me are relegated to worker bee monkies trying to please the bossman due to patholog…

I did not read the article how you read it. It seems to me you are doing exactly what the author is suggesting. You are doing your work and then taking time to do other things.

The author isnt saying dont give a shit. They are saying when you finish your work you don't have to ding a bell and say, "NEXT TASK PLEASE" right away. There are other aspects of work that are important too.

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