In an era of limitless technology and information, life can feel at once empowering and overwhelming — especially in jobs where employees feel pressure to be swamped. But just how busy are we, really?
Not as busy as we’d like others to think, according to a new study.In a survey of 10,000 adults across various generations in 28 countries, global marketing firm Havas Worldwide partnered with market research company Market Probe International to ask people how technology and connectivity have affected their lives.
The most illuminative finding; People feel compelled to lie about how busy they are.
Why do we do this? Administrators suggest that social media “has exacerbated the sense that we’re never accomplishing enough,” and six out of ten respondents believed that their lives would be better if they were more productive. And therein lies the paradox of the modern workforce: True productivity is unattainable, like tilting at windmills with a Venti Frappuccino, because we feel like we could always be doing more.
In a series of several experiments, the researchers illustrated just how much we’ve come to revere busyness, or at least the appearance of it. Volunteers read two vignettes, one about a man who led a life of leisure and another about a man who was overworked and overscheduled; when asked to determine which of the two had a higher social status, the majority of the participants said the latter. The same held true for people who used products that implied they were short on time: In one experiment, for example, customers of the grocery-delivery service Peapod were seen as higher status than people who shopped at grocery stores that were equally expensive; in another, people wearing Bluetooth headsets were considered further up on the social ladder than those wearing regular headphones, even when both were just used to listen to music.
More than half of American workers don’t use up all of their allotted vacation days each year.
Not so long ago, people would have turned up their noses at that kind of dedication to the job. As marketing professors Silvia Bellezza, Neeru Paharia, and Anat Keinan (of Columbia, Georgetown, and Harvard business schools, respectively) recently explained in Harvard Business Review, leisure time was once seen as an indicator of high social status, something attainable only for those at the top. Since the middle of the 20th century, though, things have turned the opposite way — these days, punishing hours at your desk, rather than days off, are seen as the mark of someone important.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven;explaining why great leaders have had time without ranting.
We think that the shift from leisure-as-status to busyness-as-status may be linked to the development of knowledge-intensive economies. In such economies, individuals who possess the human capital characteristics that employers or clients value (e.g., competence and ambition) are expected to be in high demand and short supply on the job market. Thus, by telling others that we are busy and working all the time, we are implicitly suggesting that we are sought after, which enhances our perceived status.
Workers in newer economic powerhouses such as Brazil, China and India are pretending to be busy even though they’d rather relax, possibly (according to the study) because they haven’t quite come to grips with the demands of an ever-connected work and home life.
Other parts of the world, like the US, Canada and European countries like France, Germany and the Netherlands choose not to view the new pace of life as a threat, but instead as the way the world works. It’s still early, but it will be interesting to see how everyone will come to grips with the realities of living with more strings attached.
To do whatever it takes to be recognized and stand out from the crowd, as a concept is fine.
Problems start when everyone else starts to do the same thing, it requires more and more to be noteworthy.A shift from leisure-as-status to busyness-as-status may be linked to the development of knowledge-intensive economies. In such economies, individuals who possess the human capital characteristics that employers or clients value (e.g., competence and ambition) are expected to be in high demand and short supply on the job market. By telling others that we are busy and working all the time, we are implicitly suggesting that we are sought after, which enhances our perceived status.
If you don’t have time for the small things, you won’t have time for the big things.
As a culture, we hate being idle and we value productivity, but there is a growing movement toward mindfulness and savoring. Step back and be peaceful. It doesn’t have to be scary, and it can be enjoyable. Keep your eyes on your own definition of success and you’ll fill your time with the things that matter most to you.
What’s your definition of success?We’d love to hear.
