Category: Work

Slow Is the New Cool: Why You Need to Embrace Slow Living

Post author By Zhun Yee Chew
Post date November 7, 2023

Exhausted and happy sloth lies in a deck chair on summer holiday

Addicted by Speed: The Fast Living Syndrome

Why does society detest slowness and the concept of slow living? Why is speed considered attractive, while slowness is not similarly embraced?

Let us be honest, we have all been culpable of at least one of these: getting frustrated over sluggish internet speeds or delayed deliveries from Lazada or Shopee, grumbling about the dreadful traffic during rush hours, turning to instant noodles because of a busy workday, and maybe the most outrageous of all, binge-watching Netflix at double speed because we are too busy for entertainment but refuse to compromise on leisure time.

Working adult looking at time, rushing work

These behaviours are symptoms of the “fast living syndrome”. Many of us unknowingly suffer from “time sickness”, a term coined by physician and writer Larry Dossey, which is the pervasive belief that time is constantly slipping away and perpetually insufficient.

Why do we always find ourselves in a perpetual rush? Is living at a breakneck pace the way to go? While it is undeniable that a fast-paced lifestyle can yield various advantages, such as increased efficiency, personal growth and a heightened sense of accomplishment, distressing trends are emerging.

These include children as young as 5 grappling with stress-related conditions including insomnia and eating disorders, and a drastic decline of average human attention span. Additionally, one in three Malaysians suffer from mental health issues, and over half of Malaysian workers are wrestling with burnout. These trends suggest that it is time for us to re-evaluate the significance we have attributed to living life in the fast lane.

How Did We Become Obsessed With Speed?

How did our appetite for speed and aversion to slowness evolve? This question has ties to the party in power. In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, leisure held a place of great reverence, serving as a window for the flourishing of intellectual, cultural and philosophical pursuits. The tables turned in the era of industrial capitalism. Under the rule of the bourgeoisie, we witnessed a significant shift in power dynamics. This period strongly emphasised individualism, hard work and productivity, all to the advantage of the powerful.

In contemporary society, the control and regulation that were formerly imposed by capitalist forces were internalised. As a consequence, a new form of power that operates through the mechanisms of self-control and self-optimisation came to the fore as noted by Byung-Chul Han in his book Burnout Society.

Thus, the achievement-subject gives itself over to compulsive freedom—that is, to the free constraint of maximizing achievement. Excess work and performance escalate into auto-exploitation. This is more efficient than allo-exploitation, for the feeling of freedom attends it. The exploiter is simultaneously the exploited. Perpetrator and victim can no longer be distinguished.
Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society

We now live in a world where we are both the master and slave to ourselves. The dichotomy that extols fast living and relentless productivity as virtues while stigmatising slow living and leisure as vices is deeply entrenched in our society that it has become synonymous with the truth.

The Consequences of Fast Living

However, as we rush through life, striving to achieve our life, career and relationship goals by a certain age, we often spread ourselves too thin, leaving little time for friends and family. We seek quick intimacy with our partners and prefer the most time-efficient forms of entertainment. Perhaps, the most ironic of all is that we desire the fastest solution to slowing down in life, as author Carl Honore described in In Praise of Slow.

What Is Slow Living? Is It Any Good?

“Slowness” frequently conjures negative images such as waiting in long queues, bureaucratic inefficiencies and unproductive work processes. It sometimes also carries the negative connotation of societal regression, suggesting a reluctance to embrace modern conveniences.

However, slowing down in life does not mean getting the short end of the stick compared with a fast-paced lifestyle. Slowing down does not entail a return to a non-technological era marked by resistance to change. It also does not require giving up on modern conveniences such as fast food, rapid transportation or instant communication, nor does it imply turning a blind eye to career opportunities.

What is Slow Living?

Slow living is an intentional and conscious choice to embrace an unhurried and reflective way of life.

It is in Honore’s words, having control of “the rhythms of your own life” or having the say of not only how but when to slow down in life.

“Being Slow means that you control the rhythms of your own life. You decide how fast you have to go in any given context. If today I want to go fast, I go fast; if tomorrow I want to go slow, I go slow. What we are fighting for is the right to determine our own tempos.”
Carl Honoré, In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed

In doing so, we grant ourselves the time to recharge and strike a balance in the hyper-accelerated life, consequently leading to greater productivity, improved overall well-being, more prudent decision-making, higher quality of life and relationships, and even a reduced risk of heart disease.

A good starting point is to become less neurotic about time, refraining from multitasking when it is appropriate, such as during meals, while spending quality time with loved ones or while resting, and having the courage to embrace moments of boredom and be comfortable with them.

Persuading Malaysians on the merits of slowing down is merely the start. A transition towards a mentally healthy society that sees the beauty and values of slow living will remain a challenge until we overhaul the regulations that influence nearly every aspect of life, including governance, the economy, the workplace, education, healthcare and others.

However, the movement towards a slower, more consciously paced lifestyle is gaining momentum. The Live Love Labour Festival: The Art of Bersantai, Malaysia’s first Festival of Slow Living, which was held recently is a fine example.

Final Thoughts

In a world hurtling forward at a breakneck speed, it is time for us to join the movement advocating for the value of slow living and unleash our inner sloth that has long been suppressed.

Originally published on the commentary section of The Sun Daily on October 24, 2023.

Tags mental health, mental wellbeing, philosophy, slow living, work, work-life balance

Self-help Work

30 Life-Changing Work-Life Balance Quotes for a Fulfilling Career

Post author By Zhun Yee Chew
Post date November 6, 2023

In you landed on this article, it means you are probably burnt out, stressed out or exhausted at work. Fret not, you are not alone as more than half Malaysians reported experiencing work-related stress at work according to this survey.

51.5% working Malaysians experience at least one form of work-related stress, and 12% experience high level of mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Work-life balance has become a sought after commodity in the current burnout society. In this article, we will explain what work-life balance really means, how you can practice it more effectively, as well as offer you 30 work-life balance quotes from philosophers across the centuries.

Disclaimer: While these quotes aim to assist in alleviating burnout by offering alternative perspectives on work and life, they should not be viewed as the sole remedy for burnout. If you are experiencing high level of stress and burnout, we strongly recommend you to seek professional help.

As our attempt to combat the burnout culture in Malaysia, we encouraged Malaysians to slow down their pace in life and practice a more mindful living at Live Love Labour Festival 2023.

What is Work-Life Balance?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, is “the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy”.

Fun Fact 💡

There exists an implicit assumption that the 40-hour workweek has been the longstanding standard for centuries. We often envision medieval peasants enduring monotonous lives, working tirelessly from sunrise to sunset.

However, this is not the case. During pre-industrial times, humans work as little as 3 hours a day and work was regarded as more of an informal and casual way to kill time and sustain life. Subsequently, work-life balance is a concept that was popularised during early Industrial Revolution period when work began to occupy a disproportionately large portion of the average worker’s day, thereby becoming a concept foreign to and distinct from "life."

In contemporary society, achieving work-life balance isn’t solely about dividing time equally between work and personal life. Owing to economic pressures, achieving this kind of work-life balance often proves unfeasible. In 2016, the Department of Statistics Malaysia revealed that 83.8% of employees in Malaysia were engaged in working more than 40 hours per week. And as a result of internalising a culture emphasising constant productivity, leisure or the supposed “life” component has often been commodified and transformed into yet another form of productivity, at times relegated to just another task on the schedule rather than serving as a genuine respite from work-induced stress.

We hope the following quotes can inspire you to look beyond the pre-existing notions and practices of work-life balance and empower you to to reimagine alternatives to well-being that integrates work and life harmoniously.

30 Work-Life Balance Quotes by Philosophers Across the Centuries

“In an achievement-oriented society, freedom does not mean the absence of constraints; rather, it means choosing one’s constraints.” – Byung-Chul Han
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” – Alain de Botton
“It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau
“Our worth is not determined by the amount of work we accomplish.” – Wayne Muller
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha
“The whole life is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.” – Plutarch
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
“To do two things at once is to do neither.” – Publilius Syrus
“It’s an absolute necessity to recognize the value of work in making sense of life and finding satisfaction in what we do.” – Alain de Botton
“We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” – Epictetus
“We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth.” – Seneca
“No man is free who is not a master of himself.” – Epictetus
“The person who has lived the most is not the one who has lived the most years, but the one with the richest experiences.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Today, one must justify one’s existence through work. One is nothing if one does not function. Laziness is disparaged; activity is glorified.” – Byung-Chul Han
“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu
“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Genuine leisure is beyond the measure of work. Leisure is time that is spent for itself, for its own sake.” – Byung-Chul Han
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Bertrand Russell
“Work-life balance is a concept that has led to a vast amount of unnecessary guilt and sense of failure. People who feel they are not working enough, or not spending enough time with their families, can often be found expressing a wish to be someone else.” – Alain de Botton
“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Freedom is the recognition of necessity.” – Friedrich Engels
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” – Seneca
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle
“We need to learn how to want what we have, not to have what we want in order to get steady and stable happiness.” – Dalai Lama
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Søren Kierkegaard
“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee

Final Thoughts

We hope the above work-life balance quotes can offer you fresh perspectives in finding a better balance between your personal and professional life.

As a gentle reminder to our burnt out readers, before moving on to another task on your to-do list, ask yourself: “Would it be catastrophic if I allowed myself a moment to rest?” The answer is likely a comforting no.

Tags career, mental health, mental wellbeing, philosophy wisdom, work

Work

Breaking Free from the 9 to 5: Is Work Necessary When It Sucks?

Post author By Zhun Yee Chew
Post date May 19, 2023

Are you tired of the same daily grind of the 9 to 5? Do you find yourself dreading Sunday evening, anticipating the start of the week ahead? You are not alone! Most of us work 8 hours per day to eat in 30 minutes, 7 days a week to rest for 1, 52 weeks per year to take 1-2 weeks off for vacation, for jobs we don’t even enjoy working in.

In this article, we ask the questions “Is Work Necessary?”, as well as examining the need for work and its value, or lack thereof, in our lives. We will focus our discussion on full-time employment, which is a form of work that all of us are most familiar with.

Work Sucks, So Why Do We Work?

Why do humans need to work in the first place? Is work truly necessary for our survival, or is it just a product of our modern, capitalist society?

For many of us, our jobs feel like a never-ending grind. We clock in at 9 am and don’t leave until 5 pm, or even later. We work tirelessly, day in and day out, just to keep our heads above water. The reality is that full-time employment can be a soul-sucking experience. We’re constantly pushing ourselves to the brink of burnout, just to meet unrealistic expectations and deadlines.

And for what?

Work Brings Extrinsic and Intrinsic “Value“

To pay the bills? To keep up with societal expectations? To maintain our social status?

Yes. And more fundamentally, many of us also still believe in the intrinsic value of full-time employment. We believe that it is inherently virtuous and good for us. We believe that it brings character development including diligence, self-discipline and self-respect, and even a sense of purpose or control in life.

In short, we believe in both the extrinsic and intrinsic value full-time employment provides us.

The Problems With Full-Time Employment

Let’s look at this in detail. Is it true that full-time employment provides us with extrinsic and intrinsic value? From burnout to a lack of work-life balance and unhappiness about our jobs, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this statement may no longer hold true.

Work Does Not Provide Adequate Extrinsic Value

If we say employment provides us with monetary value, most full-time jobs don’t provide us with fair compensation for our time and effort. Many people find themselves underpaid and struggling to make ends meet. According to Malaysia’s Department of Statistics, the median salary for Malaysians in 2021 is only slightly above RM2,000.

Work Does Not Provide Intrinsic Value and Meaning

Furthermore, the intrinsic value of full-time employment is also questionable. It cannot adequately serve as the groundwork of one’s character especially when many jobs nowadays are mindless jobs that don’t serve real purpose or provide real utility, as Professor David Graeber called “Bullshit Jobs”. Graeber identifies different categories of bullshit jobs, including “flunkies” (positions that exist solely to make someone else look important), “goons” (jobs with an aggressive or coercive element), and “duct tapers” (people who fix problems caused by inefficient organisations). These jobs are often characterised by a lack of autonomy, low job satisfaction, and a feeling of being disconnected from the value they create.

It is even more questionable that works brings us meaning, purpose and control in life, as we were once taught. According to a survey conducted by Zippia, 89% of workers have experienced burnout within the past year. Can you believe it? Only 2 out of 10 workers have not experienced burnout in the past year.

On rare occasions, one’s full-time employment does provide one with adequate pay, support for character growth as well as a sense of purpose and meaning. But a job like this is a lottery that many people work their entire lives to win. However, the reality is that the odds of finding that ideal job are slim.

Is Full-Time Employment Necessary?

James Livingston's No More Work — James Livingston’s No More Work

“In a sensible world, everybody concerned in the manufacturing of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. There is, in the end, just as much leisure as on the other plan, but half the men are totally idle while half are still overworked. In this way, it is insured that the unavoidable leisure shall cause misery all round instead of being a universal source of happiness. Can anything more insane be imagined?”
Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness

Full-Time Employment Is Not Necessary From An Economic Standpoint

One may argue that full-time employment is necessary for economic growth. However, traditional measures of economic growth, which heavily rely on factors such as net private investment and employment in goods production can no longer fully capture the dynamics of economic progress.

In James Livingston’s book “No More Work”, he discusses the idea that economic growth does not necessarily require an increase in the labour force. He points out that starting from 1919, the nature of economic growth underwent a change. Growth continued throughout the 1930s, even though net private investment declined and employment in goods production decreased. There are other factors at play that contribute to growth even when these conventional indicators are not showing positive trends, which could include technological advancements, innovation, productivity and efficiency improvements, and others. In other words, economic growth does not necessarily require an expansion of full-time labour.

Furthermore, we are also experiencing a surplus of goods with the advancements in technology and productivity. In Bertrand Russell’s essay titled “In Praise of Idleness”, he suggests that either a portion of the population working full-time or everyone working part-time is enough to support everyone’s essential needs. By everyone working full-time, it results in an overproduction of goods, economic instability and unemployment.

What’s Next?

Alternatives to Full-Time Employment

So, if full-time employment is not necessary, what do we do?

With the overwhelming burnout and unhappiness experienced by the working class, it is a wake-up call to all of us. Perhaps it’s time to explore alternative models to full-time employment, such as part-time work, job sharing or distribution, entrepreneurship, or even a universal basic income so that everyone can sustain their livelihood and at the same time the freedom to pursue meaningful activities and contribute to society in ways that align with their interests and values.

While the implementation of a universal basic income is controversial and is not something that will happen overnight, there are things we can do as individuals to make our work-life better.

Do I Need This Job?

As citizens of this burnout and unhappy society, the question we should ask ourselves every day when we wake up is not “Do I really need this job?”, but rather questions like “Are there any other alternatives to full-time employment I can explore to better fulfil my needs and goals in life?”, “Can I tolerate having a basic income?” as well as reevaluating your values and priorities in life.

There is nothing wrong with climbing the career ladder if you value professional development and status. There is nothing wrong either to only work part-time if you value spending more quality time with loved ones and can do away with a basic income. But we shouldn’t work for the sake of working, and we shouldn’t let social norms decide what is good and right for us.

The reason behind your decision for full-time employment should be justifiable by reason and passion, not fear. What’s next is really up to you.

Self-help Work

Kant Stop Procrastinating? How to Stop Procrastination [A Guide from Kantian Philosophy]

Post author By Soo May Wee
Post date December 27, 2020

There are some days when I feel extremely lazy and I wish I did not have to wash my dishes after I eat or write this essay. A part of me whispers, “May, let’s watch a couple more YouTube videos, shall we? Let’s be free to do anything we desire!” I would then slump onto my bed and laze around, enjoying my freedom.

But am I actually free? Some philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, might say no.

There are two concepts of freedom or liberty in philosophy – positive and negative freedom.

Negative Freedom

Pexels

Negative freedom comes from the absence of barriers against one’s actions. One is free when one can do what one wants without the presence of any obstacles. This is the type of freedom that we are usually accustomed to. The freedom that I envisioned when I lay on my bed, scrolling through videos, is of this type because I am doing what I desire.

Positive Freedom

Kant claims that we are only free when we follow rules.

What? How can I be free when I am constrained by rules?! But hold on, there is more to Kant’s claim.

The rules cannot be just any rules; they have to be our rules. In other words, we are only free when we abide by the rules that we make ourselves.

The rules have to be our rules.

The second part of Kant’s claim─that the rules have to be our rules─is probably on more familiar ground. It would be more interesting to put this in a political context.

We usually consider the citizens of a democratic country to be freer than those of a totalitarian country because the former actually have a say in the laws that they follow.

Depending on the degree of democracy practised in the country, the citizens are free because they make their own laws and abide by these laws. Similarly, we would think that, as an individual, we are free when we follow our own rules and decisions instead of others’.

How about the first part of Kant’s claim ─ that we are free when we follow rules? In order to understand what he means, we have to first know his idea of a human being.

Kant, like many other earlier philosophers, thought that human beings are imperfect rational beings. Even though we have the power of reason, we are also governed by our inclinations.

This human nature to desire is deemed inferior compared to the power of reason (this claim is also famously discussed in Plato’s The Republic). This is because inclinations are similarly present in other beings such as animals; hence, what really separates us from them is our rationality.

Only humans have the power of reason (animal experts can fight with Kant on this but please spare me).

Therefore, when we follow our inclinations or desires rather than our reason, we have fallen to a lower plane of beings. We fail to act beyond our mere impulses and appetites. We become slaves to our irrational passions.

However, when we listen to our reason, we break free from the chains of our passions and we gain our freedom. And how do we listen to our reason? We use it to make a law and follow it (only rational beings are capable of acting according to laws).

In a broader sense, positive freedom can be defined as the control a person has over herself whereas negative freedomcan be thought of as the absence of obstacles to oneself — a difference between internal versus external factors that determine one’s freedom. Kant’s freedom is the positive kind.

How to Stop Procrastination with Kantian Philosophy

psycom.net

How does all of these connect to how Kant helps me not to procrastinate?

When I find myself spending an hour writing only a sentence because I keep getting distracted by YouTube or Twitter, I tell myself: “May! Kant’s now frowning at you because you are only listening to your irrational desires even though you need to submit this essay.” I know that, rationally, I need to really finish writing and so I follow my reason and make a law for myself: I have to write at least one page by 10 pm. Whenever I start to lose my focus again, I remember Kant (sometimes I would crazily mutter Kant, Kant, Kant) to motivate myself to keep working in order to exercise my positive freedom.

This is not only helpful for my academics but also for many other aspects of my life. When I want to sleep in and skip working out, I think of Kant and I would get out of my bed immediately. When I am about to press the ‘Next episode’ button on Netflix at 3.34 am, after watching 8 consecutive episodes of a show, despite knowing that I will get a headache for not sleeping enough, I think of Kant and I would shake my head and declare under my breath, “I refuse to be governed by this incredibly addictive show and I will practise my rationality and exercise my freedom by going to sleep now.”

In general, whenever you start to put off doing something (e.g., work, sleep, eat) for no good reasons, you can try to fight against the tendency by reflecting on how this can threaten your free will.

Ask yourself: Am I really a slave to my desires? Is my will not free to escape my irrational passions? If you decide that you want to exercise your positive freedom, then make a rule for yourself to complete the work that you need to do and follow it!

Of course, I do not think that negative freedom is bad and, despite the label, it does not mean that it should be negatively perceived.

After all, we do exercise negative freedom most of the time. This is my vote and no one else can influence it. I want to wear this and I do not need others to agree. I choose to say this without any restrictions. But what I hope to do in this article is to suggest an alternative philosophical perspective that you can take when you need some motivation to (or not to) pursue something.