The problem with shallow work & how to live 24 hours a day
Oluwayemisi Ojo
Training & Educational Consulting |Bullish on Africa| Writing a memoir #sanitystop ??
One of my inspirations to write in my moments of despair is David. It struck me how much David had to fight his entire life and how much he wrote during these difficult times. He was a king. He went to battle all the time and had quite a lot going for him. Yet, this king, wrote the most of Psalms, some parts of?Kings, half of the Proverbs and, I dare say, half of the book of Ecclesiastes (Solomon, the original writer was always quoting from his father David).
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I was reading 'On Writing -a Memoir on the Craft' by Stephen King, and at the end of the memoir, he told the story of the condition in which he wrote this book that has sold millions of copies and changed many lives: he had a ghastly accident. one that nearly grounded his bones to dust and broke him in dozen places. But somehow, through this period, he looked at himself one day, 6 weeks later, and realised he had to go back to writing the book. This is in spite of the pain, not able to sit for long and several surgeries to aid his healing.
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This sanitystop is a reflective epilogue that solidifies the idea that was well-debated in the two books I read last month:? Arnold Bennett, 'How to Live on 24 Hours a Day', and Cal Newport, 'Deep Work'.
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The danger of working a 9-6 job (assuming you don't have 5 other gig jobs waiting after work to be attended to) is that much emphasis would be placed on those hours of the day without so much accountability on how the rest of the day has been spent. Arnold wrote this in 1908 but it still rings true today…
He (man) persists in looking upon those hours from ten to six as "the day," to which the ten hours preceding them and the six hours following them are nothing but a prologue and epilogue…Such an attitude, unconscious though it be, of course, kills his interest in the odd sixteen hours, with the result that, even if he does not waste them, he does not count them
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For the answer to how to live in such a way that I do not feel exhausted after my 8-hour job; In such a way that I am reinvigorated to pursue life outside of 9-6 in a very meaningful way, I will ask you to turn to Arnold. However, what struck me with Cal Newport's assertion on deep work is this truth; the ability to deep work -Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit, is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. For some, the situation is even worse: that their daily work does not provide them the ability to do such kind of jobs. At best, they are jostling between doing deep work and doing the noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. Newport is referred to as shallow work.
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We, as a human race, are increasingly battling with shallow work. We have become increasingly distracted. It is the reason why we work overtime and feel guilty about taking breaks. But while shallow work is an everyday stuff that makes life look good, it is not the most important. When we do not do deep work, as creative beings, we do not feel at our best and we feel frustrated by our jobs.
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In the past, I had thought rest was a state of stillness where I am not engaging in any activities or where I just go soak myself in nature, travel and meet people or read my best works. But it could be more than that. I think what refreshes our souls is creativity; the art of birthing something that demands an unusual exercise of our intellectual muscles beyond its normal routine.
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The major point of writing this is that, if you feel you are on a 9-6 where you do not feel any kind of fulfilment, chances are that you are stuck with shallow work. But that is not the only thing you are stuck with. There is the wasting away of 16 good hours where you could shape your life in the way you want. You do not have to magnify your 9-6 if it does not give you that meaning. You could exist in it if that's what it takes to survive now. But always have at the back of your mind that you have 24 hours to thrive every day. You could plan your life in such a way that these hours, or at least some parts of it yield meaningful results for you when compounded.
Project Manager @TAFISA| Researcher | Event Planning /Sporting Legacies| Data Analyst. | SDGs Advocate | WEF Global Shaper / Africa Sports Unified Fellow 2023
1 年Profound words. Thank you for sharing. Splendid