rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » Business » Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?
This article was first published 11 years ago

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Last updated on: May 14, 2013 12:17 IST

Image: A share trader reacts at the German DAX stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany.
Photographs: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters Mitali Saran

Work lends purpose to life, and contributes to an economic machine that we benefit from-but only up to a point, says Mitali Saran.

What we think of as "normal" is constantly evolving. Somewhere along the line, it became normal for people to prioritise work at the expense of everything else.

It became normal to suffer a chronic shortage of sleep because of long work hours and conference calls scheduled in other time zones.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Commuters run to catch a train at Gare Saint Lazare station in Paris, France.
Photographs: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

At some point, people accepted that it is normal to sit in an office chair for eight hours a day.

We decided that careers are more important than relationships. We don't think there's anything odd about paying with our health for money, and then using the money to tend to our health.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Traders work in the Crude and Natural Gas Options pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange, United States.
Photographs: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

"It's work," is a non-negotiable reason to spend dinner texting under the table, skip family events, and, most of all, to avoid the difficult work of asking uncomfortable questions in the general vicinity of "Who am I, what am I doing here, and what does it all mean?".

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Commuters struggle through heavy rain and strong winds across London Bridge to the city of London, United Kingdom.
Photographs: Stephen Hird/Reuters

Work lends purpose to life, and contributes to an economic machine that we benefit from-but only up to a point.

At the end of the day here we are, marking time until we turn to dust.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Office workers walk during morning peak hour in central Sydney, Australia.
Photographs: Daniel Munoz/Reuters

What the hell to do with all the long hours that are in fact so short? Evolving a system of goal posts and rewards helps to enthuse people to do things.

Except that somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of the point. The point is to make life more, not less, enjoyable.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A city worker bites his nails outside the London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square in the City of London, United Kingdom.
Photographs: Toby Melville/Reuters

Those of us who don't ask questions will join the rat race and stay there.

The rest of us will be known as "losers", and spend our lives being made to feel bad for not matching the parameters defined as "success".

If we continue not to feel bad about it, we will simply be ignored.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A man sleeps inside a donut shop in Taipei, Taiwan.
Photographs: Nicky Loh/Reuters

Someone I know joined a company known for creativity, innovation and fantastic products.

It was a plum job with immense prestige and great pay.

Three years later he put in his papers; he never got more than four hours of sleep, spent vast amounts of time on airplanes, and had a boss from hell.

He absolutely hated his plum job.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A broker rests after monitoring share prices during morning trading at a securities company in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Photographs: Dadang Tri/Reuters.

I have another friend who seems to have found a nice balance between a satisfying work life and a creative, social, love-filled personal life.

He fits in overseeing nine offices of a company he founded, spread over several countries, with being a fantastic father to his children, a wonderful husband to his wife, and a rock solid friend to his friends.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Passengers are reflected in a departure board that shows all flights cancelled at Schoenefeld airport outside Berlin in Germany.
Photographs: Thomas Peter/Reuters

He finds pleasure in both work and his personal life, and has the energy and the preternatural cheeriness to handle the stresses and pitfalls. He's happy.

But this man is unusual. Most of us have limited energy, limited emotional bandwidth, and limited capacity for doing something difficult over a long period of time.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A man sits in a bus with an advertisement for jobs in central Sydney, Australia.
Photographs: Daniel Munoz/Reuters

The majority of average people push themselves beyond what is reasonable for them, in an attempt to emulate the outliers.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Snezana Vilaret, head of Serbia's central bank's macroeconomic research department, presents the bank's quarterly inflation report in Belgrade, Serbia.
Photographs: Ivan Milutinovic/Reuters.

For women, this means the extra demands of bearing children and, despite a few exceptions where men pitch in, also raising them.

In most countries women also expect themselves to have spotless houses, abundant tables, and maintain ties with extended families.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Commuters rush to board a train in Manila, the Philippines.
Photographs: John Javellana/Reuters

This doesn't sound like accomplishment or achievement to me - it sounds like a nightmare, or a form of oppression.

It sounds like the surrender of calm and contentment, the surrender of a form of time that is vastly underrated: free time.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A view of Terminal 10 at the Cointrin airport in Geneva, Switzerland.
Photographs: Denis Balibouse/Reuters

This doesn't apply to people who find hyperactivity to be genuinely pleasurable.

I'm talking about those who experience their full and busy lives as a constant pressure to perform in ways that may not have anything to do with what they would have enjoyed doing.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A commuter waits for a train at the Marseille's railway station in France.
Photographs: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Those who find that their bodies are breaking down under the stress of sedentary or overactive lives, but cannot give up the carrots of social approval for the benefit of good health.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Passengers are reflected on a glass wall as they walk inside Terminal 2 of Shanghai Hongqiao International airport in China.
Photographs: Nir Elias/Reuters

Those who can't remember what sex or love is like. Those who wake up at the end of their lives thinking: I would have liked to do something else.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A group of foreign workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh wait for their transport to go to work in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Photographs: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

Technology has physically liberated us from the office but at the same time put us on a longer, more insistent leash of ringtones and beeps.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Commuters wait for a subway train in New York City, United States.
Photographs: Seth Wenig/Reuters

A palliative nurse named Bronnie Ware wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, based on her conversations with people at the end of their lives.

The two most common regrets were: 1) I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me; and 2) I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A commuter on a public bus sleeps while resting his head on a shopping bag in central Beijing, China.
Photographs: David Gray/Reuters

Almost everyone has to work. Everyone has to die. Ask the questions, answer them honestly, and make your choices. Maybe, at some point, happiness will be normal.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: A man reads information on an electronic screen at a brokerage house in Shanghai, China.
Photographs: Aly Song/Reuters

Stress-related illnesses, such as heart diseases, diabetes and accelerated ageing, are now some of the biggest health issues in workplaces.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?

Image: Thousands of commuters pack the Bras train station during rush hour in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Photographs: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

People are facing increasing stress not only in office, but also while commuting.

...

Tags:

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

Passengers wait at a check-in counter at Vienna airport in Austria.

...

Tags: Austria , Vienna

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Johannes Eisele/Reuters

A traveller checks in at a Lufthansa automated machine at Frankfurt's Airport in Germany.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Stephen Hird/Reuters

Commuters struggle through heavy rain and strong winds across London Bridge to the city of London in United Kingdom.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Max Rossi/Reuters

Passengers walk at the Fiumicino International airport in Rome, Italy.

...

Tags: Italy , Rome

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Arko Datta/Reuters

Brokers react while trading at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai.

...

Tags: Mumbai

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Commuters stand on a Metro Rail bus in North Hollywood, California, United States.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters

Hundreds of commuters climb the stairs of a train station in Manila, the Philippines.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Commuters crowd into the Metro at Chatelet station in Paris, France.

...

Tags: Metro , France , Paris

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Stephen Hird/Reuters

Commuters leave the city financial district as they cross London Bridge in central London.

...

Are we prisoners of our tedious working habits?


Photographs: Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters

Students take a university entrance examination at a lecture hall in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain.

Tags: Seville , Spain
Source: source