Ever thought that going “slow” at work could help you get more done? No? Me neither.
We live in a hectic, 24/7 society, full of power-walking workaholics, where Madonna sleeps with a BlackBerry under her pillow and slowing down is for losers.
One recent survey by the consumer research firm OTX found that many of us use high-tech gadgets to get 31 hours of work out of a 24-hour day — surely no mean feat.
And with smarter phones in the pipeline, we may be able to add another couple of hours to that total. Achieving this might include driving with a Bluetooth earpiece so we can have a conference call while keeping one ear on the radio — and checking the satnav as we go.
So what could be less relevant to the working day than the “slow” movement? This came into being in Italy 20 years ago when fast-food chain McDonald’s tried to introduce Big Macs to the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. From this notion sprang the wider “slow” movement, which now includes slow travel, slow shopping and even slow design. But slow working? I don’t think so. Call me old-fashioned, but that used to be called “going on strike.”
In the UK, workers put in the longest hours in Europe, eat the most ready meals and even drink faster than our neighbors. “Full on” is the way they like it. What’s more, the average British boss is unlikely to warm to employees who suddenly start taking two hours for lunch. However, according to the experts, we’re not talking laziness here, but strategies for survival.
“Slow is very important in psychology in general,” said Gail Kinman, a reader in occupational health psychology at the University of Bedfordshire. “It gives you time for recovery from stress. Slowing down means you have time to let your body and mind get back to the baseline.”
“If you don’t, there is more wear and tear on your cardiovascular system. And eventually, not taking time to do this will have a negative effect on your immune system. Your long-term health may be at risk and you’re more likely to burn out early. We see this in football managers and stock exchange dealers,” she said.
What’s more, chasing around yelling “I need this yesterday!” isn’t even very efficient. We need to pace ourselves and give ourselves time to think clearly. A study carried out at the University of Michigan has found that because the human brain needs time to shift gears between tasks, we need to do one thing at a time.
The more switching back and forth we do — between, say, talking on the phone, scanning e-mail and thinking about the next meeting — the less impressive our performance will be. And high performance, not long hours, is what employers are looking for.
Kinman points out that the “24/7” philosophy is partly self-inflicted. Just because supermarkets are open 24 hours a day doesn’t mean we have to Google in the wee hours.
“A lot is the pressure we put on ourselves,” she said. “In the past you would write a letter, get it typed up then post it. When you had a reply, a few days later, you would think about it before responding.
“Now we expect ourselves to be in constant communication with others. You need to ask yourself: What do I expect of other people? And what do they expect of me? If you want a nice, long career, get into some good habits now,” she said.
Crikey. I decide that — for the purposes of this article — I will put in one day of slow working. But can I really break with my default style of getting things done? That involves logging on to my e-mails at 6am, tapping away at my PC till my 10-minute lunch break, then zapping through the afternoon powered by caffeine and carbohydrates.
So I take the chilled approach, seeking slow experts on the Web for an hour, then relaxing with some yoga moves. Instead of hunching over the keyboard, I stand up, take a deep breath and go into dog pose. Head down, bottom in the air, tuning into the eternal verities. This makes me feel dizzy, so I resort to a huddled fetal position on the floor. Then my e-mail pings.
It is Geir Bethelsen, creator of the World Institute of Slowness, who has responded to my request in about 20 minutes. He is certainly quick for a slowness guru. He stresses that slow working doesn’t just mean making time to relax — the key is to use your time to relate to colleagues.
Bethelsen cites the following “10 commandments for workplace slow”: speak to people, smile, call people by name, be friendly and helpful, be sincere, be really interested in people, be generous with praise, be careful with the feelings of others, respect their opinions and always be ready to help.
But getting in the right frame of mind is important.
“Each morning, sit down doing nothing or take a short walk, and think about what you want to accomplish that day,” he said. “And in the evening, use 10 minutes to think about what you achieved — and the high point of the day.”
Encouraged by this thought, I take another break and go out for a skinny cappuccino. Time to consider the bigger picture, think about what this article is really trying to achieve. But the world is against me. There’s a huge line in the cafe, they’ve run out of skimmed milk, and hordes of yummy-mummies are trilling at each other. I should have stayed in with a teabag. Back at my desk, I am now seriously frazzled, my inbox is full and I’ve had enough of slow working to last a lifetime.
Fortunately, another time-efficient expert on slow working is on the line.
Christopher Richards has set up a US Web site — www.slowdownnow.org — dedicated to slow working. He points out that anyone working in an office needs to think about whether they want to work at breakneck speed or whether they have a choice. Unfortunately, there is no easy way out here. Just slumping at your desk being “laid back” will make everyone hate you. The real answer is to redesign your working life.
“My interest is time poverty,” he said. “In America the anti-joy, puritan work ethic is strong. Hard work is necessary, but it is not a virtue in itself. We can either use technology or let it use us — and this takes a certain amount of self knowledge and clarification about our values.”
Richards believes we need to take a hard look at what we want work to do for us.
“In a work hierarchy, those at the bottom are powerless,” he said. “Debt means wage slavery. The way out is personal responsibility, of saving and only spending what you have. If you want more time, you may have to give up a shopping habit.”
So there you have it. Slow working means renegotiating your relationship with money, not coming in late telling your colleagues to chill. Looks like my days as a stress junkie aren’t quite over yet.
I came to Taiwan to pursue my degree thinking that Taiwanese are “friendly,” but I was welcomed by Taiwanese classmates laughing at my friend’s name, Maria (瑪莉亞). At the time, I could not understand why they were mocking the name of Jesus’ mother. Later, I learned that “Maria” had become a stereotype — a shorthand for Filipino migrant workers. That was because many Filipino women in Taiwan, especially those who became house helpers, happen to have that name. With the rapidly increasing number of foreigners coming to Taiwan to work or study, more Taiwanese are interacting, socializing and forming relationships with
Earlier signs suggest that US President Donald Trump’s policy on Taiwan is set to move in a more resolute direction, as his administration begins to take a tougher approach toward America’s main challenger at the global level, China. Despite its deepening economic woes, China continues to flex its muscles, including conducting provocative military drills off Taiwan, Australia and Vietnam recently. A recent Trump-signed memorandum on America’s investment policy was more about the China threat than about anything else. Singling out the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign adversary directing investments in American companies to obtain cutting-edge technologies, it said
The recent termination of Tibetan-language broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a significant setback for Tibetans both in Tibet and across the global diaspora. The broadcasts have long served as a vital lifeline, providing uncensored news, cultural preservation and a sense of connection for a community often isolated by geopolitical realities. For Tibetans living under Chinese rule, access to independent information is severely restricted. The Chinese government tightly controls media and censors content that challenges its narrative. VOA and RFA broadcasts have been among the few sources of uncensored news available to Tibetans, offering insights
“If you do not work in semiconductors, you are nothing in this country.” That is what an 18-year-old told me after my speech at the Kaohsiung International Youth Forum. It was a heartbreaking comment — one that highlights how Taiwan ignores the potential of the creative industry and the soft power that it generates. We all know what an Asian nation can achieve in that field. Japan led the way decades ago. South Korea followed with the enormous success of “hallyu” — also known as the Korean wave, referring to the global rise and spread of South Korean culture. Now Thailand
RSS