Chillingly Quiet, Part 2
As summer departs, taking with it traditional sentiments of joy and vibrancy, so does autumn descend, heralding a presumed dearth of those delights. Yet all needn’t be lost, as fall is also known for abundance. A certainly conflicting season allows for fermentation of an equally conflicting workplace trend—quiet quitting.
While apparently dreaded like the coming equinox, quiet quitting doesn’t necessarily give way for things once vibrant to wither. Rather, the trend is about employees harvesting their own time, as depicted here by NPR. Over recent years, our workforce has challenged the previous, sometimes abusive norms of hustle culture. This latest movement is but a branch on the tree grown from the seed of burnout.
The conflict between work time and personal time has been years in the making, billowing to an inadvertent crescendo in the wake of 2020’s global pandemic. The belief in “rise and grind” has pervaded various areas of our lives, prevalent in films and music. As children, we are told that to succeed in our lives, those very same lives must be dedicated to hard, relentless work–perhaps a lingering sentiment from the toil of Gilded Age workers, described here. by the Economic History Association.
In this TED Talk, Eso Tolson scrutinizes the fatal flaw in an attitude and culture of hustle and grind. The Gilded Age is well past us. So too should we put aside toxic notions of restless productivity at the expense of personal wellbeing.
Take a pause before we criticize a colleague–or even ourselves–for not working longer or after hours. Consider the fundamental needs of our Prism® Portrait, illustrated here and whether the presumed merits of a life of hustle outweigh those of a life with balance.
Insisting that a single facet of our lives dominate others is what truly allows for things once vibrant to wither.
“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.”
– Unknown
Author
by Faraz Gafoor
Faraz Gafoor is a content strategist, writer, and human-data aficionado. His passion for scientific analysis of everything—from the presentation of data to the way we communicate—is driven by a deep love of understanding how we process and make sense of our surroundings. His curiosity and a never-ending search for prolific and poetic perfection poignantly fit his Prism Personality of a double Scientist.
Do you have an idea you want to share with an empowered community of self-aware professionals? If you’d like to contribute an idea or article to ‘In The Flow of Work’ on the Evolve blog, just send us a message or submit a post to our Head of Content, Adam Schneider
