Reflective Recalibration
Running a 26.2 mile marathon requires a different pace than sprinting a 100m dash
There’s a lot of media attention about the concept of ‘quiet quitting’.
Quiet quitting is about doing only what’s required in one’s job, working the required daily hours, using the minimum time and effort. Taking on out-of-scope work or volunteering to sit on committees, for example, is not for quiet quitters.
I can appreciate both arguments:
Do what you’re paid to do, do it to spec, go home, have a life.
Go above and beyond, try new things, meet new people, develop your skillset across teams, go home, have a little less of a life but all in the name of long-term growth.
I’ll admit that I’ve spent the majority of my life planted firmly in the second camp, which has benefited me greatly but also has its drawbacks. This is particularly true as I enter into the 15th year of work with a young family after having experienced a multi-year pandemic.
The time for introspection is upon me.
RR > QQ
I’m very fortunate to love what I do, having a deep passion for teaching, visual communication and the intersection of the two. I know that not everybody works in a job they enjoy and I’m hugely privileged in this position. Even still, it’s time for me to re-examine how I spend my days, which is how I spend my weeks, my months, my years and my life.
I definitely don’t want to quietly quit, but I must reflectively recalibrate.
This means looking closely at all facets of my job, doubling down on the things that add the most value to students and scaling back things I’m doing because I’ve ‘always done it that way’. It also requires reviewing my scope of work and specifically what’s expected of me.
By nature, I’m a people pleaser and competitive overachiever, which translates into taking on too much, constantly.
Reflective recalibration means that I might take on out-of-scope work, but I’m much more selective about what I take on, knowing that my time and energy are finite resources. I’ll pause before taking on a non-essential project (revolutionary for me!) and I’ll move forward only if it’s inherently enjoyable or interesting, letting curiosity be my guide. Feeling obligated out of a sense of guilt is no longer part of my worry wheelhouse. I know that I need to pace myself in the name of the quality of my work and quality time with family.
Furthermore, scaling back my out of scope work means that I’ve been able to explore creative passion projects outside of my day job. Sometimes these are just for me and sometimes they have spilled over into work. Either way, exploring these passion projects means that I can come to work in a better place to fulfill my in-scope duties; a little more pep in my step and a little more clear-headed, knowing I’m being more thoughtful in my decisions. This makes me feel lighter, which makes me better at my job. (Full circle moment!)
So, the moral of my story is that there is a happy medium between full-on quiet quitting and continuing to sprint like it’s a 100m dash in a marathon that’s 26.2 miles long. A reflective recalibration requires zooming out to see the bigger picture and recognizing that people pleasing by placing productivity on a pedestal will hurt us as individuals — and organizations as large collections of individuals — unless we reflectively recalibrate.
Therefore, you’ll find me staying in my own lane, pacing myself in my own race, content with the reflective recalibration that got me here. Bob Marley said it best: “The day you stop racing, is the day you win the race.”
Not Doing The Thing Today
I had the great pleasure of interviewing the delightful and insightful
about her work letting go of productivity guilt. You can listen to the episode on any podcast player or below. I hope you enjoy hearing her counter-cultural thoughts and actions as much as I do.Episode 122: I Didn’t Do That Thing Today With Madeleine Dore
Description: In this perspective-shifting episode, Madeleine Dore (author of I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt) chats about all sorts of important ideas, especially as summer’s restful embrace invites us to slow down and play.
Madeleine discusses why ‘perfection’ is a flawed concept (and what’s better than striving for perfection), the importance of taking productivity down off its pedestal, the bright side of not completing your to do list, the importance of being curious to question where our productivity guilt comes from, as well as broadening the measure of a day to celebrate the variances there within (as well as the variances within ourselves). Madeleine provides insight on the daunting nature of ‘space’ that rest affords us, practical tips for living presently in our days, the ways Madeleine chooses to measure her days beyond ‘being productive’, why the very ‘quantifiable’ measure of productivity is actually an imperfect metric too and what the term ‘precrastination’ means. It’s a BIG one!
