That's a great additional insight that had not occurred to me - some side hustles are desirable and good because they represent control and independence for the worker.
Not really aligned with your main thesis, but in the same vein that hustling all the time is bad for us...and it's bad for employers. And perhaps I didn't hit the nail on the head hard enough that companies that are supposed to be our bread and butter have a lot of responsibility for encouraging side hustles that are ultimately destructive to themselves. 2-minute read:
I think at the root of this is the need for an honest conversation between employer and employee about what the expectations are on both sides and an agreement on a fair exchange (because it is, fundementally, a transaction). This sort of conversation is almost wholly absent, however. The reality is that, over the past 4 decades, employers have taken the majority of the gains from productvity AND from the extra hours they have demanded/co-erced/gaslit from their employees. Employment no longer fulfills the needs and desires of the employees and so the side hustle if their little dream of freedom, their moonshot. Or worse, it's a necessity to make ends meet.
Yes to this Colin. Have always been a daydreamer and struggled with some guilt about it, when I was younger. Now, it's one of the best parts of my routine. Nowadays the struggle is unplugging from the distraction machine in my pocket.
Daydreaming is an essential part of creativity, innovation and problem-solving. Thomas Edison used to go fishing with a rod but no bait, not to catch any fish (obviously!) but so he would be left alone to let his mind wander.
The distraction machine is a real problem, though!
I know the feeling you describe, not able to take the phone off the hook and be bored for a bit. My wife observed me on the beach this Friday, I always needed to be doing something, listen to music, play a beach game, walk along the shoreline, read a book, anything but be alone with my thoughts, noticing the world around me. I got there in the end once I saw my behaviour and intervened between stimulus and reaction. 30yrs in the corporate world has conditioned me this way and I’m sure there is more to “become” so I’m doing all I can to create the space to be bored and become.
I love your article example about innovation not been measurable as productivity. Richard Merrick recently wrote a piece about the steps to innovation being from mystery to heuristic to algorithm. Most businesses daren’t sit in the uncertain space between mystery and heuristic (the source of innovation in your story) and prefer to rehash and mimic evidence based/proven stuff that’s been done before since it linear and productive. AI now lives there and we will do well to move upstream to wander & wonder about what new things we can create together with the insight and intuition of others.
Being 'bored' is seriously underrated. It creates the space for your curiosity to take you in new directions, to indulge yourself in a bit of whimsy (something that is also underrated). Of course, none of this 'belongs' in business, we are told. Wrongly.
Reflecting on your second point, I feel part of the problem is that a lot of people who get up the greasy pole of corporate life are high achievers, who's focus and success has been on getting all the badges and medals. They are very goal-oriented, they like things to be clear and quantified. They are not comfortable in uncertainty and ambiguity, they don't understand emergence. So they look to repeat proven formulae, they rely on what's already been learnt, they look for the shortest and surest path to the next achievement.
You're right Colin, there is little room for uncertainty and ambiguity. Reflecting on my corp. upbringing, you are taught to grab a torch and use it to point at a very narrow field of vision, like getting in the car and driving down the motorway with the radio on, no time to notice what's going on around you, just a focus on the destination, life inbetween is a wasted inconvenience. I'm trying to live by the warm an intimate glow of candlelight that draws people in for conversations without goals. It's slower, you learn tons. I'm finding creative and serendipity live there. You can also light other candles without taking anything from your own flame. A torch is sometimes handy but only by exception not the norm :-)
That's a great additional insight that had not occurred to me - some side hustles are desirable and good because they represent control and independence for the worker.
Not really aligned with your main thesis, but in the same vein that hustling all the time is bad for us...and it's bad for employers. And perhaps I didn't hit the nail on the head hard enough that companies that are supposed to be our bread and butter have a lot of responsibility for encouraging side hustles that are ultimately destructive to themselves. 2-minute read:
https://www.paulhobin.com/post/2017/11/07/opinion-the-side-hustle-is-bull
I think at the root of this is the need for an honest conversation between employer and employee about what the expectations are on both sides and an agreement on a fair exchange (because it is, fundementally, a transaction). This sort of conversation is almost wholly absent, however. The reality is that, over the past 4 decades, employers have taken the majority of the gains from productvity AND from the extra hours they have demanded/co-erced/gaslit from their employees. Employment no longer fulfills the needs and desires of the employees and so the side hustle if their little dream of freedom, their moonshot. Or worse, it's a necessity to make ends meet.
Yes to this Colin. Have always been a daydreamer and struggled with some guilt about it, when I was younger. Now, it's one of the best parts of my routine. Nowadays the struggle is unplugging from the distraction machine in my pocket.
Daydreaming is an essential part of creativity, innovation and problem-solving. Thomas Edison used to go fishing with a rod but no bait, not to catch any fish (obviously!) but so he would be left alone to let his mind wander.
The distraction machine is a real problem, though!
I know the feeling you describe, not able to take the phone off the hook and be bored for a bit. My wife observed me on the beach this Friday, I always needed to be doing something, listen to music, play a beach game, walk along the shoreline, read a book, anything but be alone with my thoughts, noticing the world around me. I got there in the end once I saw my behaviour and intervened between stimulus and reaction. 30yrs in the corporate world has conditioned me this way and I’m sure there is more to “become” so I’m doing all I can to create the space to be bored and become.
I love your article example about innovation not been measurable as productivity. Richard Merrick recently wrote a piece about the steps to innovation being from mystery to heuristic to algorithm. Most businesses daren’t sit in the uncertain space between mystery and heuristic (the source of innovation in your story) and prefer to rehash and mimic evidence based/proven stuff that’s been done before since it linear and productive. AI now lives there and we will do well to move upstream to wander & wonder about what new things we can create together with the insight and intuition of others.
Being 'bored' is seriously underrated. It creates the space for your curiosity to take you in new directions, to indulge yourself in a bit of whimsy (something that is also underrated). Of course, none of this 'belongs' in business, we are told. Wrongly.
Reflecting on your second point, I feel part of the problem is that a lot of people who get up the greasy pole of corporate life are high achievers, who's focus and success has been on getting all the badges and medals. They are very goal-oriented, they like things to be clear and quantified. They are not comfortable in uncertainty and ambiguity, they don't understand emergence. So they look to repeat proven formulae, they rely on what's already been learnt, they look for the shortest and surest path to the next achievement.
You're right Colin, there is little room for uncertainty and ambiguity. Reflecting on my corp. upbringing, you are taught to grab a torch and use it to point at a very narrow field of vision, like getting in the car and driving down the motorway with the radio on, no time to notice what's going on around you, just a focus on the destination, life inbetween is a wasted inconvenience. I'm trying to live by the warm an intimate glow of candlelight that draws people in for conversations without goals. It's slower, you learn tons. I'm finding creative and serendipity live there. You can also light other candles without taking anything from your own flame. A torch is sometimes handy but only by exception not the norm :-)