Quiet Quitting; An End to the Hustle Culture?

Quiet Quitting is all of the talk lately and I say hey, it's about time!

I recently read an article that back in the 1930's it was predicted that the work week would be reduced to 15 hours, or two days, due to the explosion of automation and advancements in technology. They warned that someday, we would have so much leisure time, we would be bored out of our minds. Haha!

However, the opposite has occurred and people have been working more than ever. It seems technology has just pushed us all to move faster and get more accomplished. Possibly more than even humanly reasonable?

When COVID hit, we not only continued to work at this relentless pace; but many of us added on 24/7 caring for our children, animals, family members and a slew of new home duties. Add on worrying about our health and future in a completely new and terrifying way.

It is no surprise that many people have now essentially, "waved the white flag"; questioning what is this all for? How much longer can I continue at this pace? What does a work/life balance even mean to me anymore?

I was one of the "lucky one's", already working from home and only part-time. I had taken a step back to part time in 2015 when our son was born, knowing how fleeting this stage would be. I eventually thought I would go back to work full time, but after our daughter was diagnosed with a rare neuro genetic disorder (#Syngap1), I am happily staying part-time for now.

So, back to quiet quitting. I think a better term for this is actually intuitive working. Making purposeful and meaningful contributions at work and also identifying what is necessary, and not feeling forced into working beyond your boundaries.

I used to think having a strong sense of urgency and working under tight deadlines at a high pace was an asset. That is until all of these attributes led me down an unhealthy path that led to chronic pain, an autoimmune disease, heart palpitations along with a host of other health issues. These are no longer qualities that I care to put any emphasis on.

Maybe the focus should be working for a Company who cares about the health and wellbeing of their team, not just the production of numbers and stats. Let's be real you can cut data a million ways. We are only given one body to live in. Cheers to intuitive working and making our wellbeing the number one priority!