Perfection: that most elusive and addictive of qualities. Do you lie awake at night worrying whether you were flawless at work whilst using the accounting system? (I know my flatmate does) Or is your quest more about searching for Mr/Miss Right? Whatever it is, there are few of us who don't suffer from the curse of perfectionism.
I know I'm a hopeless case. My own very high standards at work have left me feeling somewhat inadequate, with a sense that I should be doing something more. And it nags at me. My friends tell me that I shouldn't worry about it so much but that's easier said than done. For many, this phenomenon is closely tied to achievement and success but remains at the heart of being truly creative.
The strive for perfection is always there - there's never any right answer or incontrovertible fact. It's why creative people are always insecure, I should know. Besides, Van Gogh cut his ear off, most of our great writers were addicts of one kind or another, the list goes on. But let me tell you, it almost pales into insignificance in the light of sporting expectations.
‘England Expects'. It expects, when it comes to every major international football tournament the team qualifies for - proof that they're not just a bunch of overpaid nancy boys. Losing creates an intense backlash of loss and scorn - mostly scorn - whilst winning causes ecstatic jubilation and suddenly the team are perfect. Of course, merely not being the best can get you labelled as boring and dismissed as not being worth watching.
Perfection is personal, too; it's taken me 10 years of relationships to finally be happy with what I have, even though it's not all joy and laughter. There is no such thing as the perfect man or woman and it's usually the flaws that make a the person who they are. I used to be riddled with worries and fears that my boyfriend wasn't doing this right or wasn't doing enough of that, but it really doesn't matter.
All of this is without considering the multi-million pound industry of beauty perfection, a whole topic in itself. Flaws are just nature's way, it makes life interesting. As Agent Smith in the Matrix said:“The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from.”
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Monday, 30 June 2008
Monday, 23 June 2008
The Rise of the Blackberry: a workaholics dream
The Blackberry. A piece of technology so ubiquitous in large towns and cities that it's seen off the challenge of PDAs and the iPhone and it's hard not to see at least one person using them on the daily commute (providing you don't drive in). Madonna even sleeps with hers under her pillow. I understand that they are useful and this is a 24 hour working world but is it really that necessary to email Hong Kong or Sydney at 4 in the morning?
There's a term for this: nomophobia. OK, so it applies to a more general fear of not having a working mobile, but the point remains. It's an open invitation for trouble: there's already a blurring of the line between work and personal life. The phenomenon has got so bad, stories about people using them on a Saturday night out or under the table at dinner parties are circulating. Despite being a social tool, it's become the ultimate symbol of being anti-social, surpassing even the mobile.
Every morning I see at least one suited and booted guy (and, yes, it normally is a guy)intently staring at his Blackberry doubtless reading some highly important email). Last year, the company's own email service went down in the US and the reaction was like an addict being deprived of drugs. In fact, one woman said quitting smoking was easier than not having her Blackberry. In some ways given the ability for truly mobile email, it's gone beyond nomophobia.
There's a good reason that it's been named CrackBerry, and it's probably more addictive than crack. A study by MIT Sloan in the States has found that when in a room of with other people, users are more likely to check their Blackberrys. I know our IT manager is lost without his and a mate of mine reported back to me last week that his boss is rarely seen without his.
So what happened to time out, unplugged? What used to be a simple pleasure of spending time with friends and family has been taken over by a compulsion to keep in touch with work mates. And with it come a lot of reports of stress and burnout normally reserved for City traders.
Surely it can't be good for a piece of technology to be compared to a class A drug with as anti-social consequences. People, put down your Blackberries and join the rest of the world!
There's a term for this: nomophobia. OK, so it applies to a more general fear of not having a working mobile, but the point remains. It's an open invitation for trouble: there's already a blurring of the line between work and personal life. The phenomenon has got so bad, stories about people using them on a Saturday night out or under the table at dinner parties are circulating. Despite being a social tool, it's become the ultimate symbol of being anti-social, surpassing even the mobile.
Every morning I see at least one suited and booted guy (and, yes, it normally is a guy)intently staring at his Blackberry doubtless reading some highly important email). Last year, the company's own email service went down in the US and the reaction was like an addict being deprived of drugs. In fact, one woman said quitting smoking was easier than not having her Blackberry. In some ways given the ability for truly mobile email, it's gone beyond nomophobia.
There's a good reason that it's been named CrackBerry, and it's probably more addictive than crack. A study by MIT Sloan in the States has found that when in a room of with other people, users are more likely to check their Blackberrys. I know our IT manager is lost without his and a mate of mine reported back to me last week that his boss is rarely seen without his.
So what happened to time out, unplugged? What used to be a simple pleasure of spending time with friends and family has been taken over by a compulsion to keep in touch with work mates. And with it come a lot of reports of stress and burnout normally reserved for City traders.
Surely it can't be good for a piece of technology to be compared to a class A drug with as anti-social consequences. People, put down your Blackberries and join the rest of the world!
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