For the entire time I’ve been here in the US, I’ve never understood performative overwork to cover for bad processes. The week after I joined JPMorgan, the boos of my old team had us all working until 11pm on 3 days of that week. We had to manually review every single document being sent to a client. All I could think of was, “How terrible are your processes that it was even necessary to do that?”
I realize that there are times when working late is unavoidable. But it’s not something I aspire to do on a regular basis. Working at all hours of the day isn’t a personal goal for me. Maybe there are folks who genuinely enjoy work so much that it’s fun for them. But I suspect most of us aren’t like that.
I’‘d love to see a change in how Americans view their relationship with work. Let’s enjoy life more.
From the TV show Justified, the great Raylan Givens:
You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole; you run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole.
This quote from El-P of Run the Jewels, then of Company Flow, has always spoken to me:
I don’t try to be different, I am.
Finally, an awesome quote from the movie, the Seventh Seal:
My indifference has shut me out. I live in a world of ghosts, a prisoner of dreams. I want God to put out his hand, show his face, speak to me. I cry out to him in the dark but there is no one there.