HOMER SIMPSON
When I was a young man, just starting in the workplace, we worked very hard. People rarely took vacations and worked long days. Our office was open on Saturdays and everyone was there, completing six days of hard work every week. But there was one fun event every Saturday: The people who worked together went to lunch together. It was an opportunity to relax and for everyone to describe their projects. We often helped one another to do something better and the interaction enabled us to do our own work more intelligently. More often than not, everyone learned something of interest at these lunches and we were happier because we knew our co-workers better. Some of the people I talked to at these lunches became long-term personal friends. As a new person, it made me feel part of the group.
I'm not young anymore so maybe I just don't see what's going on but I don't see the same kind of relaxing, helpful events very often. I see younger people working hard, skipping meals or eating a sandwich at their desks, rushing home through crowded streets and freeways, dealing with pressing issues of family, home maintenance, social commitments which are as demanding as work, only to start over on the same path the next day. People don't seem to have time to relax.
I was, therefore, pleased to see that author Tom Demarco has written a book entitled Slack: Getting Past Busywork, Burnout and the Myth of Total Efficiency (Broadway Books- $23). The review I read said that one reason people love Homer Simpson is precisely because he is a slacker, hence someone who lives with reduced tension and without rules. At some level, we all envy him while laughing at his antics. Mr. DeMarco, in an interview, noted that slack is the time for thinking, about procedures and goals, the time for interacting with colleagues. I would expand on this theme to say that slack is the time for Saturday lunches, for golf, for napping in hammock on a lazy Sunday, for talking to friends and family without pressure, for walking, for whatever doesn't involve stress and trying to meet goals under the gun of deadlines and bosses.
Slack should be part of our lives: Slack is the rest we need to feel and be at our best. Please find a way to relax, not only at work but in everything you do. You'll be happier and more productive and the lives of your friend, family and co-workers will also be better. Think of Homer Simpson and try to emulate him, at least in this regard.
6-25-01
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