work it / worth it
Hey friend, thanks for opening! In this letter we're talking about questioning productivity, how to do nothing, and working with the pandemic's newest members of the work force. Hope you find something useful here. -K
You ever get to the end of a Friday so acutely spent? Like a phone that runs out of battery completely. I've been ending the past couple of Fridays with mind-numbing 3-hour meetings, which I feel could definitely be improved and shortened, but here we are.
This week has been particularly exhausting, so I'm glad it's now out of the way. Some work things are getting easier to pull off in time--some much easier than the others.
In any case, it has been quite the challenge to keep writing...when you've spent all week already writing haha. When I found myself napping while transcribing a coverage late Friday afternoon post-meeting, that's when I realized, OK so maybe no more writing, meantime.
So instead I have turned to reading a bit. Slowly getting into Jenny Odell's How to do Nothing, which is giving me an existential crisis (Who am I, if not for my producitivity?) and whiplash (If I'm reading this, how am I going to do nothing??) but is thoroughly enjoyable and eye-opening so far. I hope to let you know how it goes the more I read, but for now, this snippet from the Introduction:
The point of doing nothing, as I define it, isn't to return to work refreshed and ready to be more productive, but rather to question what we currently perceive as productive...
What does it mean to construct digital worlds while the actual world is crumbling before our eyes?
Austin Kleon may be onto something.
Speaking of questioning productivity, I just remembered something about last week and Labor Day weekend. Someone on Twitter--a supporter of the President, 20/20 hindsight activated--began a thread relating their alleged first-hand experience trying to hire a fresh grad for their company. The thread goes that the fresh grad rejected a 37k salary offer for an entry-level Marketing Associate position. The thread continues that the prospective hire was expecting a 60k offer because of his educational background. The thread identifies the relevant school as Ateneo.
After examining my initial reaction--the typical older person reaction along the lines of 'the gall of this severely entitled person without work experience'--I realized that I reacted the way I did out of exhaustion of this more-than-a-decade grind, and I suspect many of those who have reacted similarly may be coming from the same context. The fact is, for many, the journey to a 37k salary level is long, and for others, it hasn't even ended just yet, despite the amount of work they do.
C usually gives me perspective on these things. And why shouldn't she demand for that salary level? she asked. Besides, a company that could afford to pay 60k entry level salaries already definitely pay their higher-level workers more. That business decision is theirs to make.
What isn't also discussed probably is the fact that so many entry-level postings carry excessive requirements. Having helped C sort through job postings in her field, I have seen recruiters looking for candidates for positions that should be filled by an entire team, and not just one person (as any new hire that is automatically expected to be a copywriter, analytics expert, social media manager, graphic designer and video editor is bound to tell you).
I like reminding myself that my personal progress and the progress of others in whatever aspect--professional, emotional, physical--are apples and oranges, hence cannot be compared. Even more so when you're products of your respective times--something that observing C's career growth has taught me immensely.
I do not know for certain I would survive as a new grad in these times. A reason I am still afloat in this emergency is the fact that I've already been in a similar emergency five years prior, have sought help and am now implementing that knowledge.
The pandemic's new hires--born in the 2000s, were probably the first kids posted by their parents on Facebook and Instagram when they were not even in their teens, were probably in college when Duterte was first elected--I know will be vastly different from me. I cannot expect them to know the things I already do, and learn in the way I always have. To do so would be incredibly unfair and unreasonable.
Anyway, the original thread has since been deleted, so here's the closest resibo I could find.
https://twitter.com/anyafrg/status/1388330776773623813
The internet is truly forever skskskks
Recs from the internet
- Ursula Le Guin is done with your war metaphors.
- This paper titled 'Recentring Peripheral Queerness and Marginal Art in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)' is exactly what you think it is.
- One for Mother's Day: My Mother in there via The Cut
Ending with this very valid question:
https://twitter.com/patrckdelarosa/status/1390259088844414977
Thank you for making it this far, my friend. Hope your weekend is going well!
XO,
K