For the past few weeks, I've jumped on board on an intense high profile masterplanning and design competition in Qianhai, Shenzhen. The runner ups? leading design firms in the world, pressure is on and the competitive atmosphere between planners/designers (a relatively small world for us)is present.
Hong Kong has this very competitive edge, it's a hub for people from the UK, EU & US to converge with shared ambitions. Here, they strive to be the best and they work VERY hard at it, even if it means "selling your soul"-- there is little regards to any other aspects of your life other than that ambition. I find my seniors unmarried and at the office day and night, it's not to say that they are unhappy people, they just have their priorities straight. My department is more or less a group of bachelors & bacherettes, and we've become pretty good friends over the long hours working together. Other parts of life? None-existent for now, most of us are pulling 60-70hour work weeks...
And so, in the midst of living, breathing and being in this competition, at the height of its intensity (can't tell you much more about it or else I'll HAVE to KILL you HAHA) I wonder if mediocrity isn't so bad after all. To strive for perfection, in order to make a difference, to come up with something new in the world comes with a heavy price tag.
In this VERY unbalanced lifestyle of mine, I wonder, IS it worth trading off every other aspects of my life to fully realize my ambitions as an urban designer? Can I just be happy with doing good work-- town planning, community/neighborhood design and live a balanced life? Being "average"-- not that I'm beyond average-- is a fine thing to be, we all want to be happy and live a well rounded lifestyle with family and friends and hobbies, apart from work.
On the other hand, having been unemployed for almost 9 months prior to this, I realize that being a designer, an urban designer and working hard is me. Without that ambition, I feel incomplete, lost and depressed-- I dig up conflict & things to theorize about hehe. Perhaps time will tell, as the saying goes, career comes first right?
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ReplyDeleteI think the "dream" (for lack of better word) of mediocrity is misinterpreted. It's not the balance that people seek, at least in my opinion, and at the very least it is not what I personally seek when I stray away from jobs that demand 60-80 hour weeks. Sometimes, I even enjoy that workaholic mindset myself, but I think where our mindsets may divulge is that my ambitions--and the ambitions of other people who may be like-minded--even with that perfectionist attitude, lies elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThis other aspect takes priority, leading us to being okay with mediocrity in career aspects, therefore generating a sense of overall sense of being "average." It's not a bad thing to only seek balance in the workplace in order to focus on things more important--love, perhaps? I'd like to think there's such a thing as being beyond average in other aspects of life and that the meaning of "ambition" is not only necessarily applicable to "career." It just sometimes makes sense to put all of our eggs into one basket, like a career, since it does bring monetary gain which does seem to make the world go 'round.
just thoughts.. :)
Work equals play, so play hard!
ReplyDeleteRachel rach, coming from you it's no surprise! Work is good especially when you're sooo passionate about what you do!
ReplyDeletePha: You have good points, what I identify in this entry as mediocrity: a balanced lifestyle is not quite accurate. I believe that one can be well accomplished in other aspects of life beyond work/career, such as love, family or hobbies, but even concentrating on one of those aspects won't yield a "balanced" lifestyle, my definition of average, meaning when everything is equal and nothing stands out (beyond mediocrity).
My point is that happiness is more achievable with balance and stability however, human nature always wants for more. Therefore, the question is, should we (as many religions will state) accept things as they are & just be happy with them? Or seek to fulfill our ambitions despite the cost?
Never saw your response til now... that's a really interesting frame of thought. If it's human nature to strive for more (which I agree with), can we necessarily be happy in "settling," accepting things just as they are? Hm... I think that I'd rather not think about it! Hehe.
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