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RE: Pondering the Challenges of Life: Being FIRST vs. Being BEST
Americans work long hours and it is bon ton there to look busy and ambitious, but the Danish have similar or higher productivity numbers. There's a lot of "all hat and no cattle" going on, much like in the west of The Netherlands. They still get contractors from the east when they need a building, because they talk less and work better and faster.
The things one "must" do in life? Mostly keeping up with the Joneses and looking successful. I suspect most of it is fake. Strip it off and life hasn't sped up all that much. There's just more fluff that people feel needs doing.
I think 8-).
One of my last "public" jobs I was working for Dell Computer as a globalization specialist, and I somehow got to be friendly with a woman from the Human Resources department. She said that they LOVED hiring Scandinavians and most northern Europeans because these people believed that when you were at work, you were supposed to WORK.
Of course, my Danish relatives do precisely that, but it's based around the idea that you are only AT work 32-36 hours a week. The rest of the time, you are free. Of course, when you come to America and they "hire Europeans" they are taking that work ethic and applying it to a 50 hour week. Naturally, that leads to burnout...