{"id":3797,"date":"2019-08-19T08:09:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T13:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/?p=3797"},"modified":"2019-08-28T10:17:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T15:17:29","slug":"part-3-our-achievement-culture-what-youre-doing-will-never-be-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/2019\/08\/19\/part-3-our-achievement-culture-what-youre-doing-will-never-be-good-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts at Mid-Career Part 3 &#8211; Our Achievement Culture: What You\u2019re Doing Will Never Be Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><em>This is the\u00a0third in a series of essays. You <a href=\"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/category\/mid-career\/\" target=\"_blank\">can access the\u00a0rest here<\/a>, though it\u2019s not necessary to read them all or in order.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Of all my annoying qualities, my most self-destructive may be that if you put a ladder in front of me, I\u2019ll try to climb it. Doesn\u2019t matter if the entire premise is vacuous or corrupt. I\u2019m not humblebragging here; it really is a damaging quality.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Miriam Posner (@miriamkp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/miriamkp\/status\/1129500369069805569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" type=\"mce-no\/type\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>In my last post, I hope I communicated that I don\u2019t think ambition is a bad thing. I think it becomes problematic however when our ambitions are driven by achievement culture. It can be so easy for what society tells you success looks like to become your ambition rather than the things that really move you. It\u2019s often so difficult to separate out what our authentic desires are when we are so steeped in achievement culture and when society rewards some types of work more than others. But I think when you&#8217;re driven by the things that authentically move you, the rewards are much more rewarding.<\/p>\n<p>Achievement culture is largely seen as a positive in the literature of business and education, but some have more recently started criticizing some of the results of achievement culture, wondering if it has caused\u00a0a rise in mental illness among young people and a culture of overwork. If you do a Google search or look for articles about achievement culture, so many are focused on creating an achievement culture in workplaces as if it\u2019s an unquestionably good thing. A lot talk about results-oriented workplaces, where employees are measured\/ranked\/evaluated by what they produce. You also see \u201cachievement culture\u201d being used a lot in K-12 settings, where teachers and administrators are creating a culture that encourages student achievement. Kids from an earlier and earlier age are feeling the pressure to achieve and we program them to define themselves by their work by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/01\/smarter-living\/stop-asking-kids-what-they-want-to-be-when-they-grow-up.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">constantly asking them what they want to &#8220;be&#8221; when they grow up<\/a>. Obviously, wanting to do a good job in your work is not a bad thing. Caring is important. Liking your work is ideal. But I think achievement culture can create that unhealthy need for external validation that I wrote about in my last post which leads to a never ending cycle of trying to one-up ourselves in a futile effort to feel fulfilled. Heather Havrilesky writes about that in\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/en\/book\/show\/37969722-what-if-this-were-enough\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What if This Were Enough<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nI was always checking in with my bosses to make sure that they saw me as capable. I wanted them to measure the amount of concrete work I did. I wanted them to notice that my work was better than other people\u2019s work. I wanted them to see how much effort I put in. Generally speaking, bosses are not fired up to do a careful accounting of their underlings\u2019 work\u2026 Most of the time, what bosses respond to it what bosses themselves value most: bravado.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Achievement culture comes from deep within the soul of our national character (and Christianity). It\u2019s the Protestant work-ethic. The prosperity gospel. The Horatio Alger mythology that you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you only work hard enough. The mythologies of our founding fathers who were &#8220;young, scrappy, and hungry&#8221; (Alexander Hamilton: our nation\u2019s first workaholic) and built a nation with their &#8220;hustle.&#8221; Roxane Gay also writes about buying into this mythology in her chapter in\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/30231782-double-bind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Double Bind: Women on Ambition<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nI have come to realize how much I have, throughout my life, bought into the narrative of this alluring myth of personal responsibility and excellence. I realize how much I believe all good things will come if I &#8212; and we &#8212; just work hard enough. This attitude leaves me always relentless, always working hard enough and then harder still.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The educational system fuels this with achievement test scores that either broaden or narrow your potential in your own eyes and in the eyes of those around you. It\u2019s a trap for everyone, even those with high scores. When you score in the top 10% or 5% or even 1% on achievement tests, suddenly, you\u2019re expected to always succeed. To always get those sparkling scores. To always get the pats on the head as if your innate ability to do well on a test was somehow a measure of your worthiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I was one of those kids as I\u2019m sure were a lot of people who ended up in librarianship. And I will fully admit that I went into high school without a strong work ethic, thinking my innate ability would always get me through. I was disorganized and unmotivated. My grades at the start of high school weren\u2019t terrible, but they certainly weren\u2019t dazzling. Then, towards the end of 9th grade, we received our class rank &#8212; a number that told us where our grades stood in relation to all of our classmates. Mine was right around the middle of my 110-student class. Beyond my parents being unhappy with that, it created in me a deep sense of shame since I\u2019d always scored so well on aptitude tests. So I started to work hard. And I ended up graduating 8th in my class with a\u00a0high GPA and lots of laurels. But these things like class rank and achievement tests create an environment in which we are measured and compared to our classmates. It engenders that need in many for external validation and the\u00a0compulsion to\u00a0compare ourselves to our colleagues. It\u2019s totally toxic. As the mother of a 10 year-old who also tests very well, it\u2019s something I worry <em>very much<\/em> about perpetuating.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us feel the pressure achievement culture has laid on our shoulders. The drive to be the best. The need to always be working on a visible project that people can ooh and ahh about. The need to be seen as the hardest worker, the best worker, the most dedicated worker, the most creative problem-solver, etc. From a <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/346693\/the-dark-side-of-americas-achievement-culture\/\" target=\"_blank\">Quartz article on achievement culture<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nI\u2019ve learned my demons aren\u2019t just mine. Thousands of young people share the same thirst to achieve that I had (and still have)\u2014rising out of family pressures, alienation, and an identity that they\u2019re smart or talented or special or destined to do something significant. On the plus side, it can make them hard-charging, industrious, and willing to put themselves out there. On the flip side, it can be paralyzing. It can lead to depression, a sense of isolation, even self-destruction. I think it\u2019s harder in an era of social media, where there\u2019s always something you\u2019re missing. FOMO (fear of missing out) is the enemy of valuing your own time.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the workplace, you don\u2019t get graded and ranked on everything you do. A lot of our work isn\u2019t even particularly visible. Heather Havrilesky writes that \u201cbeing capable isn\u2019t celebrated or embraced or rewarded handsomely, or often, even noticed these days. We prefer to celebrate the valiant, charismatic leader who speaks confidently of what should come next.\u201d So to get those pats on the head, we need to be visionary leaders; to create something big and visible that is valued by the powers-that-be.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And\u00a0our profession certainly valorizes what it sees as heroic or visionary work, rather than consistent, good, steady work over a long period of time. Our awards don\u2019t necessarily reward being a great instruction librarian who supports student success or a great children\u2019s librarian who engages kids and comes up with terrific programming. Most awards celebrate the big project, the major initiative, the one important research article. And it encourages people to focus on work that is visible and big and singular rather than, perhaps, the things that will have the greatest impact on our patrons. When I think about the awards I\u2019ve won, they have mostly been for my big projects and not the work I\u2019m most proud of. The Public Library Division of the Oregon Library Association has something called the Pearl Award (like a pearl in an oyster), which recognizes someone who maybe hasn\u2019t done anything flashy, but has spent a long time in Oregon libraries doing excellent work. Our profession needs more awards like this.<\/p>\n<p>I actually feel much busier with work than in the past, but over the past year, I don\u2019t have a lot of big results to show for it. At first, that felt really weird, but I\u2019m becoming more and more comfortable with it. I\u2019m more proud of my teaching than I\u2019ve ever been at any other point in my career. Towards the end of Spring term, I sat in on student presentations in a Reading 115 class I\u2019d worked with three times over the course of an academic quarter and nearly burst into tears when I saw how much progress these students had made and how terrific their projects were. I\u2019m proud of the relationships I\u2019ve built with faculty in some of my liaison areas and the support I\u2019ve been able to provide to get them to use open and free textbooks for their students. But my work results are far less visible to others. And, really, given where I am in my career, that\u2019s fine by me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>\nBig shock that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WeWork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WeWork<\/a> are promoting burnout culture. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZBcamKRRhg\">pic.twitter.com\/ZBcamKRRhg<\/a> \u2014 Stevie Buckley (@StevieBuckley) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StevieBuckley\/status\/1040185357948608513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 13, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We know that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org\/2018\/vocational-awe\/\" target=\"_blank\">vocational awe<\/a> is a big\u00a0issue in our field with many problematic implications. And vocational awe, in itself, can lead to overwork. Because if you love your job, it shouldn\u2019t feel like work, right? And all those patrons who need you &#8212; how could you give less than 100% of yourself?<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest problems with being good at your job is that you\u2019re always going to be asked to do more. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/business\/archive\/2015\/05\/being-a-go-getter-is-no-fun\/393863\/\" target=\"_blank\">article I read in the <em>Atlantic<\/em><\/a> described a study which found that managers tended to assign more work to employees they saw as highly capable (something I\u2019m sure many of us suspected) and that those managers tended to underestimate how much effort it would take to get that work done. The study also asked the overburdened workers how they felt about this situation. \u201cIn a survey of more than 400 employees, they found that high performers were not only aware that they were giving more at work\u2014they rightly assumed that their managers and co-workers didn\u2019t understand how hard it was for them, and thus felt unhappy about being given more tasks.\u201d This is what leads in many workplaces to people resenting their colleagues who take on less, when, really, the blame should be placed on the managers who perpetuate the unequal system and take advantage of people with workaholic sensibilities (or vocational awe). Working hard becomes a trap where the expectation that you will do more only grows. The pace you set is the pace they will expect.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond being taken advantage of and overworked by your boss(es), pursuing society&#8217;s definition of success rarely leads to happiness. I read an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/02\/21\/magazine\/elite-professionals-jobs-happiness.html\" target=\"_blank\">interesting article by Charles Duhigg in the <em>New York Times<\/em><\/a> about his experience at the 15 year reunion of his MBA class at Harvard. He was surprised by how many of his classmates were unhappy and felt crushed under the weight of expectations around work hours, money, and status. Strangely, he found that the classmates who were the happiest were those who hadn\u2019t ended up at the sort of places Harvard MBA\u2019s usually clamor to get jobs:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>They had been passed over by McKinsey &amp; Company and Google, Goldman Sachs and Apple, the big venture-capital firms and prestigious investment houses. Instead, they were forced to scramble for work \u2014 and thus to grapple, earlier in their careers, with the trade-offs that life inevitably demands. These late bloomers seemed to have learned the lessons about workplace meaning preached by people like Barry Schwartz. It wasn\u2019t that their workplaces were enlightened or (as far as I could tell) that H.B.S. had taught them anything special. Rather, they had learned from their own setbacks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I know that for me, the first time I considered that my upward trajectory was not going to make me happy was when I had a career setback; when I was in a job where I experienced bullying and mobbing. It made me temporarily question myself, my abilities, and my likeability. In the long-term, though, it made me think more about what was really important to me in a job. For me, it was challenging and creative work, great colleagues, lots of interaction with students, a supportive manager, an institution where everyone is truly committed to helping students be successful, and a job where I can be a whole person. I realized that while I loved being a manager and supporting my direct reports, climbing the ladder wasn\u2019t as important to me and that any job that totally took me away from working with students wasn\u2019t really one I wanted.<\/p>\n<p>I am not a David Brooks fan by any stretch, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/06\/opinion\/sunday\/moral-revolution-david-brooks.html\" target=\"_blank\">his two-mountain analogy<\/a> does get at this perceptual shift that often comes when people hit roadblocks in their careers:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Many of the people I admire lead lives that have a two-mountain shape. They got out of school, began their career, started a family and identified the mountain they thought they were meant to climb \u2014 I\u2019m going to be an entrepreneur, a doctor, a cop. They did the things society encourages us to do, like make a mark, become successful, buy a home, raise a family, pursue happiness&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>These hustling years are also powerfully shaped by our individualistic and meritocratic culture. People operate under this assumption: I can make myself happy. If I achieve excellence, lose more weight, follow this self-improvement technique, fulfillment will follow.<\/p>\n<p>Some of them achieved success and found it unsatisfying. They figured there must be more to life, some higher purpose. Others failed. They lost their job or endured some scandal. Suddenly they were falling, not climbing, and their whole identity was in peril. Yet another group of people got hit sideways by something that wasn\u2019t part of the original plan. They had a cancer scare or suffered the loss of a child. These tragedies made the first-mountain victories seem, well, not so important.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Brooks sees the second mountain being about contribution to society and choosing a spiritual life. Personally, I\u2019m not a believer in prescribing a specific way of being (especially when that answer fits exactly what the author\u00a0themself did or it requires you to be more like David Brooks), but I do believe that there is value in questioning the path we are on, what motivates us to achieve, and what contributions we really want to make. Your answers may not be spiritual nor ego-free and that\u2019s cool.\u00a0It just needs to be true to you.<\/p>\n<p>Chasing success is like being a greyhound chasing a fake rabbit on a track. You might win a particular race, but you\u2019ll never catch the rabbit, you&#8217;ll never scratch that itch that is really driving you. There will always be a new one to keep chasing and chasing and chasing, always just out of reach. Achievement culture and the myth of the meritocracy keep us constantly chasing wins that never add up to real happiness. It\u2019s worth trying to separate out what actually makes you happy and what\u00a0you&#8217;re chasing because you think you should be chasing.<\/p>\n<p>Up next &#8212; \u201cThe Cult of Productivity: You\u2019re Not Getting Enough Done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Dogs_racing_around_first_turn_derby_lane.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Image credit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the\u00a0third in a series of essays. You can access the\u00a0rest here, though it\u2019s not necessary to read them all or in order. Of all my annoying qualities, my&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,24,9,43,91,23,21,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-librarianship","category-libraries","category-management","category-mid-career","category-mpow","category-work","category-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3797"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3815,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3797\/revisions\/3815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meredith.wolfwater.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}