In "How To Do Nothing," Jenny Odell recalls a performance piece by Finnish artist Pilvi Takala which involved her posing as a marketing trainee at accounting firm Deloitte and doing nothing but sitting at her desk and staring out of the window. None of her "colleagues" knew it was art and became … [Read more...] about Down Time
Gratitude
Looking For A Deeper Meaning
"Remind me of your arguments in support of a boiled egg?" I ask my daughter. She raises her eyebrows in exasperation rather than surprise. I had suggested to her that poached eggs negate the need for a boiled egg because they taste pretty similar and you have no shell to deal with once you've … [Read more...] about Looking For A Deeper Meaning
Doing What’s Important Imperfectly
"I can't understand why anyone who has had their dog since it was a puppy would ever have another puppy," I say to my daughter while I try to get a piece of stair carpet from between the jaws of our second puppy. "I suppose we forget what's it's like," she says with the air of freedom that comes … [Read more...] about Doing What’s Important Imperfectly
Dealing With Disappointment
The jasmine that I grew some years ago across a huge piece of trellis appeared to have died. Thin strands of sorry-looking wood stretching up in disparate directions from the ground it was hard to see anything much on it that looked like green shoots. It was hard to hide my disappointment in … [Read more...] about Dealing With Disappointment
The Futility Of Time Management
I'm in supervision having a familiar conversation. "I've taken on too much work." My supervisor smiles but says nothing. I spend the next minute or so explaining what I've done, how I had planned to say no to a new project but, in the final shake-up, found it too interesting to reject. I … [Read more...] about The Futility Of Time Management