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<\/a>\u00a9 Michael M\u00fcller<\/p><\/div>\n
A fierce snow blizzard reached rural Helsinki sometime during the night, last week, when Wednesday turned to Thursday, January to February. The wind was howling when I opened my eyes around 6:30 am. The front door didn\u2019t budge more than a mere 20 centimeters. The porch was thick with new snow. Heaps of snow covered our drive-way and yard. Heavy wind lifted the light snow powder up into the air changing the form of snow heaps. The downpour of snow was so dense that I could hardly make out the nearest trees behind a veil of snow. \u201cWe\u2019re snowed in!\u201d, I called to my husband.<\/p>\n
The snow veil became more and more thick during breakfast. Well, nature shouldn\u2019t overdo it, was my next thought. My agenda for Thursday, the first of February, was to commute to my workplace \u201cbright and early\u201d. I had many to-dos in my mental check- list. Everyday life reality kicked in fast: \u201cDamn, this ruins my plans for today!\u201d I must confess it took me a cup of tea, oatmeal porridge and some traditional newspaper reading, before I realized: No sense in being stubborn and ignoring the forces of nature. Nature gave me the cool opportunity to take time to think snowed in. And recover adequately from an intensive work day.<\/p>\n
The day before the snow blizzard landed to Helsinki had been a day with many activities. From morning till early afternoon, I had the opportunity to discuss face-to-face, in the same time and space, with many people about working life, human health and well-being issues. The morning seminar held at Helsinki Music Centre<\/a> on working hours and how should they be defined in today\u2019s working life provided fuel for the later discussions that day.<\/p>\n After a brisk walk from the Music Centre in crispy winter weather, frost nipping my cheeks, combined with some bus time, I reached home. This was around the so called blue moment when day turns to evening. At home it was time to start the next phase of my work day. The urgent, must do -task I still had on my plate was to write and upload into the project portal the interim report on a research project I am leading. The deadline for this task was that same day. I had received updates from my collaborators a couple of days earlier. However, writing a readable summary of great research results is not done with a snap of one\u2019s fingers. It often requires hard thinking and deciding what is especially relevant for those handling and evaluating the achievements. A reader can digest just so much.<\/p>\n Translating scientific reasoning and academic jargon into words and sentences that are understandable also to those who are not researchers or into neuroscience and clinical research takes time. In my opinion it is the responsibility of the researcher to make sure that through this translation into more general wording, the research results and their meaning do not change. It is so easy to cut corners and be vague, if one is not vigilant. Writing a readable summary is not about copy paste \u2013stitching together pieces of text from my collaborators reports.<\/p>\n In addition to the actual research achievements -summary, there was the more formal report of doings and the use of resources that also had to be written into specific boxes of a digital document with a fixed format. While logging into the portal, I noticed that the system was slow to open. As I started to get a bit anxious with the deadline looming a few hours ahead, getting text written and saved into the appropriate boxes seemed to take ages!<\/p>\n To sum it up, I ended up doing intensive work that Wednesday evening. Afterwards I was in quite high-gear mode. On the other hand, the first results of our research, the fruits of all the hard work done by many people, inspired, as did the day\u2019s many discussions earlier.<\/p>\n So, at the end of the day I hadn\u2019t had any time to actually stop and think, to process all the new information and knowledge I had gained on the last day of January. What would be the best next steps? What learnings are especially important? The next thought that popped into my mind when the inspiring day was coming to an end was: \u201cMy to-do list has several other, mostly unrelated, things that need attending first thing tomorrow. How will I get back to the mode in which to use today\u2019s information to create new knowledge or develop my own thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t sleep well. Too many thoughts were tickling my mind. Also, positive stress that enabled me to get into a flow mode during reporting was now keeping me too vigilant. The approaching deadline had induced a positive stress state that enabled me to get into a flow mode during reporting and to meet the deadline. Downshifting from this energy burst takes its own time. I should have started to relax earlier.<\/p>\n The seminar I had attended on the last day of January was on working hours. It was arranged by Finnish Economists and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health<\/a>. Results of recently completed research on working hours of experts were presented. The red thread of the event was how should working hours be defined in a 24\/7 world where a fast-increasing number of people face, often daily, the challenge that, in their human networks, somebody somewhere is always awake. At the same time innovation, creativity, renewal, learning not to do things in a certain way and at the same time figuring out how to do things differently, are skills to be honed. The research showed that nearly 80 % of experts either need to be or at least feel they need to be reachable also after official working hours \u2013\u00a0 in the evening, early morning hours, during weekends and often also during well-earned vacation time. Excessive work load was also common (over 70 % had experienced this).<\/p>\n In the seminar many attendees felt that the traditionally defined daily or weekly working hours that one needs to do in order to earn one\u2019s paycheck is becoming \u2013 or some claim has already become \u2013 an obstacle for doing work in a more productive way. Strictly defined working hours that represent work in the industrial age work, just don\u2019t work. The reality in many professions is that work and so called free time are more and more intertwined. In some sense the work of many people has become timeless and not bound to a specific place. Above I describe my work day. I have the luxury (I know I am fortunate) of flexibility at work. This time nature helped me to realize this.<\/p>\n In many types of work, video-calls, in which people are attending the call physically in different time-zones and with their differently ticking internal circadian clocks, are an important part of the job. Some jobs require zig-zagging around the globe. When is one at work and when is one on leave? Is it possible to adapt and figure out a way to stay in tune in these working modes? And on top of this come the demands and needs of family and social life that differ between individuals. Also, what suits one, doesn\u2019t suit another person. Some people are at their best in the morning, some in the evening. Some people get the needed push to get things done from deadlines, others want to be ready well ahead of a deadline. How to take into account these differences in working hour guidelines? Is this an unsolvable catch-22situation? What would work for most people in expert type of jobs?<\/p>\n Are flexible working hours the solution? Do they always support good health and well-being? I claim not, if people themselves don\u2019t take the time to stop and take a good look at their own working habits. Work and safety guidelines on how many hours of work a person can humanly do before reaching the breaking point that can have serious mental and health consequences are useless, if people willingly continually work from dawn till the wee hours of the night. Legislation doesn\u2019t solve the issue, if people don\u2019t take responsibility of their own well-being and keep a caring eye also on loved ones and work buddies.<\/p>\n I must confess that as a doctor, I have difficulties keeping cool, when I again and again hear or read comments like: \u201cif you love your work, you do not count the hours you do the things you love\u201d. My response is: \u201cIf you love your work, you take care of yourself and make sure that you are at your best, physically, mentally, emotionally and cognitively\u201d. Overworking is addictive and in the end the price for this can be high: One loses sight of what is relevant in work and spends time with trivialities. Loosing health through overworking can be permanent.<\/p>\n To get things done and taking care of oneself at the same time requires inventiveness. How to plan my daily activities to ensure a healthy balance of doing, idling and wresting? What is the best solution for my unique life? Each one of us has to answer this for ourselves keeping in mind that there are also other people to consider. How does our team work best? What about life outside work? If one is constantly overtired, coming up with new ways of looking at one\u2019s work and working hours can be tough. The weary mind isn\u2019t inventive.<\/p>\n Legislation on working hours can protect to some extent, but it should not hinder putting into practice and testing new approaches to defining working hours. If somebody comes up with solutions to a conundrum. Many ideas look cool on paper, but trying them in practice is needed. Through doing new solutions can also arise.<\/p>\n So, having talked some sense to myself during breakfast last week, on the snow blizzard day, I embraced being snowed in. I accepted nature\u2019s gift thankfully, reorganized my day and changed its goals. I spent the day recovering from an intensive work day. I let my mind wonder and weave new thoughts from past day\u2019s experiences and put emerging ideas into writing. Every now and then I took a small break and shifted my attention from the computer screen to the outside world. My attention was captured by the swirling and energetic movement of snowflakes dancing to the tunes of the winds. In late afternoon, I grabbed the snow pusher and a shovel and spent a couple of hours in snow work. I had a very good night\u2019s sleep. The next day my body\u2019s muscles reminded me that snow work is nature\u2019s way of providing an opportunity to get physical exercise along with fresh air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Snow! How I have missed it in Helsinki. Nature decided to make things right in day. A fierce snow blizzard reached rural Helsinki sometime during the night, last week, when Wednesday turned to Thursday, January to February. The wind was … Continue reading