W A I T
W H A T. . .
Seth Godin has been writing a daily blog for years on end and he usually turns them into some interesting books. The thing I like about his blog and really try to emulate, especially on Wednesday’s with my LIVE, JUST A MOMENT couple of minute posts, is to catch your short attention span and compete all that verses it. Here is one of those quick-to-read-thought-provoking posts of Seth’s that made more question marks and “Hmmmmmmmmmm’s” popped up for me and now maybe for you:
| Seeking yoyu 余裕 |
There are two ways of thinking about doing more than is necessary.
It can become a really useful marketing tactic. When you deliver more than people expect, your overdelivery creates connection. The surprise and delight is remarkable. People talk about it, seek you out and come back for more.
Of course, since it’s a useful tactic, you’re not actually doing more than is necessary. You’re doing the right amount.
The other sort is magical. It’s difficult, ridiculous and offers no obvious commercial benefit.
This sort of effort isn’t always noticed or appreciated by the customer, but that’s okay. It’s the calm, proud and professional approach that serves the maker, regardless of whether it’s worth it to the consumer.
It’s difficult to care enough to do more than is necessary if you are on the assembly line, hustling to make the quarterly numbers or being measured for every keystroke.
Finding the space to care an unreasonable amount is cultural and it often requires a system to nurture that sort of effort. We need room to spare. We need to stop being in such a hurry and focus on the work and the art in a way that’s generative, not frazzled.
The Japanese term for this is yoyu. 余裕 is effort and ease, time and passion.
The characters 余 (yo) means “surplus” or “extra,” and 裕 (yu) means “abundance” or “affluence.”
Yoyu has several interconnected meanings:
- Having spare time or room
- Being relaxed or composed
- Having financial leeway or resources to spare
- Mental/emotional capacity to handle situations calmly
Yoyu produces its own reward.
In a competitive market, it’s easy to see how we slide down the slippery slope of efficiency. The boss usually doesn’t often embrace yoyu, seeking easily measured productivity instead. Make the assembly line a bit faster, change the intensity of the lighting, give out a few bonuses or fire some people.
And scale isn’t the friend of yoyu. If use our resources to expand and amplify, we’ve taken them away from our daily craft. If the project gets bigger when you have slack, slack disappears. Stress arrives.
So why bother?
We’re not machines, or even cogs in a machine. When we are at our best, we’re fully human. Human as producers and as consumers as well.
What’s the point of rushing if we never get anywhere?
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