Let’s Lower the Bar

From time to time, there are things about which I have to make enquiries and I end up on a call to Japan. It can be a shop, it can be a travel agent, it can be a university office. The people on the other end are all different, but I always get such a good feeling. No matter who you talk to and what their job is, everyone responds politely and professionally. It’s times like these that I get back to thinking “Man, isn’t Japanese culture great…” Here, there’s lots of friendly people, but it’s not uncommon to find people who are clueless about their jobs. If you ask a slightly complicated question, they’ll be hard pressed for an answer, and in some extreme cases, they’ll just blasély say, “I have no idea!” In Japan, if you said “I have no idea to a customer, it would be a huge deal, but the people here are relaxed and aren’t ashamed of their ignorance and so they’re chilled out, even when they’re doing what would be a full mea culpa routine in Japan. In the eyes of Japanese people, this comes off as utter rudeness! Being born and raised in Tokyo, when faced with such a completely laid-back attitude, even I get taken aback.

But, memorising all of a product’s minutiae and getting to grips with Japan’s entire transport network is pretty intense, don’t you think?
(Someone’s going to come at me with a “What are you saying? That’s all part and parcel!”…)

I understand that in an old-school employment system (working in one place for your whole life) that you get more and more specialised knowledge and that people around you have that expectation. But now career changes are becoming more common, new products come out faster and faster, and everything keeps on changing at dizzying speeds. When, despite this, we’re asked to apply the same standards as before, it causes huge amounts of stress. Up to a decade ago, if there was something you didn’t know, time was you could take your time and say “I’ll just go out back and check” or “I’ll know by tomorrow” until you found an answer. But now you’ve usually got an answer within a second. This not having to wait around for a response is, at first glance, convenient and a relief, but at the same time, what about the amount of external pressure that then multiplies? And it gets even worse if the boss is a perfectionist.

If you want absolutely everything done perfectly, even if you could be everywhere at once, it wouldn’t be enough. I reckon that, “maybe we don’t have to do things so perfectly, and what would happen if we let something slip just a little”…

It depends how you look at things.

What if we gave up the standard we’ve been convinced of up to now that if I don’t do this then I’m in trouble and lowered it a little?

Normally it’s difficult to see whereabouts our standards are, but if you’re like “I do my job perfectly and I get that recognition, but I’m always tired I never have enough time”, maybe the bar’s set a little too high.

A big part of these standards comes from other people’s expectations, but a lot of it we make ourselves. And we become racked by ideas like how we can’t forgive ourselves for falling short of these standards. But we can say that, on a scale of 1 – 10, we’re at a 9, but what if we drop to about a 7.5?

There’s no need to go down to the level of the chilled out shop assistants in this country (around about a 5?) If you used to be an honours student, the type who “failed” if they got less than 85%, then now’s your chance more than ever!

If you manage 75%, bravo! What we ought to be asking here is “Can I accept myself at 75%?” There are concerns of “if I do this, then what will my boss, my co-workers, my clients, my students…” whatever. But the real point is “Can I accept myself doing this and nothing more than this?”

Am I still worthy?

Of course you are!

To ease up a little is to take care of yourself. It’s lending an ear to your own needs, and giving yourself some looking after. And the more you make yourself a priority, the better you can contribute to those around you. Now that’s the kind of person that we can really call a person of worth.

(You can find the original post 「水準を下げよう」in Japanese here.)