Welcome to the rat race
Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 13:30 Had dinner with my friend Todd Buchholz on Wednesday.
I have known Todd since 1983 when we met at a conference in Washington. (I have told this story before so I won't bore you with it again.)
Todd – who lives in San Diego – often pops over because his eldest daughter is in her first year at Cambridge University. (In fact, this is Victoria's third year in Cambridge because she left home, aged 16, to spend two years at a sixth form college in the city.)
Anyway, Todd – who is the author of bestselling books New Ideas From Dead Economists and New Ideas From Dead CEOs – has a new book out and it's called Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race.
The book has attracted glowing reviews and inspired an article – Is stress good for you? – on the BBC website:
The lure of a better, simpler life in the country has grown ever more attractive as modern work has become more and more intense. Feeling tired and disillusioned? You need to sort out your work-life balance, take a holiday or find a less stressful job.
But such reactions are totally wrong, argues a controversial new book published in America. Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race argues that far from being ground down by pressure, we need stress to feel alive. It keeps our minds agile, makes us feel good about ourselves and helps us live longer.
By and large, I believe this to be true, although it would be nice to have the choice. Increasingly, few of us have that choice. There's not even the prospect of a comfortable retirement to look forward to. We just have to keep going until we fall off our perch.
Meanwhile, as I contemplate another weekend working around the clock to meet various deadlines, Todd has flown to Rome with his family and, as I write, is on a cruise ship somewhere in the Mediterranean.
Now that's what I call the rat race!!
See also: Kids' summer fun can prepare them for real life (CNN)
Reader Comments (2)
The rat race is over and the rats have won!
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