Leisure vs. Accomplishment

[dougo]

I retook the OKCupid Online Dating Persona Test because it had been over a year since the last time. (I've taken it three times now, and gotten a different result each time.) The following question is something I've been thinking about for a while now, though I had forgotten that this is where I saw it:

Which is more appealing?

• a life of leisure
• a life of accomplishment

I think I'm currently leaning towards accomplishment, but I don't remember what I answered before. A life of accomplishment seems to be the more responsible, admirable, heroic goal. But a life of leisure is also really appealing, especially now that I can afford it (assuming I can find a job at some point, which I'm pretty confident about for the moment). I have already accomplished something by getting a PhD, so maybe I'm entitled to just relax and enjoy the ride from here on out. But my dissertation is not something I'm particularly proud of—it's another in a long line of underachievements. But... maybe that means I'm just not cut out for achievement? And anyway, isn't accomplishment just a means to an end—the end being happiness, which comes with the rewards for accomplishment? I suppose general happiness is different from "a life of leisure", which connotes a certain hedonistic disregard for work. And accomplishment is its own reward, or so we're told. But really I think when it comes down to it, my ideas of leisure and accomplishment aren't contradictory: most of the things I would like to accomplish are both for my own leisure and forms of leisure. Now if only I could get someone to pay me for that!

Comments

[ex-colorwhe.livejournal.com]

i find it a pretty false question (their original one). i bet almost everyone would prefer some combination.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

It is somewhat of a false dichotomy. But it's also a very real choice that I make almost every evening: should I sit in my easy chair and watch a movie, or should I go up to my office and write some code? Or, more like, should I sit in my easy chair and watch a movie and feel guilty about it, or should I be guilt-free and just relax?

[ex-colorwhe.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's a perfectly fair question when posed about a certain evening, a certain day, a certain week or weekend. i just can't parse it when applied to a life or lifetime.

[canadianpuzzler.livejournal.com]

That's the beauty of my laptop - I can watch a movie *and* accomplish something, although for me it's usually puzzle construction rather than coding.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I meant it a bit more symbolically: should I turn my brain off, or not.

[rosminah.livejournal.com]

I would have selected accomplishment initially, because I feel a life of leisure is qualified by the accomplishments that achieved it. But I also feel that picking one answer for this question is forcing the abandonment of the other.
If this question is really about the work-life balance, then I would be trending towards my life over career ambitions, which puts me in the life of leisure camp.
I also don't agree with the persona my test scores gave me.

[sirvalence.livejournal.com]

I want to accomplish leisure.

[(Anonymous)]

A balanced brain! goes back to the first comment, a combination of both.

An always ON Brain = Burn out, and
an always OFF Brain = Boredom and Booze (but you don't drink)
-- K

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

Accomplishment and then leisure sounds right to me.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I think that what makes a life feel successful are satisfied memories, and you don't remember the leisure as much as you remember the accomplishments.

For instance, I took a summer off before college. I had a good time, I assume I hung out with friends, but my only memory from that summer is of making a quilt, a quilt that I still use frequently. In contrast, in December 2002 I had four part-time jobs, all doing things I loved to do. I didn't have any days off, or really any unscheduled time (I had Monday mornings off, so I worked in a soup kitchen). I have lots of good memories from that month.

So yeah, I'd definitely prefer a life of accomplishment, as long as my accomplishments are things I enjoy doing.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Did you get "Genghis Khunt"?

[rosminah.livejournal.com]

Haha. No, I did not get that one. But close.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Sure, it's somewhat about what I feel like doing at any particular moment. But I also think it is a life choice, in terms of choosing your long-term goals. I could see myself consciously choosing, as a path to follow, not to worry about accomplishments and instead concentrate more on "living in the moment". Or, consciously setting goals of things I want to accomplish, or just a meta-goal of having some standard of productivity that I would like to meet over the long run. Maybe you're right and there's no point in deciding one way or the other, but lately it's been feeling sort of like I'm at a crossroads.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I like that perspective, and I suspect you're right that leisure is mostly unmemorable. I probably won't be lying on my deathbed thinking "I sure am glad I watched every episode of 'The Big Bang Theory'". On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to live for the sake of what I'll think on my deathbed.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Reading this post and the comments about it I realized I don't really get "accomplishment" as a goal in itself. What threw me off was your mention of the PhD; it's an accomplishment, for sure, it's something you did a lot of work on, I don't think I could do it... but, not to be too awful about it, did it have an effect in the world? (I don't know, by the way, I've lost track of what your dissertation was.)

I think accomplishment, qua accomplishment, doesn't have any appeal to me. What matters is what I accomplish. Which means that's the goal, not just generally accomplishing something. (You know how when you say a word too many times, it starts not seeming like a real word?) So I guess for me the tension is leisure vs making the world better. But that might not be everybody's goal.

Not my most coherent comment. Hi Doug! I ran into your name on some random blog post on the Internet and thought I'd come over and see what you're up to. Between jobs, huh?

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Well, sure, accomplishment implies having some positive effect on the world, otherwise leisure would be its own accomplishment: I've watched every episode of Seinfeld, but I don't really count that as an accomplishment. My dissertation hasn't had an effect in the world yet (at least I don't think anyone's cited it yet), but I'm thinking maybe it will be one of those long-lost papers that turns out to be earth-shakingly important (or at least trendy) fifteen years later. Or not. It probably would get more traction if I were actively publishing follow-on papers, but I'm not, and probably won't. On the other hand, just having a PhD is likely to open doors leading to more significant accomplishments, so even if it's not an accomplishment itself, in theory it's a stepping stone.

Or, you know, I could just be a workday hacker in some random cubicle and spend the rest of my time playing games and watching movies. That's pretty appealing too. Thus the dilemma.

Hi Erik! Come to Perkins! Or, Waterpoint!