Do Americans Move Too Fast?

Though Japan is one of my favorite places, Japanese ways of life don't always mesh with Americans. I experienced some amazing things while I was in Japan that will stay with me forever, for better or worse.

My first time in Japan was as a college student. One of my favorite study spots was on a bench in a skywalk between one of the administrative buildings and the library. The library had an automated sliding door at the end of the short walkway.

The school was relatively new and had around 400 native students and a dozen international students. One of my fellow Americans was from New York. Let's call him Jay. New York is famous for many things, but most notably for its fast pace. One day, I studied in my little nook in the skywalk, and Jay walked past me towards the library.

There was a loud bang, and I looked up to see him sprawled on the floor, looking startled. We both stared at the automated door for a moment when it slowly opened with a slight hiss of air. I couldn't help but laugh at him, which I'm sure didn't make him feel any less foolish.

Afterward, I was much more aware of how fast I approached automated doors. In rural northern Japan, it was a much slower process. I noticed that the places in bigger cities like Tokyo that catered to westerners opened much faster. I could only imagine how many stunned tourists it took for them to realize the speed of our walk.

Interestingly, our age may also have had something to do with our tendency to walk quickly. According to a study done in 2011, the average person under 60 years old tends to walk 3 miles per hour (1.34 meters per second). This translates to about 1 mile every 15 to 20 minutes. Of course, these numbers vary depending on age, fitness, and purpose.

The latter is an interesting wrench to throw into this equation. This is more than just moving from A to B. It's about how you feel about both the journey and the destination. We've all been at the mall and walked behind a group of teenagers who are busy socializing and felt the need to go around.

As parents, we've hastened our walk through the cereal aisle, even if it means dragging our children behind us. So perhaps the answer to our speedy walk through life is to ask ourselves critical questions.

Are you enjoying your journey?

Are you happy with your destination?

While our society often tells us to work harder and faster, it is important to take time out to look up from the hustle.

One of my favorite movies is Eat Pray Love. During the film, Julia Robert's character has a fascinating interaction with Italian men in a barbershop about the difference between Italian and American life. They tell her that Italian men don't need to be told that they deserve a break. If they passed by a sign that says "you deserve a break today," an Italian man would simply say, "I know."

This is as true today as it was ten years ago when the film premiered. In American society, we have to be told that we deserve breaks. We also need to be told that we deserve pay raises, job satisfaction, and vacation time.

An article by CNBC in 2018 revealed that America is "'the only advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee its workers any paid vacation time." In the United Kingdom, the average vacation time per year is 37 days compared to America's 10. Even Mexico has a higher average amount of paid vacation days. That's an incredibly revealing statistic in regards to our own allowance of that situation to take place.

In the midst of the Amazon labor debate, it's very apparent that we, as workers, know that we deserve more. But, how many of us really believe that? Many of us grew up with parents who worked in the same place for over 20 years. While they weren't happy in most cases, they stayed because they were afraid to lose their pensions.

It's very rare to find employers today who even offer pensions anymore. For example, in 2017, only 16% of companies in America offered a traditional pension plan. Despite companies offering fewer options to stay long-term when employees experience terrible working conditions, silent misery is the norm.

We're the country of "YOLO," and yet we are chronically overworked, sick, and anxious. We live a life of rushing. In fact, we have had a decline in the number of vacation days used, year over year, since 1978!

How many times have you looked at flights to exciting destinations but never purchased a ticket? How many exotic Instagram travel photos have you liked but haven't used your vacation time to travel within the United States?

Why are we so afraid to stop moving and keep hustling our way through life? Rather than slamming into doors, many of us are working our way into the hospital. It's harder to see it in those situations because the walk to get there is a lot longer. There's a lot more hallway to walk down. It's easy to think that it'll go on forever.

One of the most interesting things about our reluctance to take a vacation is that you're statistically more likely to have a pay raise when you actually use your vacation time. According to data in 2016, 23% of people who forfeited their vacation days were promoted, but that's less than the 27% raise rate of people who actually used their paid time off.

American society idolizes the entrepreneur working 60 to 80 hours a week, the student with the double major, and the company man who has been in the same 9-5 grind for 20 years without a day off.

We don't talk about the entrepreneur taking steroids to stay alert, the student with $150,000 in student loan debt waiting for them without a guarantee of a job, and the company man getting a divorce because his wife is lonely.

That's not to say that hard work doesn't matter or that it isn't worth it. Sometimes it is. When the short-term hustle becomes a long-term mantra for your life, that's a problem.

We've all heard the adage that you spend a third of your life sleeping. On average, we should sleep 8 hours a night. If we similarly work 8 hours a shift, that's another third of our lives we spend working. The other third of that is supposed to be up to us. For every minute you spend in overtime, that's predominately going to come out of your What-I-Want bucket.

Additionally, you have to consider your childhood and older age as times when you may not be fully capable of enjoying the things you want to do with your life. Realistically, it's our working years where we should be enjoying our time the most.

One of the most valuable resources is time. Many other countries understand this. Work is something that they do to enrich their experience during time off the clock.

Work has somehow become the overall goal of our existence. Our reward compass is pointed towards work rather than play. However, more money doesn't translate to more happiness. When we earn more money, we often spend more money and then obsess over earning even more. There's something amiss when even the 1% of our country, who have more money than they could hope to spend in their lives, continue to work and earn even more.

The accumulation of wealth does not create happiness, nor does working miserably long hours. Does the hustle bring you joy? Merriam-Webster defines hustle as "to make strenuous efforts to obtain especially money or business." It is a word that conveys energy and a hurried flurry of activity.

One day we slam ourselves into a barrier only to look up and see what has passed us by in our frenzied effort to go from one place to the next. The key to happiness in life isn't to speed things up but rather to slow things down. Happiness in the future should not be a trade-off with happiness today. Sometimes today really is all we have.

Three Things You Can Do To Slow Down Today

Take your breaks

The one that benefits the least from skipping breaks is you. Your company will be fine. The world will not end, and you aren't a bad employee for taking a legally required break. The one-more-thing that you can get done is usually not worth it. There will always be more work to do. Breaks are the best ways to mentally re-group, and you can actually accomplish more when you aren't exhausted.

When you take your breaks, move away from your work area. It's very tempting to sit at your desk, especially while working from home. The best breaks are the ones where you leave completely, like an organized walking break with coworkers outside of the building.

Schedule an hour of me-time

If you're finding it difficult to do something for yourself, then try to make it part of your schedule. Set the alarm on your phone or use the timer on your oven. Set an hour of time minimum to do something that makes you happy. Try not to do things like household chores, job hunting, grocery shopping, or parent-related tasks if possible.

By regularly setting aside time for yourself, you will be able to address your self-care needs. This will help drop your cortisol and stress levels and make time spent doing work or household tasks more manageable.

Some things that you can do for an hour are:

• listening to music
• taking a bubble bath
• yoga and meditation exercises
• a long-lost hobby
• or enjoying a new TV show.

Plan Your Vacation

If you have paid time off, then it's time to plan. We've all had a co-worker who talks about how much paid time off they still haven't used or time that didn't roll over as if that's a point of pride. You may even be that person. Please believe me when I say that it isn't normal and shouldn't be an expectation to be a good employee.

You don't need to go on a world tour to have a great vacation. There are a lot of amazing vacations that you can have even within your own state. Check out affordable hotels and Airbnbs in a nearby state, buy a CityPass or a fun city walking tour in your hometown, or plan a fun road trip.

If you work in a job where you don't earn paid time off, it may be time to reconsider your job. Although America doesn't have legislation requiring employers to provide paid time off, especially if you only work part-time, it doesn't mean that you don't deserve it. There is likely another employer out there in your area that has a similar position with better benefits. Don't be afraid of making a change if it enriches the quality of your life.

Bottom Line

In a society where we move too quickly, it's important to remember why we are working so hard. By setting boundaries on our work hours, putting aside time for self-care, and changing our reward compass, we can find happiness with our present. After all, it's about enjoying the journey.

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Take a few moments to slow down today. It's a lot easier to avoid running into doors that way.