Svend Brinkmann - Stand firm: resisting the self-improvement craze

Svend Brinkmann

Translated by Tam McTurk

polity

First published in Danish as St fast: et opgr med tidens udviklingstvang, Gyldendal, 2014

This English edition Polity Press, 2017

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ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1429-8

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A vast array of books has been churned out on self-development, self-improvement and self-realisation. Millions of them are sold every year, and the philosophy of self-development is ubiquitous in the worlds of education and business. Our lives may be in a state of constant flux and change, but legions of coaches, therapists and lifestyle counsellors are on hand to steer us safely through these choppy waters. This book is an attempt to voice opposition to posit an alternative to the culture of self-development. In short, it isnt about how to develop, but about how to stand firm on your own ground. Its not about finding yourself, but about living with yourself. It recommends negative, not positive, thinking as your first port of call. It isnt inspired by pop philosophies like the Seven Good Habits, spirituality or Theory U, but by the sober (though never boring) philosophy of Stoicism, as formulated in Ancient Rome by both a slave (Epictetus) and an emperor (Marcus Aurelius). This may sound a bit strange at first but bear with me.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lise Nestels and Anne Weinkouff for publishing the original Danish version of the book, even though it differs so starkly from many others in the Gyldendal Business catalogue. That is precisely why I thought you were the right publishers for the job, and I thank you for your trust and confidence in me. The whole process was enjoyable from start to finish. Anne was an extremely helpful sounding board, reader and editor. I would also like to thank Anders Petersen, Ester Holte Kofod and Rasmus Birk, who provided many valuable comments on the manuscript. Also, huge thanks to Todd May for positive feedback and for recommending the book to Polity Press a publishing house under whose imprint I am immensely proud to appear. And last but not least, my thanks to Louise Knight, who was such an excellent and helpful editor during the production of the UK edition and to Tam McTurk for having provided a phenomenal translation.

Many of us think that everything is moving faster and faster these days. The pace of life seems to be accelerating. We find ourselves under a constant barrage of new technology, rounds of restructuring at work, and fleeting trends in food, fashion and miracle cures. No sooner have you bought a smartphone than you have to upgrade to run the latest apps. Before youve even had time to get used to the IT system in your workplace, a new version is installed. Just as you figure out how to put up with an irritating colleague, the organisation is restructured and you find yourself having to get on with a whole new team. We work in learning organisations in which the only constant is endless change, where the only thing we can be sure of is that what we learned yesterday will be obsolete tomorrow. Lifelong learning and skills enhancement have become key concepts throughout the education system, in business and in other sectors.

Sociologists use metaphors like liquid modernity to describe our era, in which everything is in a state of perpetual change.Time in particular is seen as liquid its as if all limits have been expunged. Why this should be the case, nobody really knows. And nobody knows where were heading, either. Some claim that globalisation or more specifically, the threat posed by globalisation means that constant change is inevitable. Companies need to adapt to changing demands and specifications, so staff need to be flexible and responsive to change. For at least a couple of decades, job ads have been regurgitating the well-worn phrase We are looking for somebody who is flexible, adaptable and open to professional and personal development. Standing still is the ultimate sin. If you stand still while everyone else is moving forwards, you fall behind. Doing so these days is tantamount to going backwards.

Under liquid modernity also referred to as flexible capitalism, post-Fordism and the consumer society rule number one is that you have to keep up. In almost every aspect of life, the pace has quickened. We now talk about fast food, speed-dating, power-naps and short-term therapy. Recently, I tested an app called Spritz. It only shows a single word at a time, but increases your reading speed from 250 to 500600 words a minute. Suddenly you can read a novel in a couple of hours! But does this help you understand literature any better? Why has speed become an end in itself?

Critics of the pace of change point out that it leads to a general feeling of alienation from the activities in which we are engaged, and to a constant sense that we dont have enough time. Technological advances should, in theory, free up time allowing us to have a kick-about with the kids, make pottery or discuss politics. But the opposite is in fact the case if the time that we free up (e.g. from routine or assembly line tasks that are now automated or outsourced to the Third World) is spent on new projects and filling an already packed diary. In our secular world, we no longer see eternal paradise as a carrot at the end of the stick of life, but try to cram as much as possible into our relatively short time on the planet instead. This is, of course, a futile endeavour, doomed to failure. It is tempting to interpret the modern epidemics of depression and burnout as the individuals response to the unbearable nature of constant acceleration. The decelerating individual who slows down instead of speeding up, and maybe even stops completely seems out of place in a culture characterised by manic development, and may be interpreted pathologically (i.e. diagnosed as clinically depressed).

How do you keep up in an accelerating culture? Keeping up implies a constant willingness to adapt. It implies ongoing development on both a personal and professional level. Sceptics refer to lifelong learning as learning until you die (for many, interminable courses by well-meaning consultants are a form of torture, even a form of purgatory). In modern learning organisations with flat management structures, delegated responsibilities, autonomous teams and diffuse or non-existent boundaries between work and private life, it is our personal, social, emotional and learning competences that are deemed the most important. In the absence of orders issued by an authoritarian boss, you have to negotiate with others, work together and decide what feels right. Nowadays, the ideal employees are those who see themselves as reservoirs of competencies, and consider it their own responsibility to monitor, develop and optimise those skills.