The Worst Advice I’ve Ever Been Given
The Worst Advice I’ve Ever Been Given:
“Be the first in the office in the morning, and the last to leave.”
Let me explain why this is truly terrible advice and why you should never listen to it.
In this industry, so many of us within the intersections of womxn, BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community, and disabled and neurodivergent folx, have been indoctrinated with this need to overwork to the point of burnout, and prove ourselves at any cost in these beginning years of our careers. We’re told that if we aren’t at work longer than anyone else, that we’ll never be noticed or successful in the workforce. That the key to our success is getting 3 hours of sleep, waking up at 4am to go on a 10 mile run, cook breakfast for 15 people, find the cure to cancer, become an overnight Olympic gold-medalist, and then, finally, clock into work, take no breaks during the day, leave at midnight, and start the cycle all over again.
All of that advice is a dangerous and bold-faced lie.
Think about the people who have given you this advice. Were they a cishet White man? Most likely a Millennial or older? Probably. The five people that gave it to me sure were. The only problem is that our pathway to success as non-cishet White men is not, and may never be, congruent with how they succeed.
Although I have only been working full-time in the music industry for about a year, I was privileged to have had multiple music industry internships while in university. In these internships, and in my current entry-level role, I’ve learned a great deal. I’ve gotten advice from mentors and coworkers from Capitol Records, Atlantic Records, Sony Music, UMPG, Fender, and Live Nation. Not to mention the panels and summits for music industry professionals and students that I’ve attended where I learned from other industry professionals.
One thing that I’ve learned from these experiences is that this “rise and grind” culture will only lead to burnout, and if left unchecked, the destruction of your mental health, passion, and motivation to do your job.
While working hard at work is obviously important, getting 8+ hours of sleep, making time for your non-career related hobbies, having time to decompress, and spending quality your friends/partner/family/pets/that book you’re loving right now, are all vastly more meaningful in the grand scheme of our little lives.
Now don’t get me wrong, you should be working hard and you will need to in this industry. But - and this is the crucial part - when the work day is done, you shouldn’t need to stick around just for the sake of performatively working harder. There’s a reason that 4-day work weeks have been proven to increase productivity.
Do your job during your 8-hour day, and do it damn well. Be the best at your job duties (creating decks, scheduling meetings - whatever it is), speak up about your innovative ideas when appropriate but listen and learn at all other times, over communicate and work with integrity, own up to mistakes that you make (we all do it, it’s expected. I promise), and be a genuinely cool person to everyone around you. Take mental health and sick days when you need them and don’t feel guilty about it. Say yes to whatever you are able to within reason, but don’t overburden yourself with extra tasks and become resentful. Most importantly, learn to say NO if your workload is unmanageable or if you’re asked to do something ridiculous and exploitative. Set clear boundaries and stick to them.
Society so often tells us that our worth is directly connected to our output. Remember that that is not true. Your worth is intrinsically tied to your humanity. No qualifiers. No “ifs, ands, or buts”. You are not worth less on the days when you’re exhausted and sick than on the days where you check off everything on the to-do-list.
So, promise me that the next time you hear that terrible advice, you won’t take it to heart. Instead, go home, take a bubble bath, put on a face mask, drink a glass of wine (only if you’re of age…*cheeky wink*), buy yourself a succulent, take a loooooooong nap, and then laugh them off in the privacy of your own mind. You deserve it.
Author: Naomi Hyman