“Meandering Leads to Perfection” - Laozi
Meander, Meandering and why Meanderthals. A little time travel might help 😊
Neanderthals & Homo Sapiens are two species that probably coexisted for more than 10,000 years before Neanderthals went extinct. Speculation reigns when questions on their extinction are raised. The Neanderthals had brawn and Homo Sapiens an adaptive brain. Homo Sapiens’ brains developed to support cognitive abilities of communication & creativity which in turn helped early Homo Sapiens survive the process of natural selection.
40,000 years and many evolutions later, we are at the brink of a major change or leap or fall in our cognitive abilities. In this new Digital Era, we have become Knowledge Sharing Organisms through reels instead of acquiring it, we are Meandering. A new era of information being glanced at but not retained will develop a completely different brain circuitry, like Homo Sapiens did when they started to learn to read? Meanderthals are now battling H.Sapiens.
Ever thought of a futuristic dystopian possibility in which AI controls everything, all communication being remote as today and face-to-face meetings no longer happening? And AI & Machines might stop working someday, and Meanderthals will be wiped out again?? Damn!
How is this connected to Moonlighting you say? Here is how I think it is…
Lying Flat, Great Resignation, Moonlighting & Quiet Quitting - some jargons that the corporate world has been dabbling with post COVID.
I wrote about Lying Flat, which is a pre cursor to all things the New gen is emotionally experiencing now.
Quiet quitting is not about outrightly quitting your job but quitting the idea of working beyond a certain task and time. You are still performing your duties, but you are no longer subscribing to the hustle Work hard or Go Home mentality that work has to be your life. Act your Wage - work hard during the hours of the job that’s the new motto.
Quiet Quitting is probably connected to Moonlighting, and so is mismatch of expectations at work and even our own new life alignments post covid and work from home that has led to change in what we believe how our days should be spent.Moonlighting has two sides to it. One is pursuing a passion independently during downtime and the other is pursuing additional income during a downtime that allows you to create a.k.a Quiet Quitting. Remember Ranbir Kapoor’s Rocket Singh - Yep that.
And as my friend Disha talks about in her reel What’s Moonlighting (she fondly calls it Moonlightening), women have been doing it over years, managing home and office, both are two different jobs in itself.
During downtime or let’s say after official office hours, if you follow your passion learn guitar or play sports or run a book club, your employer won’t have a problem. But the moment you are doing it to earn more using the same skills or different, a few corporates have started flagging it off. The whole Productivity Paranoia by leaders as Nadella calls it, and the surveillance initiated for it is can be quite a let-down for employees.
But think about it. Without moonlighting, there won’t be start-ups. Without start-ups, there won’t be disruption. Without Disruption, there won’t be new ways to do things.
That’s where Meanderthals as a concept is important to understand. We all have developed attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in some form or the other. Meandering between reels, posts and tasks has become a part of our way of life, largely due to many tasks getting automated and as Laozi says Meandering might lead to perfection, a perfection of our ability to live Life as fullest as we can.
Traditionally, we have been conditioned to do one job and become a master at it. The new generation doesn’t really think that’s necessary. They would want to be known for who they unapologetically are, but their needs of financial stability and luxury keep them in jobs. Given a choice most will self-confer the title of an adventurer and set out to the world of Reels.
Our Meandering ways will not only not keep us stable in the moonlighting assignments, the second gig will be forever an exploration. We will be wondering whether we should quit the job and make moonlighted project a full-time assignment or venture.
Many friends of mine are moonlighting and are doing extremely good in both assignments but struggling with that thought that someday they would have to choose one or the other and which one should they go for.
I have at times missed the community that being in a corporate gives; going out for lunches, a structure to few task, so much so I have contemplated moving into a co working space frequently. I think Moonlighting Entrepreneurs should be a legit thing, where Companies hire Entrepreneurs to work on some of their projects, maybe 2 days a week. A larger form of it called ‘Intrapreneurship’ is making its way into certain companies. It will be a win-win situation, as entrepreneurs bring a disruptive thought process to existing systems and entrepreneurs will get a well-deserved system and social life.
Upskilling is what companies prefer an employee does during their downtime. But for a new definition of life, where we consider job as the downtime and what we spend other than that as the real meaning of life, it is hard to say which one is your real need for life. the overall definition of a 'job’ is changing as people want to have more freedom and flexibility due to the changes brought about by the pandemic. And it’s important to understand the role of digital life and automation in this shift of human behaviour. The free time that we have now, leads us to explore and fill the vacuum with more things that will make us feel alive.
H. Sapiens came in Neanderthals went extinct due to their lack of cognitive adaptations to new skills. Will H.Sapiens loose out to Meanderthals who have adapted to new cognitive skills of forever multi-tasking in a Digital world, Metaverse, Augmented reality, sitting in dark rooms, wearing VR glasses and experiencing world in a different way that you and I will never be able to connect with?
I may sound like a ‘soon to be extinct HomoSapien’ here, but I don’t think I would prefer a digital world, I would rather be extinct in sunlight and moon light on passion projects.