Are you a quiet quitter?

Hey!

I have a question for you.
Are you a quiet quitter?

I just got back from spending a few weeks offline, and not working, in the UK. Every day, after walking into the village to get my scones, my newspaper, and chat with the locals (after admiring the sheep in the hills), when I got back to our cottage and opened the paper, I seemed to read another article about the latest buzz – the new phenomenon known as ‘quiet quitting’.

There are many views about what the term actually means. It’s a buzzword that took off on Tik Tok this summer. It’s basically the idea that you do the bare minimum at your job. You quit the idea of going above and beyond your duties. You show up on time, not a minute earlier, and do the bare minimum to fulfill your job description. You don’t go big and go home, as you have kissed the hustle culture goodbye.

I was fascinated by this phenomenon and read all I could about it. At first I thought it was just slacking off at the office, but it went deeper than that. People who were doing this felt so empowered – why should they stay later at the office then they need to? Why should they answer emails in the evening when they are no longer at work? Why should they let themselves be defined by what they do? They were not their work. They were people who were doing their work, and then they finished their work, and got on with the rest of their lives.

This was so intriguing to me, as I read this in the middle of my sabbatical, when I totally shut down my business, said goodbye to my clients and my team, and even closed my webshop. I needed to totally separate myself from my work. I wrote a blog before I left about how I wanted to discover who I was when I wasn’t being a coach or a writer. I had nearly forgotten who she was.

So reading this was some kind of kismet, as I was already thinking long and hard about my work. I have always, always gone above and beyond what is expected, and there is an enormous layer of creativity and entrepreneurship in me that needs to be expressed, no matter what I’m doing. That will never change.

But I am more than just a coach. I’m a partner, a wife, a mom, a friend, a poet, a very slow jogger, a Scrabble wizard, a disco dancer, an observer, a sheep whisperer, and so much more. I love the work-life balance that I am creating for myself. I will always go the extra mile to serve my clients and I am their biggest cheerleader, sparring partner, and mentor. But I also set clear limits about when I am accessible, and that means stating clearly at the start of our learning journey when I will be offline and recharging so that I can serve them better and continue to provide the high level of service that they expect from me.

I have nothing to prove by saying how many hours I work. I feel my track record speaks for itself. And I’m even more excited to share the newest project which will enable me to spend more time in creative and entrepreneurial mode while serving thousands across the globe. More on that later this year – I can’t wait to tell you more!

Are you a quiet quitter? I’m curious!
Love, Buffi (who was captured quietly quitting in Liverpool recently.)