A Day in the Life of Colin the Contributist
I think about this reel parodying the American vs. Finnish workday often. Although I envy the Finn in the video, something in my core identifies with the American. The joke in the video is basically that the American is absurdly ambitious for no apparent reason and makes a lot of money while the Finn is super chill and accomplishes nothing but seems content. In the video, the American goes to work to "say big numbers and then make a million dollars," "memorize the powerpoint," then eventually "give up on our Finnish colleagues" who are still in bed, happy to be sleeping. Â
Of course, I don’t actually want to live the caricature acted out in the reel, but something about the American’s lifestyle seems alluring to me. As someone who was born and raised in middle class American ‘meritocracy’-centric culture, I am fully familiar with the kind of striving and self-improvement that the American character portrays. The ambition, the go-getter attitude, and the optimism all speak to me as values that are espoused in my culture. I identify with this culture and even, like the American character in the video, see it as my right to live out this kind of lifestyle. Currently I’m training for a marathon (because I have the right to go faster, further!), teaching myself accounting (because I have the right to climb the career ladder), and developing a practice of meditation (because I have the right to become the best version of myself).
Maybe my pursuits don’t resonate with you, but perhaps you’re just as enthusiastic about something else, in a way only an American could be. For example, in the summertime my mother spends 6-7 hours a day in her garden and she’s now getting a certification to become a Master Gardener. She’s not the Mr. Capitalist portrayed in the video, but I’d argue that her desire to become the best at what she does is cut from the same cloth.
Reflecting on this makes me wonder if I would really like to live like the Finn in the video. As I said above, I envy the Finnish colleague’s contentment, but staying in bed all day also offends my American sensibilities.
This leads me to wonder if the Contributist’s parodied workday would be more attractive to me - if it would capture the zeal and ambition of the American, while also finding the centering contentedness of the Finn.Â
With that, I present to you the (exaggerated) day in the life of Colin the Contributist:
As someone passionate about finding solutions to food insecurity, Colin starts his day at sunrise in the community garden, in order to beat the heat. He harvests vegetables to be distributed to the community and manages a morning shift of volunteers. He doesn’t call into work to say that he’ll be late - they should know that he’s investing in one of his passions.
On his way to work, he reviews flashcards of his colleagues' names so that he can be sure to address everyone personally, thereby demonstrating that his work community is important to him.
Although his main project at work is to manage a quarterly revenues dashboard and draft earnings reports, Colin asks his boss if Linda can be staffed on the project, since Linda expressed that she wants to improve her data visualization skills. Given that Colin has been building business intelligence dashboards for years, he tells Linda it would be his pleasure to train her and help her find opportunities to grow in this area.
Colin’s home by two o’ clock. He has to take a nap and prepare a nourishing meal for self-care, so that his battery is fully recharged and he’s ready to coach little league soccer at four.Â
At six thirty he’s back home. He’d like to unwind and watch some TV but instead he reads up on types of saws for cutting wood - a friend of his expressed interest in building a custom coffee table. He’d like to help make it happen.
Colin is aggressive in asserting his right to give, which he primarily interprets as being overbearingly helpful. But perhaps he’s directionally correct? I’d be happy to join Colin in his pursuit to be a giver.