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According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly 90% of employees are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” at work. That adds up to a lot of unhappy hours. Psychology professor Barry Schwartz examines the situation and offers a possible solution in this August 2015 New York Times article.

Questions

1. Schwartz describes a problem that is quite well-known but is difficult to address. Or is it? What does Schwartz propose as a solution? Summarize his proposal. Do you think his suggestions are workable? Why or why not? What would you recommend as a solution?

2. Schwartz relies heavily on the use of “we” and “you” in his writing. What does he accomplish with this personalized approach? Would his essay have been more effective if he had used a more impersonal style? Why or why not?

Bio: I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin with lots of siblings, a pet crow, and Calvin and Hobbes and Bloom County.

(Liam is a cartoonist at The New Yorker and his work has also been featured on the cover of the The Guardian’s Saturday Review. Liam has a picture book called FISH coming out next spring, published by Neal Porter Books, and he is currently working on a graphic novel called Red Scare).

Find this print and more here.

Tools of choice: I draw with a mechanical pencil and a size 2 Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush of finest sable. Higgins Black Magic Ink, Pelikan Drawing Ink, Copic Opaque White, and a cheap set of well-worn Princeton brushes for wash. But–and this is a very big but–tools don’t matter: it’s all about what you do with them and how often you do it.

Tool I wish I could use better: I wish I could use all my tools better. As is written in Hagakure, The Way of the Cartoonist, “It is a mistake to put forth effort and obtain some understanding and then stop at that. At first putting forth great effort to be sure that you have grasped the basics, then practicing so that they may come to fruition is something that will never stop for your whole lifetime. Do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, ‘This is not enough’.”

Tool I wish existed: Something to reduce wrist, back, and eye strain. Everything else has a solution.

Tricks: For a long time I was trying too hard to leave white areas bare, now I finally discovered opaque white. I love my light box. Also, listening to a good audiobook seems to help keep me in my chair (of course this doesn’t work when you’re writing).

Misc: Sit up straight. Change the height of your chair or the tilt of your table monthly. Go for a walk. 

Links: liamfranciswalsh.com