I’ve been kicking this theory around in my head for quite awhile now, and am finally ready to write about it.
It comes back to the topic of people asking me how I could possibly leave L.A. in favor of Vienna. I always say it’s because I like it here. They always ask what it is exactly that I like.
This is one of the things that I really like about Vienna. People here are a lot more mellow than they are in L.A.
Los Angeles is populated with the best and brightest the world has to offer. Think about it. People all over the world have a fascination for L.A. Those who are the most ambitious, the hardest working, the brightest, are the ones who are gutsy enough to pack their bags and make their fortune else where. That could be other American who live in the middle of nowhere and don’t see the job opportunities that they want. That would be Chinese immigrants. Austrians. Cubans. Russians. Mexicans. People who look around and think, “I want more than what I see here.”
These people are the ones that move to cities like London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and other cities like them. They are the ones that are programmed somehow to always think, “I want more.” So when they land in L.A. they aren’t thinking, “I’ve made it.” They are thinking, “The work has just started.” The drive that these people have is constant and never ending.
That’s what I grew up with. That kind of attitude is what I always thought was the normal way of thinking and acting. Therefore, I was surrounded by people who never thought anything was really good enough. So I drove myself just as hard because that’s all I knew.
When I first came to Vienna and started working, I thought, “What is wrong with these people? How dare they go home so early.” Or I thought, “What do you mean hobby? Who has time for a hobby? My work is my hobby.” I looked at my co-workers and realized that they weren’t trying to one- up each other and thought, “Aren’t they afraid that they aren’t competitive enough in the work world? Aren’t they afraid that they are going to get fired?”
In L.A. you always have to be looking over your shoulder, wondering who is out there ready to push you out of your position. So you drive yourself to be better, faster, hard working than anyone else. Then the next person does the same thing, and the next, and the next, until everyone is utterly consumed by their need to stay competitive.
In Vienna, people don’t have this insane competition. That’s not to say in any way that this city isn’t filled with bright, ambitious people. It’s filled with people who know when to say enough is enough. Who can walk away after a good day of work and feel liked they did well.
I still work very hard because that’s just who I am. It’s an edge to my personality that I never want to lose. But the fear that drove me in L.A. from the out of proportion competition has stayed back in Los Angeles because my co-workers aren’t trying to one-up me. They are trying, and succeeding, to do a good day’s work, and then go home to a normal life. And for that, I am grateful.
Interesting article and really true about the vienna culture. In Iceland it is also fast paced and we work hard but we also have tons of other things to do (hobbies, families, friends, other activities). In Iceland it is customer comes first and we are friendlier than the austrians (man, its like we are annoying them when we ask for help).
Plus we´re on a first name basis in Iceland, because our last names are daughter or son of… so it would be weird to say the last name. I find it hilarious to see it in foreign news as such.