Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Refining concerns / needs

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

>> We don't want to embarrass people by publicly recording how many hours
>> each person works each month.

We have the same problem -- no one wants to quantify.

The fear of quantification is huge. But quantification is receiving the
blame for fears about being shamed or judged. Quantification is a tool for
evaluating how things are going and how much capacity you have -- like
counting your money. You have to know how much "money" things cost before
you can decide if you can afford them. Time is the same. How much can you
afford? How much do you have?

The "need" is not to be negatively judged for the time you put in -- whether
it is a lot or a little.

As a community we have financial budgets, but not time budgets. People have
a choice not to make more money or to contribute more money. Each person has
to set limits. Respecting each person's limits without judging them is
important.

>> We want to honor the many different kinds of work that people do.

We have from the beginning not had any trouble considering an hour an hour,
no matter how it is spent. Every minute spent monitoring our sump pumps here
in watery Washington is just as valuable as any minute spent in the kitchen
or pouring over legal documents. I love it that some of our members like
mowing the lawn or turning on the sprinklers at night or cleaning the
bathrooms. I can't imagine valuing any work above that. Or the reverse --
devaluing time spent keeping spreadsheets not being counted as "work."

We are so weird, aren't we?


Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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