10 Dutch rules to live by

Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash

In September 2017, I landed in Amsterdam. In September 2021, I arrived in Madrid. The question is, what happened in between? I spent four years in the Netherlands, and during this time, I got a master’s degree, found my first serious job, traveled a lot, and made new friends.

According to HBR’s article How Living Abroad Helps You Develop a Clearer Sense of Self, inevitable culture shocks you may experience in your new country can help you better understand yourself, your likes, and dislikes. Coming from a southern country at the age of 24, hence a certain identity has already been shaped; I can reassure you there were plenty of cultural shocks. But that didn’t stop me from spending four beautiful years there.

I hadn’t realized until I found myself in another country how my Dutch reality helped shape my personality. Long story short, these are the ten tips/advice/rules to live by, call it however you wish, that I decided to bring along in Madrid:

1. Working late hours doesn’t make you a good employee — it means that you have poor time management skills.
2. Be normal; it’s already crazy enough.
3. Time is king, so make sure you don’t waste anyone’s and, most importantly yours.
4. Nobody knows what you are thinking, so if you want something, ask for it. You will likely receive the help you need.
5. Earn, save, spend.
6. There is nothing wrong with saying no and setting boundaries — both in work and life.
7. Efficiency is key, so keep it simple.
8. Food waste should be illegal.
9. As long as you are not offensive to anyone, do whatever you like — nobody cares.
10. Smile.

All in all, the dutch culture reminds me of the Netflix one. In their book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer talk about an environment of freedom and responsibility (F&R), where everyone is free to make their own decisions, but they are also accountable for them. Hence they need to gather all insights to make the most informed decisions possible. It’s a reality that some people like and some others don’t. And this is how I would like to close this article; I am not saying that these rules work for everyone. It’s also very likely that fellow ex-pats will have a completely different point of view. But this is what I observed, liked, and decided to adopt in my everyday life.

Poet C.J.Heck states that “We are all products of our environment,” and to me, this is something beautiful. As long as you are critical enough about which ones you want to bring along in your new country and which ones to leave behind.