Is Work A Problem For You?
“How’s life?”, I asked as I reached for the bread basket.
A few co-workers who were close enough to hear me stopped chewing for a split second while looking slightly bewildered.
Fully aware that “How’s life?” always gets that initial reaction, I pressed on and eventually got the little crowd standing around the breakfast table engaged in a little Friday morning discussion.
“So how was your week? Can you believe we have to wait an entire weekend until we can get back to work on Monday and continue our work?”
Now that I had dropped the dreaded M. word, I knew I had a few moments to myself to grab some food while my co-workers were engaged in mentally digesting the perceived insanity of what I had just said.
“Huh?”, “Are you trying to be funny?”, “What are you talking about?” where just some of the reactions.
Of course I wasn’t trying to be funny.
You’re either funny or you’re not.
This was not about humour but something more profound than that — not that humour can’t be profound — I believe it can. But here, at our traditional corporate Friday morning breakfast, I had an epiphany:
Most People Think Of Work-As-A-Problem.
Now, I always knew that people hate Mondays but it didn’t dawn on me until recently that people view Work-As-A-Problem. When you view something as a problem you’re entire mindset is focused on figuring out a way out of that problem.
If you think of Work-As-A-Problem then you’re probably trying to cope with that problem right now.
Are you?
If you are, you’re probably trying to do one or more of the following:
- Eliminating the problem completely — by hitting the jackpot or quitting.
- Alleviating the problem at times — by slacking off or taking time off.
- Enduring the problem as much as you can — by checking off or tuning out.
- Fighting the problem every chance you get — by being vocal or proactive.
The solutions are not bad at all. They’re all efficient — some more than others of course.
The issue is not efficiency though — it’s effectiveness.
It’s not how we solve the problem of work that matters. But rather if it’s a problem at all.
Imagine if work weren’t a problem.
Imagine if work was something amazing — that is good for you.
Imagine the effort you’ve invested all your life in trying to fix something that was actually was good for you — all this time.
Imagine how your life would transform — Instantly.
If only you would stop viewing Work-As-A-Problem.
“I’m serious”, I continued.
“I think that it’s somewhat of a pity that we have to take such a long break from working. I’m looking forward to every Monday morning. That’s when I can finally resume what I had left unfinished on Friday”
Needless to say, the breakfast fun was literally over. Putting forth the idea that work is a good thing that we can look forward to, ruined everyone’s breakfast.
Interestingly enough, it seems that my co-workers were trying to cope with Work-As-A-Problem by employing tactic #2 — alleviation, by taking time off from work and enjoying some free food.
But that makes sense. In the Work-As-A-Problem mindset.
On the other hand, if you know you only have a few hours left to finish your work, until you have to interrupt your flow for an entire weekend, you try to make the most of your time left and be as productive as possible.
That’s why, to me, Happy Fridays are immensely unproductive.
So if you run Happy Fridays at your workplace, here’s a practical way of transitioning away from a Work-As-A-Problem mindset.
Have Happy Fridays turn into some sort of hyper-productive activity — like a hackathon. Or something that helps people end their week with a productive bang.
And institute Happy (or Healthy) Mondays instead.
Nothing like starting off a fresh week with a healthy breakfast. Your productivity can take the hit. You’ve got the whole week ahead of you.
What are your thoughts on work? Do you view work as a problem? And how do you feel about Fridays? What about Mondays?
Share this with your friends and next time you gather around the Happy Friday breakfast table, you’ll have something fun to talk about.
