This end of year, how are you feeling? If there was a word that could sum up your year, what would it be?
Mine, would be jaded.
As are you. You’re tired of that alarm at 7, buzzing you out of bed, brushing your teeth, and then squeezing into the train with loads of people, and smelling the occasional fart that
happens.
You look at work, and you’re just caught in a hamster wheel, never able to get out, and never really able to move beyond work that feels meaningful - like it’s not a chore, like it’s actually something that matters.
But as I speak to more adults, I realise this jadedness is a constant. Why do we feel so jaded of work, even though it’s paying our bills,
and making some difference to our world?
The common answer is
There’s too much work
We don’t feel purposeful about our work
And so there are the programs that try to encourage ‘mental wellness’, ‘employee welfare’, through yoga, smoothies in the office,
and the like.
Already, you’re wincing as you read this.
You know it doesn’t work.
Why?
Because we have yet to properly acknowledge the fact that work has truly become too complex to be manageable in the modern era. Was the human built for
this amount of speed in our lives?
Clearly no, though some would say humans have an incredible amount of adaptability.
Watch your colleague work, and you’d be stunned by the amount of Alt+Tab, the change in tabs, the replies to email, Whatsapp, Teams, that happens just within the span of 15 minutes.
So the solution here sounds countercultural, but stop replying.
No need for thumbs-up, reactions, emails to confirm.
Let your word, be your word.
You’re jaded, because you can no longer trust your own word, and the word of others, and you’re always double-confirming just to make
sure.
That’s tiring.
1 talk
“Technology is seductive when what it offers meets our human vulnerabilities. And as it turns out, we are very vulnerable indeed. We are lonely but fearful of intimacy.
Digital connections and
the sociable robot may offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Our networked life allows us to hide from each other, even as we are tethered to each other. We’d rather text than talk.”
Sherry Turkle
1 tip
Ever realised how many more emails or messages get
sent after the initial confirmation email?
Here’s an example.
You: See you at 7pm, at the Odeon!
Friend: “Reacted with a thumbs up”
You: See you!
Friend: (Smiley)
Is that necessary?
Of course, some say. How else would you know someone has confirmed?
But remember how not too long ago, we had to pay per text message sent?
And how that cut the message count.
I
may be 30, but I remember the days when my mum would issue me a prepaid, and I only had a set number of messages each month.
I had to save long messages for the dates I wanted to chase (true story), not the confirmation messages I would send boring classmates.
The context shapes our behavior. When messages got free, we spent much more time on
it.
You’re paying with something more.
Your time, and your life-force.
Notice how drained you get after a long texting exchange? You may smile during the exchange, but come out, and you definitely feel tired.
