Sometimes getting by is good enough
Everybody has the occasional unproductive day. After all, everyone gets sick once in a while, or just can’t get motivated. A lot of people struggle to start work on Monday mornings, or can’t be found online late on Friday afternoons.
What I rarely hear people talk about are the long stretches of time when someone slows down at work. Yet we all know that happens, and anyone who is in the workplace long enough will eventually experience something that takes a toll for weeks or months. People go through divorces, have deaths in the family, suffer from serious health issues, or struggle with other long-term problems.
I’ve had a few times in my career when I wasn’t anywhere near the top of my game because I was going through something big in my private life. Major life stuff can make it hard to concentrate.
During those times, I was worried about not being as productive as usual. But when I reflect back now, I recall that I still met my deadlines, showed up to meetings, and did the work I was hired to do. I just didn’t work at the fast pace that I normally do, and wasn’t striving for perfection with every task. I did what I needed to do at work while expending more energy on what needed to be taken care of at home.
And that is fine. That’s the way it should be, since we’re human and not robots. Life eventually stabilizes and work will take up as much time and energy as you are willing to spend on it.
What I want to remember is that lulls happen for everyone. But more importantly, we don’t always have to be working at our highest level. Save energy for what matters most. Sometimes that may be a work project and sometimes it is not.
Using momentum to gain motivation
This past Friday afternoon, I had three tasks remaining that I didn’t feel like doing. It was the end of the week, I was tired, and they weren’t projects that I had a lot of enthusiasm for.
I was tempted to put them off because they didn’t have strict deadlines. But I knew if I made that choice, I would continue to think about them over the weekend and wouldn’t fully relax.
I decided that I would open one of the work files and read through the existing material just to feel like I accomplished something. I do that a lot as a first step on projects. I’ve found that I often have better ideas and am more productive if I skim the work first and then come back to it a day – or even a week – later.
Once I opened the first file, I realized that the task was much easier than I anticipated, and I quickly finished it. I moved on to skimming the second project, which I had been dreading because it was long, and I wasn’t particularly interested in the subject matter. I was surprised that once I had a grasp of the content, I got inspired to do the work. Even though I wasn’t excited by the topic, I had little bursts of ideas about how to approach the task. Those sparks of creativity turned a chore into something fun to work on.
When I finished that project, I had built up momentum and didn’t want to waste it. I read through the final project and then…I lost some enthusiasm. That one was going to take a lot more time and brain power. I gave it another read-through and decided to put it aside.
I returned to all three projects after the weekend. The first two only needed light changes to finalize them. The third one was more difficult, but my initial effort had generated ideas in the back of my mind that helped me get into the work without wasting time.
My tiny amount of effort on Friday started the momentum to do any work at all, which in turn created motivation to keep at it. It was worth it, and I enjoyed my weekend without thinking about work.
Finding what works for you can take time
I’ve struggled to get enough exercise for a long time, but the last year was especially hard. The yoga studio I went to closed for a while and I’m not comfortable going during the pandemic anyway. I like going for walks, but there were times when the weather was too bad, or there was too much wildfire smoke in the air, or I just couldn’t get away from work before dark. I tried doing yoga at home with videos and other exercises but didn’t enjoy it enough to be consistent.
The lack of exercise was also increasing the ongoing discomfort I feel from old injuries and repetitive stress. I tried new pillows and bolsters and equipment to keep my posture in alignment. I got a stand-up desk device so I could alternate between standing and sitting while I worked. I replaced my desk chair with a swiss ball. Some of these things helped more than others, but I still had constant low-back pain.
Then I looked into treadmills that can go under desks. I had first seen one of these in 2014 and thought it would be great to have, but they were way out of my price range. But when I looked again a few months ago, there were models that cost less than six months of yoga studio fees that I was no longer paying.
I got the treadmill in December and for the last three months, it’s been amazing. At around 1 mile per hour, I can type and read my computer screen and forget that I’m walking. It’s so much more comfortable to be slowly and constantly moving throughout the day than standing or sitting for hours. Lately I can walk up to 7 miles before my feet and hips are too fatigued. Then I just fold the treadmill in half, shove it out of the way, pull my standing desk back down to regular height, and sit on the swiss ball until I’m done working.
I’m thrilled that I finally have a solution for working comfortably, reducing pain, and getting exercise. It took a long time and a lot of experimenting to figure out what works. I’ve been working at home since 2012, so it was quite a journey to get here!
Do you know what this journey is similar to?
It’s like searching for the right job.
It can take years of effort to find the right company, manager, and role. Bad jobs are exhausting and so is constantly looking for new positions. But there are many ways to explore what would be a good fit. Researching companies online, taking a class or reading about a field that seems interesting, or taking the initiative to build up skills that you like using are just a few. Some things may not lead anywhere and that’s fine – now you know what doesn’t work. The key is to keep at it until you find the right solution.
Looking for a better alternative
My least favorite service vendor to work with is someone who takes days to respond to emails, takes weeks to provide estimates, is late to appointments, and will reschedule at the last minute. The only reason I don’t fire them is that their responsibilities are just one part of a greater scope of work that is done well at a good price. I know because I seek out bids for the same work every year.
I have concluded that I’m better off staying with this vendor for the time being, despite the poor experience.
Will I replace them as soon as I find a better alternative? Absolutely. Would I recommend them to others? Never. But for now, it’s in my best interest to put up with some poor communication and unreliability because I don’t have a better alternative.
This same approach can apply for jobs, too.
A step towards a better job
Many people who spoke to me about quitting bad jobs told me it took two years for them to recover from the stress and negativity they had left behind. They came from different industries and their workplaces were toxic for different reasons. What they had in common was that they all moved on to better roles, and they were all happier because of it.
It can take time to find better work and recover from bad experiences. Starting small and starting now is a great way to stop feeling stuck and begin feeling empowered. Updating a resume or looking at job postings are actions within our control. A small step is still forward progress.
There is nothing virtuous about tolerating a toxic workplace
Coping with a bad job while you search for something better? Great. Doing what you need to do to pay the bills until you can move on? Sometimes necessary.
But there is nothing virtuous about staying in a toxic work environment just because you think you should be able to handle it. Tolerating bad treatment on the job doesn’t earn you a badge of honor.
Your experiences are valid
I recently had a pain in my body so strong that it kept me awake for four nights. I didn’t know what was causing it. When I saw my doctor, she didn’t seem to know what the problem was or think it was a serious issue. For a moment, I started to question if the sleeplessness and severity of the pain was really a big deal. As the appointment was wrapping up, she mentioned that I could get a test before I left.
When the test results came in, it showed a definitive cause of the pain. The treatment was just a strong dose of Ibuprofen and the issue eventually resolved itself. I was elated. I felt relieved to know what the problem was and that there was a simple treatment. But much more than that, I felt vindicated. The test results were undisputable, and proved to the doctor that I wasn’t exaggerating or having a psychosomatic issue, imagining my discomfort.
The reason for this story that is both too vague and too personal is that there was pain. Whether or not the test uncovered the reason for the pain, there was pain. I was awake for four nights and there was no reason for me to try to convince myself that that experience was any different from what it was. And yet when my physician didn’t seem concerned, I started to question it.
It is not uncommon for other people to dismiss our pain because it isn’t theirs. It doesn’t mean the pain isn’t there. The analogy to work is that when people are inside toxic workplaces, it is very easy for their concerns to be brushed aside.
If your coworkers, friends, or family downplay your descriptions of harassment, verbal abuse, retaliation or other serious work issues, take a step back to consider their motivations. When people respond unempathetically, it might be because they don’t know how to process your suffering and therefore try to squash the topic that is making them uncomfortable. Another possibility is that their egos are trying to protect them from imagining what it would be like to be in your position. They may have a belief that they are too smart or too strong to “let” themselves be abused, and use that belief like a magic charm to ward against it. A third possibility is that they are resigned to the fact that workplaces are frequently toxic and there aren’t great options for dealing with it.
Regardless of the reasons why others may respond poorly, you don’t need external validation for your lived experiences to be true. Trust yourself. Your experiences are valid.
Recognizing when you need a break
I feel very fortunate to be working and enjoying my job right now, when so many people are unemployed or have limited opportunities to change roles. I also feel worn out from all the hours and energy I’ve put into both paid and volunteer work in the last couple of months. Although I have no right or desire to complain, I realize that I need to take a break before I start trudging through unproductive workdays or get so run down that I get sick.
Next week, I’m looking forward to a three-day weekend, when I will completely unplug from all work from Friday afternoon until Tuesday morning. This weekend, I practiced setting that boundary in a couple of ways. First, by letting others know I would fulfill my obligations during the workweek and second, by turning my attention back to the present whenever I started thinking about my work to-do list.
It wasn’t the most exciting weekend, but putting work out of my mind and focusing on what was in front of me made me extra appreciative of the great dinner I ate, the perfect temperature on my afternoon walk, and the fact that today was the first time in three weeks that I washed a load of laundry without a tissue hidden in a pants pocket.
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