This morning when I arrived to work, the coffee machine on the floor I normally sit at (flexi spaces) was not working, as one of the pipes that drains excess liquid away keeps on getting blocked. It has been "fixed" a few times, but obviously whatever they have done, isn't working, which annoyed me.
Perhaps it was the lack of coffee.
But even after walking all the way to the first floor (taking the lift instead of the stairs), I was still annoyed. Which I think was more down to the day ahead, on top of the week behind. Due to a slight change in company positioning, there is a mountain of work on top of a mountain of work, and I have a mountain of work already jammed between the first mountain.
Fucking mountains.
The only real "good thing" to come out of it so far, is that despite the workload, I have been crushing it to the point that my supervisor has to mention it to other people. What we are doing in a very short timeframe is ambitious, and doing it on top of what we are already doing, is quite a stretch. And to actually be meeting some of the deadlines feels pretty good.
But, I think what feels the best about getting this done, is that in order to do so, I have to collaborate with a lot of people, and because of the timeline, be quite demanding of them. It isn't about telling people what to do though, it is more about helping them be able to do what they think they might not be able to do. And, it has been great to see people who were visibly under stress a few days ago, over delivering today with color in their face and pride in what they have done.
As I have said many times in the past - it isn't the amount of work that causes stress, it is how we think about the work. Even under a veritable mountain of work, if we believe we are able to manage it, we likely will find a way. Not only that, it helps a lot when there is someone there to help who believes that it is possible and is willing to get their hands dirty and stretch too.
In it together.
So much of life today is spent trying to belong to some group for identity sake, but most of these social movements are formed around some kind of victimization topic. And, as important as that is in some regards, it isn't overly inspiring. I don't know about you, but the percentage of people I know who are looking to be parts of high-performing groups that are looking to excel in an area that takes a lot of work and effort, is pretty narrow. They do exist, but are far rarer than those on the other side of the coin.
As I have mentioned before in regards to my opinions on empathy and compassion, I believe that rather than sitting in the group gutter lamenting life and all the missed opportunities together, it is more empowering to help people out of the gutter so that they can actively work together improving their position. What I have mentioned before is a work case, but I think that this is one of the attractions that people have with hobbies like CrossFit (which I have never tried), where it is time spent with a group of people trying hard to be better, and willing to help each other achieve those goals.
I also think that because we are living somewhat more individual lifestyles, and even when in the same household spending a lot more time apart immersed into a screen, the sense of in it together is further reduced, and it is a shame. For instance, the couples who are in this life together, seem to have far higher quality of experience than those who are individually succeeding, but not sharing wins.
For me, I have to do better at celebrating wins than I do, because I am the kind of person who overlooks my own and then moves to the next thing to do, with very little recognition of what was accomplished. As a result, I end up glossing over other people's wins also, and while not intentionally looking to minimize their successes, I inadvertently do so.
What a dick.
Well, bit by bit I am changing my approach back to where I was a decade ago in this regard, where I lived more by my philosophy of "a bit at a time, we can change the world". And, I do believe it, even if I don't have a lot of faith that we would be successful in improving it much.
But even a little bit is worth the effort...
Taraz
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