So said the frizzy-haired brainbox Albert Einstein.
And I can’t help think he’s right.
In fact, this little quote of Albie’s goes a long way to explain why my work felt so soul-sucking for over
a decade of my life.
My working life was PACKED with questions I couldn’t explain simply and thus didn’t understand well. Which, by extension, meant a decade wasted trying to fix all the wrong things in my career.
My very
own corporate version of re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
So what couldn’t I explain simply?
Check these out:
*** Why my job felt draining even when my workload was fine
*** How to know when my workday was done, even though there was always more work to do
*** Why my brain served me up so
many work-related thoughts on evenings, weekends and in the middle of the night
*** How to stay ambitious without work taking over my life
*** Why I couldn’t manage my energy, stress and mental chatter, even though I was a
pro at managing my priorities, my deadlines and my time
*** How to know which projects and emails really mattered
*** Why some of my colleagues seemed so stressed and others seemed so calm, even though they were
doing the exact same work at the exact same desks with the exact same bosses
*** The role I wanted work to play in my life
Each of these questions could be its own series of newsletters.
In fact, I’ve written about each of these before and will no doubt write about them again.
And having clearer, simpler answers to these questions is why my worst days at work today are better than my best days at work ever used to be.
That’s not to say I’ve got it all figured out and I never have a bad day.
It’s not like I’m pitching up to Corporate Disneyland every day of the week either.
But it is to say that if you want to have a freer, more fulfilling, more FUN time in the office, the answer is NOT working harder, setting boundaries or downloading your fifth meditation app.
Instead, exploring the questions above is how the dial will really shift.
If you’d like some help from someone who was buried in the trenches taking grenade after grenade and has now found a way to get through the day without wanting to throw his laptop through the window, here’s where to go next:
https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com
To fulfilment,
Tom