Here goes:
*** Treat fulfilment as a destination. Tell yourself it’s just around the corner once you finally hit that number, get that promotion, snag that pay rise or retire. And when you do finally hit that goal, IMMEDIATELY move the goalposts
*** Tell yourself you're trapped and that you can't leave your job because of your mortgage, the kids, your golden handcuffs or the fact you’ve just worked out how to use the office printer. Then keep repeating this mantra (“I’m trapped, I’m trapped, I’m trapped…”) until it feels like a law of nature rather than something you've made up. This works equally well whether you want to leave your job or not
*** Pathologise your boredom. The millisecond you feel bored, make that boredom really MEAN something. Let it be evidence you've outgrown your role, you’ve picked the wrong path or you’ve wasted your life. The more over the top the meaning, the better
*** Channel every drop of creativity into your work. God forbid you use it anywhere else. If you want to nail this one, make sure you become the best PowerPoint whizz in the office and then just sit at home on evenings and weekends, wondering why you feel numb inside. That’s the plan working perfectly. And if it does cross your mind to write, build or play something in your free time, make sure you have a watertight reason. You can’t just do these things because
you want to!
*** Ignore all your good moments. As sure as eggs is eggs, you’ll have them. Someone will give you a genuine compliment once in a while or you’ll solve a tricky problem in a way that makes you feel proud. But whatever the moment and however ordinary it seems, keep telling yourself it was just a blip
*** Live everywhere except now. Replay yesterday's meeting on loop. Rehearse tomorrow's awkward conversation in the shower. Draft next week's email when you pop to the loo at 3am. If your mind isn’t somewhere else, you’re doing this one wrong
*** Treat every bad
feeling as a problem to be solved. The moment you feel a bit flat, log straight onto ChatGPT to ask the borg what’s wrong with you. Then hunt for the “root cause” of what’s made you feel that way and keep hunting. Whatever you do, ignore the idea that your feeling might just pass if you don’t stick it under the spotlight and try to solve your way out of it
*** Wait for permission to feel okay. Decide that you're only allowed to feel fine once your conditions have been met and you have the right role, the right boss, the right salary, the right work/life balance and the right commute
So there we have it.
If you’d like to do the opposite, there might be one or two clues hidden between the lines here too.
For hands on support with finding fulfilment at work, here’s a good place to start:
https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com
To fulfilment,
Tom