The strain of work is exceptionally high for us at the moment.
It feels like I’m involved in a titanic tug-of-war. On one side are my colleagues and me, and on the other is my old adversary, Busyness, with all his friends.
“Pick up the rope”
We have to pick up the rope; not doing so means letting down all the children we are here for and all that we value.
“Take the strain”
If we give anything less than 100%, we will be rolled over and let everyone down. So we lean back and dig our heels into the ground. We hold on to the rope as tight as we can. We take the strain.
“Pull”
It’s an epic contest, but we are determined and committed. There are times when things don’t look good, times when our feet slide, but we always seem to find something more. Our eyes sting with sweat, our hands blister, and the lactic acid starts to burn.
We ask each other, “Are you OK? “And we all say “yes”. We have to be.
It isn’t easy to see very much from our position on the rope, but we all know it’s not OK. We know we can only sustain this strain if Busyness falls away before we do.
Freedom
So, how do we flourish at work in times like this, particularly when so many of our strains are not visible? It’s one of the challenges of our time.
I read an HBR article recently, and it resonated with me – Where does DEI go from here? The big idea is that there needs to be a new approach to help people flourish at work, based on providing 4 FREEDOMS:
– The freedom to BE
– The freedom to BECOME
– The freedom to FADE and
– The freedom to FAIL
Each of these freedoms is important to us, perhaps in different amounts at different times in our lives. Of the four, I find myself contemplating the freedom to FADE the most. It is not the same as “quiet quitting, ” but it is something that I need to get better at.
For example, it’s probably OK for me to share that I am unlikely to volunteer for extra responsibilities before the December break – I have no capacity, and I’m struggling to deal with what I already have. I may need to fade for a bit, take some time away from the rope to escape the strain, and then return to it when I feel ready.
Better still, if I am not stuck on the rope, I could hope to find better ways to beat Busyness et al. instead of playing them at their own game.
Freedom comes when we know it’s OK not to be OK.
Serendipities 