A motivation problem? New study says satisfaction at work is at an all time low. Time for green smiley stuff…
You know all the stories like: “you spend most of your life at work, so you had better do a job that you like”? Change agents and motivational speakers have bleated this stuff for ages and what I don’t understand is that so many people still haven’t got it yet.
A quick look at the results of a survey, admittedly undertaken in America, reveals that work satisfaction is at an all time low. The recession has probably some explaining to do especially as some are bracing themselves for the second wave, the final parting shot as the recession recedes. All possible reasons for a dip in the fun curve.
But it’s more than that. I’ve been looking around for a while and what I have noticed is that we are on the threshold of a new order. There are more and more books and sites dedicated to ushering in a new mindset and to creating a podium for new thoughts to germinate and take seed.
What new thoughts, mindset, order?
Let’s take a little time trip. A few hundred years ago we all worked in the fields, unless we were rich or born to gentry in which case we didn’t. In the words of Monty Python: “he is a King, how do I know, well he ain’t got shit all over ‘im.”
And then came the Industrial Revolution and we left the fields to work in factories. Every day, we went to a bloody big building to do our work. We were paid badly and were kept poorly educated which all ensured that we would keep coming back.
We had no choice.
More recently, we have been going through the Knowledge revolution. There have been very few people in the first world who have been excluded from the right to a reasonable education and as a result, our knowledge base has increased. No longer resting in the hands of the lucky few, more of us can read, write and share our knowledge.
However, even with this increased knowledge base, we have continued to centre our work around bloody big buildings. We still migrate towards and congregate in one place to do our jobs. We might be better paid these days, but yet we still we keep coming back.
But now there is dissatisfaction and rumbles in the downtown concrete jungles. And I am not surprised. As one who took the leap some years ago and dove into the waters of self-reliance, I can smell the unmistakable scent of pointlessness as it begins to run through our society.
The internet has further encouraged this spread. The amazing speed at which we can transfer information and get our message out has all contributed to making our earlier methods of doing our work all but extinct. There is no longer the driving need to congregate in real-time, because masses of us are doing that virtually. And very effectively indeed. Marketing is in the hands of Joe Boggs, publishing is Everyman’s art. Is nothing sacred? The truthful answer? No.
And it’s not going to change, so get used to it.
The effect is that a lot of us stuck in downtown concrete bunkers are beginning to see the light. Jobs don’t have to be done in a building (the job has no preference as to where it is done), or between the hours 9 to 5. To be honest, quite a lot of the ritual around working belongs, well, if not the ice age, at least in the industrial period! And then there’s the job itself: who gains what precisely from what you do?
It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee, and not from the Starbucks around the corner from your office!
Come on People, do it. The possibilities are endless! The internet has created boundless ways for you to come out and play. If you aren’t satisfied with your job, the only thing that you need to do is ask yourself the following question: “what do I want?” and then go and do it.
The only limitation is your imagination, and even then, with very little imagination you can create something amazing in your online communities.
If you are one of those who answered the survey indicating that your work satisfaction is at an all time low, then you owe it to yourself to take the leap.
Take a ride on the fun curve!
