Lame but catchy headings work. In today’s information overload, there better be more than a provocative label that convinces us to invest even if just a few minutes.
Let me earn your reading trust first with the ‘Why’.
We (must) care about how we feel at work. Not just because of the influence on productivity. Not just because of the impact on our ability to achieve our full human capacity. But because we bring our work feelings home.
We don’t park our work sentiments in the garage — we plough them through our everyday personal conversations. We don’t hang our work emotions at the entrance closet — we haul them right to the dinner table. We don’t leave our work attitudes by the TV remote in the living room — we carry them into our bedroom.
Workplace psychology is a rich topic. I am highlighting just one aspect of it.
Here is a basic thesis:
No matter one’s personality type, you spend a few years in any bureaucratic organization and you become a little less optimistic about life. The pessimism often stems from the process-riddled work environments that can often beat the creativity out of even the most ambitious types.
(PSCS is a term I coined from personal experiences and observing others in government organizations that typically suffer from a high PSCS per capita ratio but same is true for any large private sector enterprises)
So repeat after me. PSCS is toxic to health, a ruiner of relationships, a destroyer of potential.
What is potentially so lethal may have the simplest fix.
Rumi said, “Yesterday, I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself”. In another life, Rumi would be a top choice for a leadership coach.
I have found the PSCS remedy in adopting a Day 1 Attitude.
At the start of each workday, I remember to remember my first day on the job. Sharply dressed, biggest smile, an infectious eagerness, bold ideas bigger than any presidential ego. Bringing back the Day 1 flavor to our work 2-years or even 20-years later, reminds us why we got into this work in the first place. The noble ideals we held dear on Day 1 still apply no matter how long the tenure. They just get buried underneath the organizational churn. Day 1 Attitude helps us excavate them.
No title should be fancy enough and no paycheck large enough to take away from our personal well-being. We have plenty of other life’s absurdities for that!
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