@classical_Liberal, I think the most effective way to go about it would be some applying some simple Stoic principles.classical_Liberal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:40 pmVery nice response, thankyou! Here are my initial thoughts.
This describes me very well. If you're going to do something, do it well. Like, I'm not really sure how to get out of that mindset. Others have mentioned this to me before (IRL and in this forum), but I kind-of dismissed it, making excuses that my current job is really important and whatnot. Maybe it's true, my job is really important, maybe it's not. People survive with sub-par nurses all the time.
The fact most jobs are set up assuming the employees are basically incompetent is really frustrating! All the "red tape" required to prove you're doing the bare minimum takes time away from being able to excel in your job. This indeed is the source of a large chunk of my burnout in any job I've ever had. It feels like being set up to fail, or at least underperform. I think the second largest is boredom, having to repeat similar BS day-in, day-out.
I think working for a smaller company has a lot of advantages. I've worked for smaller companies in the past, and in a way it's better to have the owners respect and "ear" as an outperformer, because then you can slack in the areas you want without fear, but take on extra in the areas that alleviate boredom.
While I truly believe being an outperformer has some advantages, for instance I don't think I'd have my half-time opportunity if I had been "average", it also sucks so much life energy that jobs have a 2-3 year life span life span and careers only about 5-7 for me. By the time I'm mastering something, I'm moving on because I see all the constraints, preventing me from going to the next level and get burnt out. Maybe this is part of my problem?
Anyway, this exercise has been super helpful, I need to let it "marinate", as @horsewoman would say. Since I'm new to this idea of doing bare minimum, do you have any "tips & tricks" type of helpful hints to get started?
1) What did you enjoy at work? What did you dislike?
2) How did you actually feel in the moments you liked or disliked?
3) How do you feel when the same thing occurs in different contexts? Do you feel differently?
4) Why do you respond differently?
5) Is it ultimately appropriate to respond differently?
6) What should you do about it?
e.g.:
1) I dislike meeting with my supervisor because they only ever reprimand me and tell me to improve my work quality.
2) I actually feel offended and stressed that my supervisor criticizes me, since I do not think they are qualified to judge the quality of my work.
3) If a couch potato criticizes my exercise routine, I do not feel offended. I actually feel happy because it demonstrates how much better my exercise knowledge is than theirs.
4) I feel stressed instead of happy because the supervisor wields power over a process that they do not understand but that can negatively affect me. I cannot predict the outcome.
5) I know from observing my coworkers that lower quality work survives the process just as well as mine. So the quality of work is not actually a significant factor in the process outcome. Therefore working harder to improve quality of work will not fix my dislike of meetings.
6) I should be happy that my work quality is high based on actual outcomes rather than a layperson's opinion. I should figure out what actually causes my supervisor to criticize me.
The suggested solution will not be effective, even if my supervisor believes otherwise. Maybe I should instead write reports in a format that they prefer. Maybe I need public and external praise for my work. Maybe I need to insist on meeting only after they are fed.
If I can short-circuit the criticism, then I might start enjoying meetings instead.
classical_Liberal wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 7:03 pm@horsewoman
We have more in common than anyone would have guessed
@basuragomi
Thanks for the advice!