Have you ever been consumed by your job?
It happens to Americans on a daily basis, and here’s how it can happen to you.
Gradually.
Imagine a frog in a pot of water. Hold it over a fire, and he’ll hop out to get away from the pain. But warm it slowly, and he’ll stay put until it kills him. As the heat turns up at our jobs, we tend to behave the same way.
How do our jobs heat up?
Heaps of extra work that we accept due to the promise of more respect or more money. A boss that we allow to get fully under our skin after months of trying to put up with the extra stress.
Chasing that elusive brass ring. Eventually, we are working so hard on something that we literally fall into repetition of thought–our brain keeps taking us back to the office whether we like it or not.
Our brain takes us back to work.
Back to work from our kid’s softball game, back to work from dinner, back to work during church, back to work at a party–in short, our life becomes our work, only occasionally interrupted by bits of fun, emotion, or meaning.
In essence, when that happens, the water is warming up, and the danger is that once you get a few promotions, it becomes harder to walk away. You see, that’s another part of how we boil ourselves–if you are willing to sacrifice yourself, you usually get rewarded for it.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Melissa // Jul 19, 2007 at 8:39 am
Good point. It’s so easy to become miserable step-by-step, without even realizing how problematic the situation has become. I was in a situation like this once. I was being severely mistreated, even harassed, in my job. I was finally given the advice, “You do not have to put up with it. No amount of pay is worth being treated the way you’re treated.” Luckily, I was in a position to quit without having something else lined up right away. I still think back on that job and feel grateful that I don’t have to work there anymore, and it was almost 2 years ago.
Thanks to that advice, I was able to get out of a slowly-but-surely escalating situation that would have been really unbearable before long.
I don’t want to be a boiled frog!
2 Bush Mackel // Jul 19, 2007 at 9:07 pm
“if you are willing to sacrifice yourself, you usually get rewarded for it”. That’s a genius phrase and I couldn’t agree more. Thankfully, I’m still very much trying to get out of my job and won’t stop ’till I do!
3 Bush Mackel » Blog Archive » My New Favorite Website! // Jul 22, 2007 at 10:41 pm
[…] To sum up what I’m trying to say, I point you to perhaps my favorite post on the site so far: How Our Jobs Sometimes Rob Us Of Our Lifestyles. Trust me. It’s a fascinating read. If you liked this post, do the world a favor and […]
4 Herman Najoli // Sep 27, 2007 at 9:10 pm
One needn’t be an employee to understand the shift that has taken place in modern thinking as regards job satisfaction. The very paragon of management genius, Peter Drucker, won’t need to be persuaded to rise from the grave and give his unreserved endorsement to the fact that modern employees are motivated by a lot more than money or perks. An inner voice tells me that high pay and lavish benefits are not the in-thing with most employees. Yesterday’s in-thing became today’s out-thing. Look at the rise of social entrepreneurs, for instance. In any case I am convinced that without a mission or cause that centers you, you will not survive long in today’s unique work environment.
5 Chuck Westbrook // Sep 28, 2007 at 10:00 am
@Herman– Times have certainly changed as have what some employees are choosing to value above money. Thanks for the good comment.
6 Gertrude // Mar 17, 2008 at 2:27 pm
@Melissa
I couldn’t agree more. “It’s so easy to become miserable step-by-step, without even realizing how problematic the situation has become.”
All we need is a single wake up call to rethink the situation, the problem is what if no one gives us that shake?
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