Why Modern Work Sucks…and what to do about it

(Prefer to watch on video than read?  Click here.  5 minutes, with captions.)

What’s the standard response to “how’s work going?”  It’s the deep sigh.

It seems that a lot of modern work just sucks. I’ve got some good news – there are reasons for it, and there are also some things we can do.

A quick warning though – this is NOT the solution. Anyone peddling that is a charlatan. Instead, it’s a few ideas to help. Because that’s all anyone can ever give you.

What’s going on

This is not a definitive list, it’s four things that I see adding to the present situation.

Tech Allows Anyone To Ask Anything

As Cal Newport covered beautifully in his book A World Without Email, we hook people up to Inboxes and wish them luck.  Anyone can now ask anyone to do anything, with the onus now falling onto the receiver to say “no”. And who likes saying “no”?  Result – a continual feeling of holding back the water while trying to stay afloat.

Complexity

A modern-day buzzword, but not one that’s wrong. The more interconnected things are, the more cause-and-effect becomes a thing of the past. For me, ‘Complexity’ means we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen when we do something, because a different thing could happen each time.  This contrasts with ‘Complicated’, where we can eventually lock down the cause-and-effect.  See Dave Snowden’s Cynefin Framework to learn more on this.

Why does this matter? Because not being able to know exactly what’s going to happen can make us a bit anxious!

Illusion That We Can Do It All

Thanks to the combination of social media, the culture of ‘optimising’ (had your super-smoothie yet today?) and the productivity obsession…we have this idea that we should be able to do it all, and we are somehow failing if we don’t.  Oliver Burkeman provides a great rundown and some antidotes in his book Four Thousand Weeks. The result of this is we will always have about 120% of our capacity as a minimum workload, leading to continual overwhelm.

Fear of Losing Job

The fear of losing a job is real. That’s why we say “yes” and live in this scenario. It would be simple for me to say, “just find a job where you will be treated better”. This assumes two things.  The first is that such a job exists, but remember, almost every workplace is swimming in the same modern-day ocean (read about Basecamp for one that breaks the mould). 

The big one, however, is the second one.  If you can quit and find a better way to make a living…then you should do so…but remember, those that can do so are in a privileged position. The huge majority of people simply can’t do this – the employment market doesn’t allow it, they have kids they need to look after, a broken-down car means bills are not going to get paid… this is the real world for most.

That’s why this fear is real, rational, and causes a lot of the modern-day stress.

There are more reasons that modern day work can just suck….these are the ones I see the most.

What To Do

Now…what might we do? Here’s another non-exhaustive list:

Structural

Structure means who-does-what-with-who in an organisation. So, the first port of call is the managerial relationship, where, if you can, you can see if your manager can shield you from the continual overflow of work.  The secret that no one believes, despite it being true, is that if work can be held back from people so they can focus on shipping one thing before moving onto the next….a huge amount more gets done every time (see here).

The other aspect of structure is to ensure we are clear on what work is and isn’t part of the role. Remember though, this must be done on the basis of fulfilling the core part of the job better, because no one likes someone who looks like they are trying to get out of things.

The structural stuff is worth a shot…but it takes a lot for a manager to have the courage to do things that will actually make you more effective.  (Yes, this seems crazy.  It’s true though, isn’t it!)

Relationally

Approaching the situation through relationships is about being reliable. And here’s the strange part – by being reliable in letting people down. Get real about what you’ve promised to who. Face up to the fact you’re going to let some of them down. And now….let them down immediately. Tell them.  They’re going to be cross. They won’t see that you’ve actually saved them a bigger issue down the track.  But….maybe when they are down that track…they will.

Get better at doing this upfront…and you become known as reliable. Which leads to trust. Which makes it easier to say “not yet” to more things.

Proviso: when you’re working out your list of who you are going to let down….it’s wise to put the person who decides whether you get to keep coming to work toward the bottom!

Work Practices

As pointed out above in the Illusion That We Can Do It All, work practices are no panacea for handling overwhelm, and might actually exacerbate the problem.  (Seriously, read Oliver’s book). We don’t want to add to our overwhelm by making things hard.

So do this…the single most productive change you can make to how you work.  It’s called Personal Kanban, it’s from Jim Benson, and you do it like this.

1. Put all your tasks into a list
2. Write the word ‘Options’ above it.
3. Choose three, and only three, tasks and move them to a new list called “Doing”
4. Finish one of the three tasks on the Doing list.
5. Only when one of the Doing tasks is shipped may you select another from the Options list
6. Any new tasks that arise…go onto the Options list.

That’s it!  It’s a game-changer.  Do it.

Understanding

Knowing you are not losing your mind is a good thing. Take a not-very-long amount of time to look at the factors I outlined earlier. Read the book synopses. Learn about Cynefin. It’s natural to feel the way you feel. You are good.

Remember, our parents, who raised us, came from a world where information was slower, there was less of it, and it was delivered in nice packages such as newspapers, letters, memos and drop-in conversations that were not hurried. The modern way of working is only just a generation old, and getting comfortable in a world where things are never squared away….it’s just not easy.

So understand that….and let yourself off the hook a little.

Internal Work

And finally, perhaps the hardest of all – is the work we can do on ourselves to be more OK in this environment. Generally put under the heading of resilience, this is not something that reading a meme or a book is going to solve. (And by the way, many memes such as “Happiness is a Choice” are simply insulting and damaging to those undergoing genuine struggle….do you seriously think they would not make that choice if it was available to them!!!)

Understanding the environment, trying things and reflecting are a part of a process that allows our minds to gradually model and deal with the reality coming at it…which allows us to look back a year or two and see “wow, that was hard, but last year it would have knocked me out for a week”.  Growth.

Remember it seemed like you would never get both driving a car and thinking about road rules at the same time? What changed was your mind’s ability to model it.

And let’s not forget professional help.  Sore knee – go the physio.  Sore heart & mind – go to the psychologist or psychiatrist.  It’s normal.  I’ve done this, and I still do this, and I am eternally grateful for it.

Bringing it Home

And that’s where we find ourselves – the world is going to keep on going this way, and being OK requires us to acknowledge it, feel it, and do what we can to work through it.

But…there’s something crucial you need to know.

The people who love you have always loved you because of who you are…and not how you perform.

Try to remember that.

Because it’s true.