Cogs in a Machine

By Lindy Earl

         Is it a bad or good thought that we are all cogs in a machine? Some people might find the idea demeaning. We are just a piece of machinery in a larger piece of machinery. It’s very impersonal. Rather static. No personalities are suggested as cogs in a machine.

         Others, however, might like the concept. We are all cogs in a machine. Think of any machine you want – a computer, automobile, manufacturing device. Think of the number of parts that machine has. With the exception of the six simple machines that we learned about in elementary school (lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, wedge, and screw), we know that machines tend to have many parts. I admit it took me a while to realize that the words motor and engine are not synonyms, but that a motor is part of an engine. The motor itself has a lot of parts in itself.

         Now, as people, if we are cogs, we are actually cogs in multiple machines. Your work is one machine, but your family is a more important machine. In these machines, we are the same cog, but have different functions. Sometimes we have different functions within one machine.

         At work you function as an employee, doing your work, performing your tasks. You also perform as a colleague, maybe with just a good morning, but possibly with a listening ear or advice. You may be operating as the boss as well as the sales rep. You need to complete your tasks, but you need to be there for others in your department, to help them perform their job well.

         At home, you may function as a spouse, parent, lawn mower, and dish washer, all on the same day! How well you accept each assignment, and relate to others while you complete your tasks, may or may not change. But you remain the same cog.

         In life, we function as drivers, employees, consumers/shoppers, and more. Everyone else does as well. Think about how intricate each movement is, on a large scale. As you arrive at the stop light, you need to be sure that other drivers are paying attention and doing what they need to do. One small mistake and accidents occur. 

         As employees, it is paramount that everybody does their job, to the best of their abilities, in a timely and effective way. It is so frustrating to be waiting on someone else so that you can complete your work. If they would get their tasks done on time, then you could do your work, and go home! Is it that much to ask?

         When we see ourselves as an individual cog, then we may not appreciate our importance in the scheme of things. But when we see ourselves as cogs in a large machine, which is among other machines, and they together function as a large machine, then we might be able to see our importance. One bad cog can stop multiple machines!

         Your home is a factory unto itself. As long as people are doing what they need to do to get out the door in the morning, all is well. But if one person is sick, causing others to stop their routines and help, then your individual factory is in a state of alert, even emergency mode. 

         Your neighbors are doing the same thing, as are all the houses in your neighborhood. Each house functions as a factory, the neighborhood functions as a factory, the city functions with multiple neighborhoods plus shopping plazas and businesses. How complex!

         Your office is the same. Each individual is their own factory, within a department, within a building, within a block, within a city, within a state, within a region. Again, complex!

         When you look at each automobile as a cog in the traffic machine, and each person as a cog in the working world as well as their private worlds, you begin to get a view of how important you are. If you aren’t where you belong, then things may not get done. Or, maybe they will get done, but only because someone else will pick up the pieces and move the work along. Now that cog is doing two jobs when it was meant to perform one. That’s extra stress on the cog.

         Machinery needs regular maintenance, especially when it is being overused. If that cog performs two jobs for a day, that’s okay. But what if that cog is doing multiple jobs, day after day? 

         In my first post-college job, I was in HR. It didn’t take me long before I accepted more and more responsibility and was soon working a minimum of 60 hour weeks, sometimes as much as 80 hours. I went to my boss with a list of the 17 jobs I was performing. I was hired for fewer than half of them but had taken on more work. I asked for help. I was patted on the head (figuratively) and told I was doing fine and everything was going well. I tried. I kept working my long hours, but eventually it got to be too much. I quit.

         Now, this part could make me smug, and it probably did when I was 23 years old, but today it makes me sad. It didn’t take them long to replace me. The new person lasted two hours. Adjustments were made and they hired someone new. That person lasted two days. Adjustments were made and a new person was hired. This next new person lasted two weeks. They split the job in half and hired two people.

         My point: why didn’t they listen to me when they heard that the cog was being overworked? Now they had two people to train, when they could have had someone who knew the work just share some parts, to remove the stress from the cog.

         You are an important cog in multiple machines in this world. You need to see yourself as part of the team – at home, at work, and in society. It’s important that you perform regular maintenance in every position. At work, take a lunch break or a few minutes to chat with coworkers. At home, schedule a day off or vacation. As you move about your world, allow sufficient time to get where you’re going, so you aren’t the cog who causes the accident.

         Some people may find the concept of being a cog slightly belittling, but it’s so great to know that we are all in this together, and interdependent on one another. Be the best piece of machinery that you can be in each of your worlds.

            Lindy is a Speaker, Columnist, Author, and Consultant. You can contact her at [email protected] as a Consultant or to speak at your next event.