Enduring Work - Year Deux

As we approach the two year anniversary of the start of "unprecedented times", we've gone through a lot personally, and it has felt like professionally things have taken a pause as we all get our grounding again and again as we navigate each sub-crisis.

Two years ago we had no idea what we were in for. No. Idea.

We were patient; we can do this for two weeks. And two weeks became two more, and months more and here we are and we now know there is even more ahead of us. We have prepared (via the paper goods aisle in the grocery store), we've adjusted (signing up for workout classes we were too embarrassed to take in public), and acclimated after accepting the fate that there was no more 'back to normal'.

"Enduring" defines this phase well. We've endured the changes. We've endured the uncertainty. We've endured a new way of working. Essentially: we have survived.

But how does "enduring" translate to our careers? Have we lost over a year of our careers due to this pandemic?

We are all hungry for connection, for in person interactions, for drive bys in the hallways that we used to dread, and even the luxury of knowing how tall your new coworker is (seriously - everyone is the same height on Zoom and I just need to know!), but most of all we are hungry for 5 pm happy hours with coworkers (lets be real).

I am not talking about the impact of Zoom fatigue on our careers. I'm talking about how we no longer get the "good job" after a big presentation, or the ability to raise your hand for a unique opportunity or to help with something (maybe being voluntold is on the rise?), or getting casual feedback we wouldn't have asked for but desperately needed to hear. Everything is scheduled and therefore formal and if it isn't scheduled it doesn't happen.

Enduring doesn't sound like we are growing. According to Daniel Pink, we are motivated by Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose, but these words have taken on new meaning in an 'enduring' environment.

Autonomy: the need to direct your own life and work

What its NOT:

• You're boss innocently walking by your desk to see if you are working and finds you taking a 5-minute-Tik-Tok-break (which equals a 1 hour break in real time)
• Making sure to get to work before your boss gets in, or staying after they leave
• Basing your work on steady market and economic trends

What it IS:

• Decorating your working environment according to what makes you happy and comfortable
• Defining your own transition from non-work time to work time (in lieu of a commute)
• Determining activities and work methods that best work for you (like 20 minutes of white boarding (read: doodling), to survive your 3 hours of back to back meetings or working out during lunch (read: standing up for the first time all day)

Mastery: the desire to improve

What it is NOT:

• Not having an opportunity to present to the team, while being told you need to improve your presentation skills
• Attending a work provided training you’ll zone out on because you have actual work to do that week but obligated to check the box on your 'personal development' goal for the year

What it IS:

• Signing up for a virtual class or conference you previously wouldn’t have been able to attend
• Educating yourself on George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Black Lives Matter, politics, the voting process, the Capitol Riot (or any other monumental event that has happened in the past two years), local minority owned businesses you can support, etc.

Purpose: craving alignment to a greater cause than your own

What it is NOT:

• Driving shareholder profits (nobody can compete with the power of a good subreddit)
• Copying and pasting your boss's goals

What it IS:

• Speaking up when you notice a coworker is overlooked, cut off, dismissed or underpaid
• Donating funds, time or other resources to a charity or underserved community

We were on autopilot before. Wake up. Go to work. Work. Come home. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

Now, we've seen the world suffer before our eyes. We've had time to (and been forced to) think introspectively about what truly matters to us in life. Do the same for work. What truly matters to you regarding your career?

Redefine your motivators. Make a new 5 year plan (because no one had 'WFH due to pandemic' written down, so just throw out your old one). Translate your approach to the virtual world, and the impending back to the office phase.

Simplify your new career goals, with your motivators in mind, and unpause your career.