Lockdown Lessons - 'In Praise of the Sisyphean Tasks & their Taskmasters'

As I sit to type this Article, I wish to happily acknowledge that the very idea of this Article I have taken from two students of PGP-09 (2019-21) Batch of IIM-Trichy: Lokesh Kadyan & Kritika Warkade, whose seminal Article: 'What is Productive/Unproductive' (link provided herewith: ( https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/lokeshkadyan_onlinecourses-linkedin-presentworldview-activity-6667021574094376960-ZYkI ) so resonated with me, so as to impel me to take it further and nourish it with my two cents, given here below:

One of the immediate fallout of 'Lockdown 2020 via Covid-19' is the work-related adaptation of the concept of 'Work from Home' ('WFH'), which practice was quickly adopted by HR Managers in their quest to find a compatible balance between the need to continue corporate work regime with the State mandated 'Rules for Social distancing, post Lockdown.' ... WFH soon became the buzzword not only in newly adapted HR Rules for maintenance of corporate work culture, but at changed venues/location: the employee's Home!' If at first, the most evident change was the 'venue/location of work', this change in 'venue of work', bought with it - a handful of things that needed to change as well in order to gel with the changed venue of work. Thus, - work-timings, attire to be worn for/during WFH, intervals for break, timings and duration for meal breaks, means of communication with co-workers / bosses, and since 'travel to/from work' was eliminated, - what to do with the added time?, should daily routine tasks and their timings change?, ... etc. All these things/factors that needed to change / adapt were but cogs in the larger wheel of 'Work from Home (WFH) in order that corporate work may run smoothly, mitigating as far as possible - the 'perceived disadvantages' of not being able to work from office! ... For some companies - it took a few days to ring in the required changes but for most it would have taken close to a week to adapt and to put in place - a work environment, entrenched in employee-homes - to continue to run corporate work schedules with some sort of semblance to normalcy / pre-Lockdown corporate office scenarios!

Since corporate employees were now 'Working from home', their proximity (read: 'physical availability' in contrast with their regular 10 to 5 absence from home) was soon going to chance the Rules on the 'Home-Front!' ... When other 'residents' found that their relation/corporate-employee was not exactly spending every minute in WFH for their employer-company, added to their physical availability at home; the radical thought took firm root inside most homes: "What 'other routine house work' our relation/corporate-employee CAN do/share WHILE at home, while purportedly doing WFH?" Very soon, it became a certainty that those who did 'Work from Home (WFH)' should also share/do some 'Work FOR Home (WFH)!' It became a 'marriage of convenience!' - though the acronyms sounded exactly similar (a.k.a. - Mr. & Mrs. 'WFH' !!) , their lines blurred! So, the relation/corporate-employee was to embark on kinds of work, hitherto - either never done or rarely done earlier pre-Lockdown! - work of even so mundane nature such as washing of dishes, house cleaning, putting clothes for wash, putting washed clothes for drying, waking up children, etc., came up in the 'Work FOR Home Menu! ... While some relations/corporate-employees took up the additional 'Work FOR Home' with gusto; some others resented the additional work; and yet others accepted after some futile protests! My wife: a professor of Literature, says that these regular daily mundane tasks can be classified under a genre called 'Sisyphean Tasks', - a term used to describe things that require a lot of hard work and yet will never be truly finished! Keeping a house clean; ironing clothes, washing dishes, each of these tasks can feel sisyphean, if that activity-task was not earlier done on a regular basis by person called upon to perform now! My wife informs me that the word comes from the character: Sisyphus - in Greek mythology, who was sentenced for his wrongdoing - to push a boulder up a hill and watch it roll back down, again and again, forever. According to Greek Mythology, Sisyphus was the cunning King of Corinth who was punished by Hades by having to repeatedly roll a huge stone up a hill only to have it roll down again as soon as he had bought it to the summit! A sisyphean task therefore would mean repeatedly dong a task which by its very nature - keeps repeating, never really finishing! So, during these days of 'Lockdown 2020', apart from the usual tasks reserved for me - Lockdown or not - such as preparing morning tea for the family (a self-imposed task for past few years, since at 4:20 am - I am the first to wake for the day!), washing the car twice a week, watering the plants and shrubs in our garden, making my bed after waking, after a brief 'Family Lockdown 2020 Task-Allotment Negotiation', I have elected to take up as my major 'Work FOR Home' - the task of - 'washing all the dishes!' ... And, I've found two ways to bring zing into this task which repeats 4 times daily for a good part of half-hour each time - Firstly - by listening to soft jazz music while at it! Secondly, reminding myself as an impelling lodestar: "I'm doing it for me and my family; while doing my part to ease home workload!" seems to spur me on, such that I've begun to relish the task of 'washing dishes!' and cleaning the kitchen tables! Finally, volunteering to do 'Sisyphean Tasks' is all about being resilient in acts for collective good during these times of 'Lockdown 2020' - to relish facing challenges head-on, positively!

So, what are the 'Sisyphean tasks' that you do during this Lockdown 2020 - to share in the 'Work FOR Home (WFH)! as you 'Work From Home (WFH)' and how has this additional mostly unfamiliar 'Work FOR Home' impacted you and your family? Have you 'done anything special' to add a verve of ENTHUSIASM to your mundane sisyphean task/s? Feel free to share your 'Work FOR Home' experience by commenting below, so that we can learn from as well as inspire each other .......