Mundaneness, sameness … CRITICAL ingredients to success!

Over the past few weeks I have been having a number of career conversations with individuals and have been truly intrigued by the frequency with which these up and coming talents seem to harbour intolerance, and maybe even animosity, towards components of the job that they perceive to detract from the fast track.

Almost all of us have some degree of interest in advancing our careers – a laudable aspiration to be sure. And many of us, in this quest, may experience impatience bolstered by frustration and disillusionment when we perceive the mundane, repetitive challenges of the current career role as holding us back. ?The daily grind becomes boring gridlock.?The ‘same old, same old’ is monotonous. We can’t wait for the “next”… next project, next advancement, next promotion – even next company, in some cases!

HOWEVER… I challenge all of us with career ambition to rethink that perhaps there are some advantages to having a certain amount of predictability and sameness within our jobs.?

In virtually every job or career, there will be activities that need to be done with regularity.?Repetition, especially when the focus of what is being repeated is on performing well , is by nature fundamental to mastery. With practice, we can develop these activities into faithful and familiar routines that almost become second nature and require less mental energy to perform well. In this context , both mundaneness and sameness help create constancy and predictability – a “safe zone” and an escape from the worries, concern and potential anxiety excessive change and volatility can generate and fuel.?This safe zone provides the opportunity for creativity and innovation as routines can free up the mind for generative reflection.

The discipline and structure generated by mastering the mundane create the habitual and necessary rhythms which are the tools that slowly chisel away and sculpt into us consistency, work ethic, patience, excellence, discipline, responsibility, contentment, steadiness, and even joy.

Linking this back to the context of career management and professional development, the reality is the lion’s share of development and progression occurs on the job.?As such, focusing on all aspects of the job will serve you well.?Master the mundane and repetitive elements.?Use this mastery to find new and better ways to improve the task and generate more effective outcomes.?In the space and safe zone of the constant, be open to creativity. Within this focus, pay attention and develop the character qualities necessary to shape and take your career in the directions you desire.

As Kayti Christian points out in Why the Mundane Matters , “The rhythm of life, that constant hum, the waking up to another day of work, play, and loving your people—it’s breathtaking if you listen to it. But first, we must choose to shift our perspectives, to experience these mundane, everyday occurrences and instead look for the magic.”

I encourage you to listen to, learn from, and leverage the mundane in both your work and personal life. Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvellous (Bill Moyers) .