Roughly twice a year at work there is a flood of new hires, all young people fresh out of college and excited to have a “real” job. Their goals are always the same: change the world.
Always within the first couple of weeks, one of them will say, “I don’t understand why we have to do this paperwork this way. Wouldn't it be better if we…” And later on, a similar comment would be made about something else, “Why do we have to do it this way? Wouldn’t it be more efficient if…” The response is always the same, “For now, we need to do it like this. But if you can find a better way, then we can change it.”
Inevitably, the new hire will realize how much effort is needed to make a small change for very little return. After this realization, their comments change from tenacious optimism to relentless complaining. “Well, this is boring. Why can’t I do more of the interesting stuff?” “I don’t need my degree to be doing this.”
In some respects, that is true. Usually entry level work is tedious and monotonous. But what makes the difference between the new hire that will make it to the next level, and the new hire that will eventually decide to leave? Presence.
The successful new hires are able to take a mundane task and execute it well. Are they changing the course of business with these tasks? No. Are they really making a huge difference or keeping the company afloat? Probably not. But are they contributing to a greater whole, albeit only in a very small way? Yes. These people do their work knowing that their contribution is small and that is ok.
I have been working for a while and I have recently been struggling with grandiose ideas of how things should and could be. Instead of just being with what is and knowing at the end of the day what is important to me (the people I care about and my health), I have been fighting with everyone and myself.
I am a trained yoga teacher but I am also a cog in the big wheel of business. Off my mat and in the office, it can be easy sometimes to forget that I am here, now. In the office it can be easy to think about the next title up or the office in the corner (ok, even having a door that is mine that I could close would be nice at this point).
Instead, I could take a lesson from my younger office mates who are clearly going to make it to the next level. I have forgotten that I should take every day a moment at a time and every task with a clear vision of what it is and what it is not. Once in a while everyone needs to take a step back and smell the TPS reports.
