Out with the Old
It’s not uncommon to blur the distinction between “stable” and “stale.” We may think that stability brings with it a lack of excitement, perhaps even outright boredom. Indeed, even our once-dramatic transition from in-person to online offices may now be tinged with some hint of stagnancy.
Many of us have been working remotely or on a hybrid team for some time now, and once-thrilling horizons have now become commonplace routines. Working from home has paved the way to greater life stability for many of us. Chores around home might not be so backed up anymore, and we might find ourselves saving money on daycare and commuting costs.
While the merits of flexible work environments are plentiful, remote work fatigue can take us from balanced stability to dreaded stagnancy. This isn’t to say that we should reject the new way of work for the old. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that in-office fatigue was common enough to inspire a cult classic film and hit TV series.
While there lingers opposition to the new world of work, evidenced in the above tense exchange between CNBC correspondents and organizational psychologist Adam Grant, retreating into the past is seldom a viable or even desirable solution. Instead, we should aim to remedy our present, as depicted here by TED’s The Way We Work.
This week, if we feel weighed down by the minutiae of routine—spice the routine up! Consider working outdoors or alongside a colleague, whether in-person or on-video. If none are available, perhaps try a service like Focusmate to remotely work alongside another professional also looking to depart the rut of workday stagnation.
Stability doesn’t have to mean stagnancy. Routines don’t have to be boring.
“Harmony is our natural state of being, and so, when our energies become too stagnant, chaos is thrown into the mix to stimulate what will eventually result in balance and invite flow. The trick is to not let chaos trap or define you… simply allow it to create movement in the vehicle of your life so that you can snap your eyes open and take back control of the wheel. Do not lose yourself in the storm, instead, be the calm in the storm.”
― Alaric Hutchinson
Author
by Faraz Gafoor
Faraz Gafoor is a content strategist, writer, and human-data aficionado. His passion for scientific analysis of everything—from the presentation of data to the way we communicate—is driven by a deep love of understanding how we process and make sense of our surroundings. His curiosity and a never-ending search for prolific and poetic perfection poignantly fit his Prism Personality of a double Scientist.
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