#SoG156 - Friends? Concierge? Family?
Family? Concierge? Friends? (#SoG156)
Hello hello!
A new day. A new idea. But before that, something amazing happened yesterday and I need to catalogue it. I had a wretched day - the kinds that make you question your life and choices and all that. And then I wrote SoG155 and I talked about how we need to commit to ourselves if we were to become indispensable. And then I reached home and I was still in a wretched mood and I did not know what to do. I had not meditated during the day. Even though I was tired, I fired my Headspace and put in 10 minutes. And then I went to sleep. And it was the best sleep I've got in a long long time! The point of this? No point. Just to get me to write. That's how I write. Write random things until I am in the flow. And then write like a MoFo.
So, SoG156.
This one comes from a meeting that I had a client's place in the morning today. While talking (aka giving gyaan) with my team, I said that there are three distinct phases that I have had in life with respect to work and colleagues.
1. As thick as family.
When I started my career, I would put in all the effort I could to make my team as important to me as my family is. I would stand by them even if it wasn't about work. I would spring surprises. I would think about them when on leave and would keep them in my innermost circle. And it worked really well. Some of my closest friends are the ones that I worked with in this phase of my life.
2. As impersonal as a hotel concierge
The next phase, a large part was spent at an events agency. I interacted with a boatload of people then. One of them was this person that headed marketing communications for a client. One fine day I got into this ugly spat with him. And then after the tempers cooled down, he told me that as an employee of a large company he is paid to get things done and as a vendor I am supposed to do things that he's paid my employer for. What happens before the project and after the project is of no consequence. I sort of agreed and I saw my productivity and efficiency go through the roof. I felt as if I was on Keto and the brain worked like magic and all that. But then, once I quit working for someone else and went the freelance way, things changed!
3. As close as friends.
This is the phase that I am in right now. I want to work with people that I am friends with (and I am lucky to have opportunities to do so). And people that I can hang out with even if I don't have any work. These are the people I want to share my secrets with, want to help them grow, want them to help me when I am in a soup. I want to work on things that make meaning for them and for me. I want to retire with them. Live next door and grow old together. You know, be with people that fan my fire.
And of the three, I have realised that the place I am at right now, where I work with friends and make friends with whoever I work with, is the best of the lot.
And that is the lesson for the day!
And the thing for you for the day?
Think about how you look at your colleagues?
You think if you changed your relationship with your colleagues and made them your family or friends, would you work better?
Thanks for your time,
@saurabh
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PS, some counter-arguments...
I see them all the time in the office. Do I want to think about them once I am home?
What if there is politics at work?
What if the job I am doing is a stop-gap arrangement till I find what I really want to work on.
Etc...
TAGS: Work, Life, Balance, Relationships, #workBetter
STREAK: 3
WORK WITH ME!
I am looking for someone to work with me. I can't afford to pay a lot but I can promise that if you are willing to work hard, I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO TAKE YOU CLOSER TO YOUR LIFEGOAL. I mean it. If you are interested, read this and lemme know if you are in.