adminfunctions to grind to a halt till the problem is rectified. We ran out of coffee! Sound the alarm, call out the guard, this is an emergency of national proportions.
It was my fault really, I am the only person in the office that drinks the stuff (luckily for me) so I tend to keep a close eye on the stock levels.
With all the hustle and bustle of the last couple of weeks, combined with colder mornings, I had increased my consumption and forgotten to restock my stash. I can only rage at myself. There is no one else to blame, no one else to yell at, and no one to fire in a moment of caffeine withdrawal- induced frustration. Sobering thought, I am the one.
For the sake of theatrical licence I would like you to put down the paper for a few seconds, imagine me abandoning you for a couple of minutes while I foray out to the shops to grab a bag of sweet smelling java before rushing back to my keyboard. Okay, I’m back now, cup of hot lifeblood in hand.
You can carry on reading safe in the knowledge that reinvigorated I am back on form this morning.
“Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob”
These 2006 lyrics from the start of the song Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton probably sum up the way many people feel about the start of their morning. Look up the song by the way, it is funny, quirky and will appeal to your inner rhythm. Back to the bit about boredom.
Wake up, get dressed, same cardboard cereal for breakfast as you have eaten for the last 30 years, go to work, do humdrum menial tasks for a day, go home, watch TV, go to bed, wake up.
If your routine looks like this with no hope of change, nothing to look forward to on the horizon then you need help. Worse still, if you are creating that environment for your workforce, shame on you.
Yeah, the humdrum tasks will always be there. Someone will always have to do the filing. While it would be great if every manager in the world made an effort to make the life of his underlings more worthwhile, it probably not gonna happen for a long time.
So in the meantime the responsibility to making your life great, like me finding my coffee, lies with you. You can spend your life waiting to be invited to everyone else’s party or you can host your own.
Not taking responsibility places the control for your life and the way it goes outside of yourself.
Sad to say there will always be people who are more than happy to take control of your life for you, for a price. Unions will negotiate your work rates and hours. Medical aid will control your access to health care. And you will continue to complain at the system, but deep down you are relieved that someone else is doing it for you.
If you are so bound by your job description that you will never venture outside of it for the benefit of the company or volunteer an idea that has nothing to do with your cubicle then your life is controlled by something else.
Step One: Change your attitude.
Realise that no one wants to change your diaper any more. That you are all grown up and have a say about the direction your life should go.
Step Two: Lift up your head.
Look at a bigger picture. Find something to live for. See beyond a ‘‘day-to-day’’ existence. The bigger goal will keep you moving when chaos and trouble threaten to swallow you (the problems won’t go away, you just get to work through them rather than crawling back into a corner).
Step Three: Stop waiting for permission Stop waiting for ‘‘the big phone call’.’ Stop waiting for the lottery to end all your financial woes. Be an originator of things, a catalyst of creativity. Offer to help, they can only say no, what have you lost. Coulton, the songwriter I quoted earlier, did not wait for permission. From 2005 to 2006 he created a song a week and released it online. He just did it.
He licensed his music under a Creative Commons license so others can use it for non-commercial works, he gave it away which brings us to the next point.
Step Four: Enrich others
Give away things, your time, small gifts, ideas. Greet people with a smile. Buy coffee for the girl at the front desk, not because you want a date but just because you should (it will confuse her a little, make her happy, and might get you a date anyway).
Do something outside the confines of your ‘‘job’’. Stop to offer directions to the guy who is looking a little lost.
Company owners make work more entertaining and fulfilling for your staff, at the very least make meetings more fun and a whole lot shorter. Empower those under you to act without having to ask permission to use a paper clip. Take responsibility. Oh and one last thing, always check your stocks of coffee before they run out!
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