Are you restless at work?

There is a certain restlessness in many workplaces right now. And I mean that in both senses of the word. And perhaps they fuel each other.

Following the upheaval of the last few years and its continuing impacts, our people are still exhausted as we struggle with ongoing health challenges, the tightness of the current labour market and economic uncertainty. There are not enough people to do the work. People picking up the slack and needing to do more and more with less. We are not rested sufficiently to be living well and working to our potential.

But there is another sort of restlessness. It is showing up in the increased mobility in the labour market, popularly referred to as the Great Resignation. We are rethinking work and what it means to us and our lives. Workers are having something akin to an existential crisis.

And this got me thinking about the nature of restlessness.

Thomas Edison writes,

"Restlessness is discontent — and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man — and I will show you a failure."

Bit harsh there, Tommie, old boy!

But Einstein tells us,

"A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness."

We need a degree of restlessness to motivate us to achieve great things. But it won't necessarily make us happy.

So maybe there is a balance to be found from Robert M. Pirsig, who says,

“If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion.”

FYI: I am not a fan of walking up actual hills, let alone climbing a mountain. When I have to go up a hill, I tend to walk as fast as I can to get to the top and get the whole darn thing over with as quickly as possible. Then I collapse at the top, unable to breathe and my heart pounding out of my chest. So I am not sure if this is a good or a bad metaphor for me.

When I look around, I feel that perhaps we have sped up when we were still a bit winded. Often out of necessity. But I am sure that our restlessness is an opportunity to make a change for the better.

#makeworklessshit #restlessness #possibility