It's the Context, Stupid!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:45:00 +0000

How can two people be working side-by-side at the same company, doing the same job, reporting to the same boss, all the time experiencing diametrically opposed emotions and opinions about the same workday? Obviously they can. Happens all the time.

A little clue: It ain't the boss, ain't the work, ain't what they had for lunch, ain't nothing out there.
IT'S THE CONTEXT, STUPID!! That's the one thing we alone can control. And sometimes it feels like I have to spin my head 360 degrees to drop a context that is messing me up, and create one that gives me some juice, some power, some optimism. And it does take some work to create a context (a way of viewing a situation/person) that doesn't sugar-coat the circumstances. But I do it over and over and over because it's the proven source of my success.

It's Friday. That's a good thing.

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Fri, 05 May 2006 14:10:00 +0000

This is a snippet from an actual conversation I had last Friday.
ME:"How Ya Doing?"
THEM:"It's Friday. That's a good thing!"
It started me thinking. I'll bet that conversation plays out thousands of times in hundreds of languages every Friday all over the world. It's so pervasive and unconscious it rivals Musak.
It creates a tone, a background buzz of weariness. Does work need to be this way? Or are we just continuing to sing a song that people were already singing when we arrived on this planet? And what if we sang a new song?

Dream It, Be It, Start It -- Creating a Satisfying Work Life

It's the Context, Stupid!

It's Friday. That's a good thing.