Satisfaction Working

LOVING YOUR WORK

Allowing time to produce good work can benefit us all. Yet it's a fundamental fact that seems to get overlooked an awful lot in the workplace. 

In my many years of working within the advertising/media sector, I've spent a considerable amount of my work time under pressure to deliver on a deadline - and worked many (mostly unpaid) additional hours through lunch breaks, late into the evenings and over my weekends. This has been necessary for getting the work done. Often, producing this extra work under pressure has been at the detriment of my health and social life. 

Speculate To Accumulate

I've mostly enjoyed my work over the years but there's been far too many late nights and high-pressure moments when I've grudgingly produced loveless work. Employers not being able to get the best results from this way of working, may in part be down to the fact that those clients looking critically at the end product, can see/feel or pick up on the energy levels that's been put into the work. Maybe the finesse just isn't there or the lack of detail clearly shows through. Whatever the case may be - loving what we do for a job and working hard to always strive for the best we can be...this is what is needed for success in business.

Pay Peanuts - Get Monkeys
So, not only do companies need to invest in good people and pay decent money for the right outcome/product, they also have to allow adequate time to produce it. That way, the employees will be much more happy to dedicate their time - and, being given adequate time/space to do what they love doing well, this will not only enrich them emotionally/spiritually/financially but, in the process, inspire their colleagues to do more and win more business. A win-win situation for all.

The Office

A PLACE OF WORK

The office is really just a modern day version of a factory - a cacophony of clattering keys & swishing of mice, with rows of workers busily churning out endless digital iterations of work from computers where once in their place stood looms spinning reels of material and furnaces spewing steel.

We haven't come all that far from the industrial revolution in terms of how we work. There's still the clock in/out format of an 8 hour day over 5 days a week. We still have the need to travel to and from a set place of employment and hierarchy of overseers to ensure the virtual cogs keep on turning.

We have mobile technology to work with including many forms of communication, so why are we still following this outdated Victorian work model? 

There have been many attempts to 'jazz up' the workplace by adding all kinds of 'fun', colourful, quirky props and gimmicks that are supposed to make the chore of going in to a box and sitting in rows of desks alongside people we barely know, more bearable. Why are we essentially spending increasingly more time with strangers, than with our real friends or loved ones? 

Work Isn't Working

The modern office has many flaws. Gone are the days of doors. Personal offices, if they are still used, are exclusively the places for the top exec to reside in. Everyone else is out on the 'shop floor', where they are more visible and readily available for interactions. 

This means extroverted sales people can mix with introverted creatives and anyone can approach whoever they please to get what they 'want'. Yet, loud pushy sales people are arguably not going to be a benefit to the quieter creative types and therefore dealing with a barrage of requests can distract us from the task of actually doing the work. 

There are clear preferences for Myers Briggs introverted personality types to have solitude and arguably, there have been many good books and cases brought to the attention of office environment architects that highlight the problem of having such open-plan spaces. It's been shown how in-effective these places can be for the many introverted thinkers who require quite solitude to conceive or creative new ideas. I look forward to the day when the work revolution finally comes.

Expectations

UNDER PROMISE - OVER DELIVER

Given a chance to do so, we all make up our minds about what we are going to like based on our expectations. 

And if we're primed with high expectations, we'll need to have them met or surpassed for us to truly like something and credit it with it's dues. Otherwise we are left with disappointment when the result fails to deliver.

Modesty

The key to a successful delivery, is to be a little modest in the offering and under-sell something or give a delivery time longer than is actually needed. This works well in a work situation. Supplying a client with something better than they were expecting to get and giving it to them early, means they will be really happy with the end result, even to the point of awarding more credit than the deed or product actually deserves. We just need to be careful with our planning in these situations to ensure the best of our efforts are rewarded, recognised and we're not 'busting a gut' to deliver something unappreciated or taken for the norm.

The Nearly Haves

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

We all want to fit in. That's why we mostly say, wear and are keen to be seen mixing in the right circles. 

The clothes we wear, the places we frequent and even the beverages we drink, are all measures of who we are and our actions often subconsciously taken to help secure our desired places within society. 

The class system is one way that society measures our status. If conveniently tries to form us into a demographic that we can be identified being in. It's not an accurate or even humane way to classify groups of people - and that's the way it's been for years. That model is essentially the model for deciding 'the have's and the have not's'.

In the UK, we have come to resent the working class and demonising them to the lowest ranks of citizen. They are often now referred to as chavs. 

This kicking of the working classes has come about due to a change in the types of jobs available in the UK. As manufacturing has taken a move to countries with abundant cheap labour, the remaining manual jobs are mostly unskilled and therefore low paid. 

In the scramble away from lower income or no jobs, we all try and move 'up' into a more prosperous demographic called 'middle class'. This class grade is essentially the new working class and those aiming to be seen as true 'middle-class' fervently try and ascribe themselves as the 'upper-middle class' or as close to the privilged 'upper-classes' as they can.

Working class status merely appears to be given to any of those in a paid manual job. And, as I've seen from doing manual work recently, it tends to be a lot lower paid than the computer-driven sedentary office type jobs - likely because it's seen as less cerebral. This shouldn't really be the case because work is work right? An hour of emails in an office should be no more valuable than one hour of painting a wall or fixing a car. In fact the reverse appears to be true. So there needs to be much more balance in the pay packets. Because, there's one clear distinction in our aspirational class system between the upper and the so-called working classes - and it boils down to money. 

We are all trying to move away from the lower paid jobs (or benefits support) that our working classes are lumbered with and this is because we want the trappings that money brings. We want to be seen to have enough money for the holidays, cars and house extensions as a status symbol for demonstrating to other's that we're further away from the bottom rungs of society. 

Therefore, we continually compete with our friends and neighbours to stay ahead of the curve. This creates a cold elitist type of mindset which alienates not only those people that are seen as 'lower' classes but also pits us against everyone seen to be in the 'competition' for these privileged places. The phenomenon is witnessed in any establishment that we visit where the prices are way above what we are normally paying for. There's a reason why we are here instead of the sumptuous, friendly BYO, family run Italian/Greek/Lebanese/etc place down the road. We're keeping up appearances. I particularly dislike eating in any restaurant where the food fails to resemble food anymore, doesn't fill you up and costs more for one course than I'm used to paying for a week's shop for two in the supermarket. But we tend to hang out in these establishments with our set of friends that talk too much about increased house prices in their street. It's probable that they don't want to eat in the cheaper eateries for fear of being seen as poor. If you find yourself in one of these 'premier' haunts, look around and you'll see lot's of 'wannabe's' sneering back at you. There appears to be some kind of illusion, where we kid ourselves and anyone else who cares to look on - that we have somehow 'made it'. 

How much money we earn will determine what car we drive - in itself, a massive statement for displaying financial wealth. Also what postcode, street or size of house (we pay massive mortgages on) will determine where we are placed amongst our contemporaries. 

In today's UK market place, the differences between someone living in a small-medium sized house in the more central parts of London and someone with a similar sized property in the suburbs, is often substantial in terms of money - usually a few hundred thousand pounds separates the haves and have nots. However, the larger and more desirable parts of London have now been taken over by those few who are in the upper echelons - who have made house prices so ridiculously high, we consequently have a knock-on effect that ripples all the way down to the regular folk, who now can't even afford the suburban properties any more. 

This bun-fight to keep ourselves in the middle classes set, is making everyone work harder, longer hours under increasingly stressful conditions - and for what gain? A new SUV that blocks the roads on a school run? A messy extension project that pushes up house prices while we live miserably in a bomb site for 6+ months - or a much needed holiday that we only start to really enjoy in the days before returning home to our over-priced bomb site and 50+ hour a week jobs.

There Is Another Way
If we can take a more sharing community approach, to better connect with our Joneses - maybe we can share rather than buy new cars, swap gardening tools, kids toys, clothes and help each other with the DIY etc. - creating a collaboration rather than competition. Then surely we'll all be much more free to enjoy sharing the fruits of our labour together.

Shirking Responsibilities

HOT POTATO

In yoga they teach us how to avoid getting caught up in the emotions and sways of everyday life. It's difficult to remove ourselves from the day to day roller coaster, especially when we're caught up in the rush hour, stressed through delayed/cancelled public transport or crushed with someone's armpit in our faces - the things that are mostly out of our control. That's why it's important to practise methods for detaching ourselves to the negative things that potentially harm us and deplete our energy.

I get the impression that yogis don't negotiate their way on public transport in rush hour that much and I don't think they spend much time in office environments either. Maybe that's why they chose being a yoga instructor over an office based career, because they wanted to detach themselves from that daily assault that most of us have to put ourselves through...

So, if we can endure the daily commute during rush hour without getting affected, we are already using avoidance techniques. It's these methods that we can also employ for use in other situations too. One of the big stresses in our lives is work and that's where we need to find our best methods for detachment away from stress created and multiplied by others involved in the projects we collectively work on.

One of these techniques for detachment used by certain individuals in the work place, I call the hot potato. This is essentially where someone shirks their responsibilities by diverting the work onto their colleagues. This is not a helpful technique for those on the receiving end and arguably one of the greatest stresses we'll encounter - especially with those really hot potatoes!

It's a bit like the game of pass-the-parcel from nursery school. But instead of a toy in wrapping paper, imagine a hot ball of energy, that we all carefully take turns with. As we pass on hand to hand, each turn partially diffuses the heat as we all take our role holding it. Now picture when one person essentially bats it on to the next recipient without skimming some of the accumulated energy. Without energy being dissipated through the group's collective responsibilities, the energy ball grows hotter as it gains greater momentum. This creates an energy 'spike' and a potentially stressful situation for the following person/people to try and manage. More energy is used up and because the recipient wasn't prepared - their energy reserves are tapped into and depleted.

I witnessed this phenomena first hand in a group where I was working yesterday. One person's role was compromised, likely because they are now leaving their job for a new one. They had shirked their responsibilities and taken a day off without taking enough care to ensure their part within the team had been completed or covered with extra resources. This obviously affected the next two people further along in the chain. But everyone in this collective was affected to a degree as the stress-bomb hot potato takes it's toll on all that are close to it.

Some people can help avert a stress-bomb like this - whereas others will just pass on the potato making it even hotter. It's important to have advance awareness of these types of stress situations and know the people that potentially cause them. Because recognising when this situation arises and averting the damage caused well before the hot potato comes hurtling our way, will be one of the greatest stress avoidance techniques we'll master in life.

Marketing Madness

THE LATE SHIFT TEAM

There's a lot of low-brow, manual jobs out there if there's a need to earn some extra cash. However, a lot of them are requiring messy, unsociable hours for very low income. Somebody has to do it, but I earned more money per hour on my paper round at 14 years old than these adults do per hour 23 years later on.

Since the summer, I've looked at multiple ways to earn some cash to keep me from getting into debt. It seems there's no shortage of work, but the type of work that everyone is expected to do, is often poorly briefed/managed with little concern for safety and personal wellbeing, plus it's physically demanding. 

I took on a role last night starting at 7.30 for 4hrs, on a role I expected to be really easy...stocking merchandise in a department store. I'm familiar with marketing roles from my time working at a marketing agency 10 years ago, so I already had some expectations going into this job. Evidently, as I discovered, quite a few things have changed in the time since I last worked in this field...

Management

The person organising and briefing us was late. She was also exhausted. In the 30 minutes while we waited, the rest of the crew filled us in on the shenanigans from the previous night's work. Unorganised, with no information about what was required and no food or refreshments given for 12-15 hour shifts, it was a wonder why these people were coming back.

Online (Dis-)Connection

There appeared to be very little interaction with any of the staff working from the many cheap labour online agencies prior to the event. So, everyone had expectations, but nobody seemed to know what was required of them until they actually arrived at the venue. There was a huge disconnect with the agencies booking the staff on to these jobs. And this was clearly a problem for everyone who'd been hired from their various (online) employers. None of them had spoken before - let alone met any of the agency staff that employed and managed our bookings. 

Low Income Expectations

I was not expecting there to be anyone older than myself at this job. I also thought to see more uneducated and a high percentage of non-nationals. This is where the biggest surprise came. There were a couple of older white middle class women and post grad students, making for a split closer to 70-30 against all the stereotypes I had for those who are willing to take on hard, long, unsociable hours doing low-paid/low-brow work. 

It appears that more people are either intent on leaving the office & abandoning corporate life like myself, or more likely just financially desperate and having to take on additional jobs to pay their escalating bills. 

Corporate Carrots

DANGLED DREAMS

Talking with a friend and ex colleague yesterday, it was interesting to see how the lure of a pay rise and new job prospects within a company already employed at, can keep us trucking on longer when we are more than ready to move on and often, actually hating our jobs.

We are mostly optimistic in our viewpoints. It's a common held on to belief that optimism is hard-wired into us in order to have a more rosy viewpoint on life. Just as we deceive ourselves that getting older is ok, we weight our opinions in a more favourable 60-40 or 70-30 split in favour of something that a rational mind would likely give opposing figures for. It's called Optimsm Bias and it helps us to get through life, but it also keeps us in situations that are detrimental to our wellbeing.

Having a masked sense of happiness in the face of an obvious (to me) situation where the warped truth is affecting someone to such an extent both physically and mentally - but not properly registering with that person who's in that situation - is a clear indication of how strong our optimism can be in the face of reason. Seeing and hearing my friend talk about his dilemma, which was a clear 100% 'get out of that job' decision from my standpoint, was a revelation for me. Seeing how I was in his position just a short time ago (even at the same company), explains to me how I also managed to cope with staying in a bad situation for the last five years.

As I listened to my friend questioning the stress he was feeling - putting it down to the likely result of his personal and not his professional life - I realised just how powerfully this warped optimism bias plays it's role in keeping us held in sometimes terrible situations. Bad job, bad relationships, bad living conditions etc. We all have the power to change things, yet still we don't make the steps.

So, my friend was questioning if he should stay at his job and potentially get a pay rise. The answer to this question was blazingly clear to me, but he continued to go back to the flimsy hope that the dream role and pay rise would come soon, which realistically had a next to nothing chance of happening and certainly not to the level he envisaged.

As I looked at his pale face, with dark rings under his eyes, hunched over, supping his beer, I was instantly transported back to my stint served recently at the same employer and how I also convinced myself to stay on, falsely believing things were going to improve. They never did, of course - in fact they got steadily worse - but I clung on to the hope/belief that the changes were coming and therefore blindly fixated on the potential for change that shoulda, coulda happened... which ultimately never came.

It's certainly an eye opener and something key for realising in ourselves, that we need to listen to our sound reasoning more. Through having quiet moments in meditation/yoga, we can better monitor this reality optimism bias scale to ensure the bias is levied in our favour more often and the real carrot of hope is not dangling on the end of a pipe-dream string.

Back In The Rat Race

THE LURE OF MONEY

Today marks the first day back in the race for me in 7 months. While I never wanted to get back on the corporate wheel,I just can't earn enough money from doing manual work and odd jobs on the side. As much as it pains me, I have to get back on the hamster wheel to earn more money. I wonder now how the majority of low income earners can actually survive in this town, let alone have a good time with what's left of their meagre earnings?

So, my bank account and credit cards are all looking pretty dire at the moment. My mental and physical state has been benefitting from the rest I've had away from the grind, but needs are a must.

So how did my first day go? It was a real eye opener. First of all, the London Underground at 8am is hell and I'd forgotten how bad travel is at that time. It's a terrible way to start anyone's day. Stressed, tired and generally fed up Monday morning commuters all trying to squeeze on to the train at the same time is no fun. How do we do this five days a week? The early starts are much better. 6.30am tube travel is a lot my relaxing, so I'm glad that's going to be my journey time tomorrow and likely for ever more.

The real eye opener was at the place I worked today. I had a similar job back in February. I spent five years at the same place and today highlighted just how bad that other place was in comparison. I felt like I was operating at a snail's pace compared to the speed worked at in the previous establishment. So, although I'd made a decision to opt out of the commercial rat race, I now know it's possible to stay in it. I just need to work at the right places, with the right amount of money and less responsibility. The money that I earned today will be more than I earned all last week. I'm amazed to say this: I'm actually looking forward to working again tomorrow and taking the money.

The Hustle

ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY

Being able to earn enough money through our own means, from doing various different odd jobs, is fun but it can also be hard hussle. The hours can be quite anti-social and sporadic, as you take the money wherever and whenever you can. It can mess with your sleep patterns, throw off the routine and make you lose track of the days & nights. 

Missing the 9 til 5

While the ritual of a 9-5 job can feel like a bit of a grind, having the set location, times and 5 day week routine to follow, can bring some order into our lives put a regular and potentially much higher income on the table too.

Having freedom to work when we really want to work, means having more discipline to spend less, a greater will to seek out work, a strong resolve to stay out of trouble and the ability to put some hard work in on some jobs that are demanding, yet offer very little financial reward at the end compared to the salary gained through regular employment.

The pay off for having freedom to work away from corporate life, essentially means applying tighter reins to ourselves and our lifestyles. This means having a lot more discipline and control over our daily lives. It means saying 'No' much more often. 

Through careful planning, focus on time management and mindful objectives of how we obtain, maintain and retain work, dealing with our clients and suppliers in an honest and decent manor, we become the ambassadors of our brand. 

We can't afford to turn up and not deliver. There's no hiding, no shirking and definitely no feet under the table, which we find happening a lot of the time in the corporate world. 

Every day is a hustle - an urban forage of virtual beans and berries with a constant drive for finding that 'big game' that's lurking out there somewhere - the major prize, a giant, that once snared, will stock our reserves to help keep us going through the leaner times. 

Relying on others

IF YOU WANT A JOB DONE PROPERLY...

Mental note to oneself. Don't rely on others to do a job that you can do better yourself.

This is so true. As I found out today, someone I'd been helping out who is a real stickler for being punctual and for being seen to do the right thing, had, after proving to be such a reliable resource, trusted me with a fairly well-paid but simple job, which I outsourced to a friend of a friend...who let me down.

So for all the hard work I've put in over the last few weeks, I'm now seen as a let down by this client because of someone else's tardiness! 

The advantage is that I've now rectified the situation and benefitted financially from doing it myself, plus learned how to get the job done even quicker and at a lower cost than I realised was possible before. But it really is something worth remembering, the old addage is true - to do something well, we really do need to do it ourselves

Get more than you need

KEEPING RECEIPTS

If you are working on something where measurements are required or a certain amount of items are required to finish the job, buying from larger stores can definitely be the better option. 

There's nothing more annoying than returning home after a trip to the shops to buy some bits for finishing a job like the one I'm on now - home improvements, only to discover you need a few more centimetres of wallpaper or an extra 1-2 of the fittings more than those you estimated were the correct amount allowed for. Having to return back to the store wastes precious time that could be better spent finishing the job in hand, so it always pays to purchase more than we need. 

If it's a large and well known store, they will have a great returns policy for unused items. Taking back items at the end of a job also gives us a bit of a feel-good factor, because we get a bit of money back at the finish. A bit like finding a £10 note in old pair of trousers. This is especially good when we're working for others rather than on our own projects, as this small extra cost for returned items would have been on the client's bill, and having this bit of extra cash back in our pocket, however small, makes up for any losses incurred on those unaccounted for extra hours that've we've put on the job and should be taken as a small bonus in the form of a well earned drink for all the hard work.

Nature is Tough

TOILING IN THE GARDEN

Pottering in the garden is something I would usually associate with a pastime that older people do, or at least those who like to take on milder forms of physical exercise doing their hobbies.

However, when a garden has gone wild, clearing the bramble, creepers and overgrown privets, takes a lot of physically hard work - as I've found out today.

About 15 years ago, when I'd reached a peak of irritation with my job at that time, I decided to take a summer off and do something outdoors that offered a more physical and less mentally taxing role. It turned out that gardening was the best option for me, where someone with no training could carry out the tasks required to make a garden look nice. Through my contacts at the time, it turned out to be relatively easy to find work in and around some of the communal squares and green spaces of west London.

It was a particularly warm and sunny summer that year. And the work, a little back-breaking at times, was actually very rewarding. To be fair, a lot of the work merely involved planting some bulbs or flowers, turning the soil over, mowing the odd lawn or trimming an already well managed hedge. It was easy to maintain these private gardens without much extra effort. I'm now carrying out the same kind of work this summer, and although I haven't really had the sun as often as I'd liked, it's still rewarding. The south Londoners don't seem to keep their gardens quite so quaffed as their west London neighbours, so it's a lot more effort to get these gardens looking good. Hence today's struggle with an out of control rose bush and manic creepers.

I managed to get the rose bush down and I thought I may have killed it by pruning it back so much.....apparently not! They are particularly hardy bushes and the fact I've taken it back by over half was actually the right thing to do. The hardest thing has been breaking some of the half inch thick stems down to get them in the gardening bags before the downpour. All in all though, it was a tough but rewarding job and I'm sure with better management, the bush will be in much better shape come the spring next year.

As to me being in better shape tomorrow for more of the same gardening tasks, not so sure I can take many more lashes from the monster thorns, but it's still great knowing I have another string to the bow. My next week of work is already shaping up nicely with 5 different kinds of jobs lined up. 

Easy Money

MOVING MONEY

I'm meeting so many new people recently, who have decided to drop out of the corporate rat race. They've chosen to delve into the darker unknown waters of self employment where one's quest to find the means of obtaining enough money to pay the bills are part and parcel of day to day living.

So far in my new bob-a-job career, I've painted the front of a house. This week I'll be putting in some time DJing whilst also learning how to make cocktails in my local bar. And next week, I'll be a removal man with a van, plus a garden clearer and also a builder's assistant. If I can get some graphics work via advertising with local businesses, that should go some way to help pay the bills. I also have my experience as a personal trainer to make up some extra money too.

My list of jobs that I'm capable of doing well is steadily getting longer and I look forward to adding even more skill sets to the list as I go on. Although these early jobs seem low-paid and beneath my experience capabilities, they are all rewarding. Providing I always put my best efforts in and keep the variety going, they won't get boring either. I can always add more taxing roles to the list, but only if they offer the right balance of money gains against stress levels.

The first moments after leaving the security of having a regular 9-5 (although the hours were always longer) were daunting. But now the prospect of making money last longer by being frugal and careful with my spends, are allowing me to have more free time. This exchange of time against a bigger salary, should help me to find even more alternative ways to make a living.

A lot of the new alternative modes of making money have been localised. So, by finding ways to connect with local businesses, I'll be making money without the expense of travelling on public transport or travelling along the congestion-filled and potentially dangerous roads. This exchange could also benefit me in having even more time and freedom to explore other avenues for work and enjoyment.

Working The Benefits
We all have benefits in everything we do. It's how and why we make the decisions we do. For example: If we chose to live in closer to the city where we work, the benefits will be access to all the fun, culture and amenities that the city have to offer. Travel will potentially be faster, cheaper and possibly free. We'll be spending less money on travel, less time and having more fun - but our living costs may be considerably more and access to green areas, the coast or activities outside the city restricted. So, we have to weigh up the benefits and maximise on them.

Therefore, if a non-corporate life beckons, we should consider the benefits we currently have and weigh them up against the pitfalls of location and costs for living. Having a clearer picture of the reasons why we do the things we do, what we'd like to do more of and maximise on the live & work balance, will help to achieve our goals.

Back To Basics

PAINTY FENCE

Re-learning simple tasks like walking or painting can be therapeutic and rewarding. We can see these actions for the simple movements that they are but if we study them closer, focussing on the flow of each movement, the engagement of our muscle motor neurons to produce delicate & intricate steps/strokes, we can see the true beauty in such basic motions that we are able to produce with our bodies.

Making each footstep slow and deliberate is a form of meditative yoga practice, as is the focus on breathing. If we think of movements as a way to connect with the air and earth, each movement has more significance in what we do.

Painting brush strokes can also be focussed on to quieten the busy mind and allow clarity to come through. Because when every stroke is applied carefully and deliberately, we can immerse ourselves in the 'now' moment. It's amazing to see that also practicing deliberate yoga breathing techniques while painting, a state of zen can be entered, equal to that felt while doing a martial art like Qi Gong. I don't think my painting partner was aware of these thoughts while singing along to a tune from Kiss FM....Still, I'm reminded of a great scene from an '80's film that relays these thoughts perfectly. 

After having such a frantic work life in an office for many years where I was caught up in so many mindfully stressful situations, I've now managed to find working pleasurable again, at the end of a brush. 

I've deliberately taken a very low-brow, low-stress, low-responsibility position in my current role - my only focus being on the painting. How rich and rewarding this position has been, seeing the immediate results of my work manifest in front of my eyes all the while leaving my mind to be free from noise. 

While I am able to continue working this way, It's my aim to invest my full attention to this new painting task, just as the sushi apprentice does repeatedly, in perfecting the rice for their master over many years. 

Corporate Reins

REINING THEM IN

Large corporations are taking over the world and our lives. More and more stories are popping up in the media where these conglomerates are being shown up for being the out of control, soulless organisations they are. They need to be restrained.

Reading Noam Chomsky's book 'Understanding Power', I've learned how we've allowed these organisations to control government, media & education. It feels hopeless to be able to change the balance of power but many still continue to conform. However, there comes a point where enough is enough, so a revolution is sure to happen as this tipping point is reached in the not too distant future.

As I look for new books on Amazon - I find it increasingly harder to support this organisation now I see how they are treating their workers. This information on how workers are being treated, is readily available on the internet. It's clear that Amazon is not alone in failing to uphold it's bogus 'principles' as a moral leader in the corporate arena.

The truth, taken from this extensive piece in the NYT is that everyone is so caught up in the corporate push to deliver more and more, that it's of little wonder that anyone has time to consider/assess their health or even have the time & energy to get out from a harmful work environment. Workers likely continue through fear that the grass will be no greener on the other side of the fence.

The following excerpt taken from the NYT report, rings true for me after witnessing similar treatment working at another large corporation, News International (News UK) - "The NYT article prominently features anecdotes describing shockingly callous management practises, including people being treated without empathy while enduring family tragedies and serious health problems."  Thankfully, some people are now coming forward at Amazon Anonymous to let the world know how they are being unfairly treated.

It won't be too long before other large organisations are flagged up and held responsible for callous behaviour to their employees and measures taken to curb shareholder pressure for growth in exchange for worker's health. The tide is turning as more focus on supporting our workers will follow the investigations into tax evasion and other unethical practises going on in the UK, I'm sure.

Low-Brow Working

ODD JOB MAN

There's something quite liberating about being a grunt. By that term, I mean somebody who does the heavy lifting, digging and general manual labour. You don't need to think much, it's a good physical workout and the pint at the end of the day tastes that much sweeter when you're finished too. 

Having been stuck in an office for many years, it's nice to know that I'm going to be outside a bit more. I've been mostly wearing shorts for the summer and I don't wish to go back into an air-conditioned office and plonked in front of a screen 10 hours a day. Needless to say, I will still be doing some of the work on a computer but will happily factor in some digging & carrying into my new portfolio way of working. 

I recall some years back - between jobs, when I worked for a landscape gardening company over the summer. It was great being up early, outside in nature, watching the bids take the worms from my newly-turned soil. It was a happy time away from the corporate life. And so, I relish utilising the time I have at the end of the summer to get some hard earned beers in after a an honest day's graft once again.

Monster Moves

MAKING A CAREER MOVE

Taking the leap from the seemingly safe environment of a full-time job into the unknown of freelance - or 'portfolio' working - can all seem a bit daunting. This is a situation where I am finding myself heading towards.

We can choose to stick to the one 'craft' or career - but there is not really any such thing as a job for life these days. So it's a good idea to get used to the idea of taking on multiple jobs and having diverse ways to bring in some money to pay the bills - even if those jobs seem a little dull and beneath us.

A job for most of us is simply a means of bringing in money to pay for the things we like doing. But there's a few lucky people who have the kind of exciting job they really love doing.

Imagine how being a monster truck racer must feel?! Thing is, doing the same thing over and over for years gets boring no matter what it is. And doing something we know we're good at but offers no new challenges, just means we're not learning any more. That's something I can look at as a graphic designer...but how does that work for car crushing?

Watching Dan Patrick - USA Monster Truck legend perform at this weekend's Santa Pod finals - with more than 30 years in Monster Truck and dragster racing, he's still 100% investing his energy in the industry he loves so much. Coming out of retirement to compete once more, I was amazed at the very humble speech he gave after coming a measly third place. It was evident from the excitement in his voice that the buzz he gets from crushing cars was still just as strong as when he first competed. It's because he is always seeking better ways to improve the cars and ultimately his performance - hence why he owns a lot of the patents for the modern day truck and has been a real visionary in the field of monster truck racing.

While I would like to have been given the chance to be a Monster Truck driver - I always believed it would eventually get boring, just driving over cars every time... but maybe that's not the case....Dan still loves doing it more than retirement....hmmm, I wonder if there's a driver's job going that I can add as part of my work portfolio now he's retired?!

Portfolio Working

LEAVING THE 9-5 BEHIND

Get up, go to work, eat, sleep repeat. Where is the time going? So much of it is spent in the office - with a small remainder left down the pub where we anaesthetise our brains from thinking about how we are going to dig ourselves out of this rat race. Life is short - and will be even shorter if we don't allow some time to look after ourselves more. High-stress levels, lack of sleep, missed meals and poor nutrition - no wonder so many people are walking around like zombies. So, what's the options?

Diversification
Taking a set of jobs that can free up our time to investigate other revenue streams, allow time for doing meaningful voluntary work and spending more quality time with our loved ones is the way forward. This might mean we have to downsize, eat out and drink less, buy second hand and be a bit more frugal - but, providing we can do this - it means that dream of being a writer, artist or having time to work for a charity is possible.

Making a few notes on the skill sets that we have and how many hours a week that we work is a good start. Then put down a portfolio of these skills into a CV that can be sent out or uploaded to a website. It's then up to us to be up-front and honest about our hours that we wish to do when we go for an interview and make the most of the new life that we've found.

Work & Life Balance

THREE DAY WEEK

Life is short. Five days out of seven at work is a lot - especially when the days are long. A third of our time is spent sleeping and it only leaves a couple of hours in the evening when we're already spent with just the weekend to recover and fit in some enjoyment around the other life chores. Wouldn't it be better if we had double the weekend?

I always liked the idea of not working on a Monday. It's a terrible day in work terms. The first day back after a great weekend can be a real downer - and if you've had a lot of fun, chances are the battery could have done with a longer recharge... Not much gets done on a Monday in real work terms. So, a small sleep-in followed by a relaxing day means that Tuesday will be very productive. And if we could work to deadlines rather than hours a day, I reckon the majority of people could get their work done a lot faster - especially if we all got to do shorter weeks. That means Tuesday to Thursday would be a lot more productive, potentially leaving Friday free to enjoy too. Think how many long weekends we could have travelling to different countries, or how much more of our families and loved ones we could see and share good times with. Life would still be short - but richer on a three day work week for sure.

Do nothing

CLEAR YOUR DIARY

It's amazing how busy your day can get when you've got 'free' time. How do we manage to fit it all in when we're working 5 days a week and bringing up a family? 

There's always lots of tasks that need require action on the to do list. Many of these tasks do seem to have gotten more complicated these days - especially when it's dealing with customer services. You can't just call up and deal with something quickly anymore. Data protection, voice recognition telephone services and out of the UK call centres, means dealing with banks, credit card companies and even other standard service providers like mobile, satellite, broadband and other tech centres, takes a lot longer and often brings up additional tasks that need addressing.

Consequently, I've spent half my day dealing with accounts, insurance and banking issues. All have been fairly simple tasks in principle that have dragged on and left me feeling stressed out. It would be great to have a PA deal with these boring and life-draining tasks to free up the time for more rewarding pursuits.

Simplify

I've now decided against using my credit cards any more, mostly as I wish to clear my debt but also because their call centres irritate me that much. So knowing I won't have to deal with these calls anymore this will be a good motivation to stop my spending! I will also avoid having any internet provider other than using hotspots or use my phone's data for the same reasons. And I'm certainly not subscribing to satellite TV - so this will stop so much lounging in front of the TV. 

Ultimately, the less I have to deal with any of the above, plus banks, councils, HMRC or DVLA - the better it will make me feel. So, maybe it's also time to sell the car too. I'll then cycle more often or use a hire car when its required instead...

I've still got a couple more annoying calls to make today. Tomorrow I will clear the diary completely and switch this phone off instead. That way I'll see if it really is possible to clear the diary and do nothing!