Thread by @humanworkplace

If your first job as a kid is decent work seems like a magical thing. You just go to a place and hang around for a few hours and you get money.

Now you don’t need to ask your parents for money. You can pay for your own bus fare or clothes or whatever you want to buy.

The older you get, the more you get to use your brain in your job if you are lucky. Then one day you wake up and realize that you are living for your job. You think about it constantly. You worry about things you haven’t had a chance to do yet, or what your boss thinks about you

HR folks call your attachment to your job “ego involvement.” It’s a good thing for companies. It’s a great thing when employees are into their jobs, but unfortunately bad managers exploit it.

They guilt trip you and tell you you’re letting the team down if you don’t work every weekend. They tell you that your performance is slipping when it isn’t. They keep you on edge and threaten your mental and physical health.

It is very hard to see a toxic system when you’re in it. Fish swimming in a dirty pond don’t see how filthy the water is. You need friends who don’t work with you to keep you grounded and tell you when you are being taken advantage of.

We change over time in imperceptible ways, and the environment around us changes. Sometimes it’s hard to notice the evolution until we are jarred awake by a big change – losing your job, getting a new boss or a change in your life situation, for instance

I understand why people say no Liz, I’m not going to network when I’m employed. I’m not going to look at my resume when I don’t need it. I have enough stuff to do. But what is more important than your health and your control over your own life?

Stay awake!

This weekend:

Get out your resume and update it.

Invite two friends to have coffee or lunch over the next few weeks.

Pull out a journal or any notebook and write in it: what do you want from your job? What do you want from 2020?