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I’m not saying checkout for 8 hours, or to not try. You’re right, it’s at least 1/3rd of your life, you may as well do your best. It’s just, I don’t see the rea

I’m not saying checkout for 8 hours, or to not try. You’re right, it’s at least 1/3rd of your life, you may as well do your best. It’s just, I don’t see the reason why everyone has to be passionate about their “company” and drink the koolaid. The company doesn’t care about you, someone somewhere in some leadership position has problematic morals, the person sitting across from you may have checked out, and your life / well-being is being dominated by someone that only cares about you inasmuch as you can give them something that helps them. You didn’t elect anyone in this position to rule you and you may or may not have had any input in the colleagues that were hired to work with you. No wonder people are so unhappy and burnt out right now… So don’t give your “company” any more of your soul than you have to, and certainly don’t give them your passion. Save that for yourself, your family, your friends, your side projects. A day job is trading the best hours of your life for someone else’s gain, don’t give them more than you have to.

blunte 5y ago
Ah yes, my confusion at your meaning. I don't drink coolaid often. But I hate spending my mental and creative energy on dead end roads. If I were the boss, I would probably direct my staff toward a lot of dead ends as well. It's just the nature of not being omniscient. But I would hope that I would be open to the pushback from a worker who says, "Hey, I think we really should be doing Y, and here's why."
- randmeerkat 5y ago
  The boss may have no choice… They may have a mandate from senior leadership. Really the system as it is is optimized to extract value from people from whatever level they’re at, with zero regard for their happiness, unless it can marginally impact profitability. That’s why it’s important to just do you. Maybe one day you’ll be a boss, and you’ll make a bad decision, or be forced to make your direct reports do something you disagree with. If that day comes, just know that this is just a job, if you really care, try to make you’re direct reports lives as painless as you can. Your passion can be empathy, the well being of others, in trying to make your corner of the world better, but again, don’t put it into the company. The company isn’t a real person, it doesn’t care about you, it’s a legal structure designed to maximize value extraction.

blunte 5y ago

Ah yes, my confusion at your meaning. I don't drink coolaid often. But I hate spending my mental and creative energy on dead end roads. If I were the boss, I would probably direct my staff toward a lot of dead ends as well. It's just the nature of not being omniscient. But I would hope that I would be open to the pushback from a worker who says, "Hey, I think we really should be doing Y, and here's why."

randmeerkat 5y ago
The boss may have no choice… They may have a mandate from senior leadership. Really the system as it is is optimized to extract value from people from whatever level they’re at, with zero regard for their happiness, unless it can marginally impact profitability. That’s why it’s important to just do you. Maybe one day you’ll be a boss, and you’ll make a bad decision, or be forced to make your direct reports do something you disagree with. If that day comes, just know that this is just a job, if you really care, try to make you’re direct reports lives as painless as you can. Your passion can be empathy, the well being of others, in trying to make your corner of the world better, but again, don’t put it into the company. The company isn’t a real person, it doesn’t care about you, it’s a legal structure designed to maximize value extraction.