To write or not to write…

I have recently made a career change and I am now “working” from home.  Not a bad gig when everyone else is at work or school – gets a little difficult as soon as there is another body in the house because you are never really doing anything that important to them so they interrupt you for silly things – like who is cooking dinner.

I have discovered that some other bodies are encroaching on my work space and making it difficult to work.  They are silent distractions, ever so coy yet so powerful.  As I stop and turn around to ponder a new angle on a project I see this…..

Snoring Dog, Stretching Cat

It is very difficult to hear the dog snoring so

so deeply – and when she is dreaming and running

it becomes even more entertaining….and

distracting.    As for the cat, she knows she is

cute and plays it for what is worth.

 

 

 

So I decide to take a break.  Get a drink.  Pet the cat.  Get more wood on the fire.  I am greeted by another body sending me a message…..      How am I supposed to work when the message is clearly “time for a nap!”   I actually poked the cat to make sure she was still alive because she was so hot to my touch.   Oh well, if you can’t beat them – join them!

   

Baking Kitty

Electric Fences

I once worked for a boss who was really good at erecting electric fences – not the farm kind of electric fences, but rather, the people kind of electric fences.  Perhaps you have had similar bosses – if you say, “I have this idea for…” and the boss responds, “What, are you crazy!”  you have just been zapped by the electric fence.  How about when you report on an issue you see in the company and the boss tells you that you are overreacting?   Double Zap!

I guess I am just like the cows out in the pasture field.  I learn where the electric fence is and I learned what happened the last time I touched it…and I avoid it (read that as tip-toeing around the boss’s office door, whispering ideas at lunch, and attempting covert implementation activities).  Heck, I even avoid the area when the electric fence is down and not there (you know how the cows act when you try to get them to cross back into the field they escaped from, they stop at that exact spot where the fence once stood – as if there was an invisible electric fence in their path).  I too am affected by the ‘invisible’ electric fence – that would mean I stop trying, I stop being innovative,I stop caring…I won’t move.

Please don’t think I feel electric fences are bad.  Some electric fences are good and really necessary – for both cattle and humans.  There are boundaries for safety, there are ethics and morals necessary for business activities.  For cattle, chasing them down the highway is dangerous to all involved and any passers-by.

There are times when the electric fence is challenged.  I have had one brave cow charge through and open the way for everyone else to follow.  Soon, the cows are out and I am getting a run for my money (err, rather, running AFTER my money – beef money that is).  Why did they do it?  Probably because the pasture was greener on the other side.  Happens at work too.

After so many zaps from the boss you may start considering charging the electric fence because the pasture is greener on the other side.  The other company makes a better offer, your job duties are better, you have more autonomy, or the culture is more conducive to growing and being innovative.  Charging at, and breaking through the electric fence just might be a risk worth taking.

Bosses and Managers need to take note….Sometimes, you just need to turn off the juice and see what happens – at work, not out in the pasture field 🙂

Ice Crystals decorating the electric fence

Cows and the fence