Getting The Zing Back
STRANGELY, very few people know just how hard it is to be passionate about something. It really isn't easy. It may be in the beginning, but that initial euphoria wears away with time leaving behind a viscous precipitate of age, complacency and exhaustion. When do you know you have lost it? When you throw your hands in the air and say what will be, will be. That's when you know. You can feel it in the pit of your stomach - a sense of what was and what could have been, but sadly enough, what isn't anymore.
You used to be brimming with elusive clichés - you used to have a fire in your belly and a spring in your step. But then life happened. Age blunted your edge and your youthful optimism matured and bloomed for a while before mutating into a yawning cynicism, the dawn of your career meandering into twilight of untroubled complacency.
Complacency. It's an awful word. Most bosses are highly allergic to it, or at any rate, should be. It is a disease with a difficult cure. What do you do with a person who is not performing to his potential? You can't fire him because he meets his targets and would probably win a lawsuit against you in court. You could try talking to him, but there is nothing you can say that he doesn't already know. You could resign yourself to the fact that you have lost another star performer to the vicissitudes of life and concentrate on the other promising crops in your cube farm. But that, unfortunately, is not really a solution either. In essence, what you are doing is shoving dust under a carpet. You are ducking your head in sand. Remember the aphorism about one bad apple spoiling the basket? It is not an entirely unfounded analogy. Complacency, like gangrene, does have a habit of spreading.
For better or for worse, the employee alone can atone for his sins. Some introspection is in order, and a readiness to make a change. Once that initial step is covered, it is time for phase two:
a. Climb every mountain, ford every stream: Not every one actually. Just the toughest. What he needs now is a new challenge, something that demands more from him than he was ever willing to give, something that can bring the veins out in his forearms again. It doesn't necessarily have to be the biggest project of his career; it only has to be that one task that gets his cerebral juices flowing.
b. Variety is the spice of life: Often, all you need to get out of a rut is a change in routine. Try something different or try doing the same things differently. Wise men say that is what winners do. And if it works for them, it should work for you too.
c. Reinvent yourself: Some people do it all the time. They dye their hair pink and get a tattoo. If they have been on this earth long enough, people call it their mid-life crisis. You may be in the throes of a similar ailment, but you don't have to do something as drastic. You could try something less laughable, like buying a new car, or a new suit, or taking up Tai Chi, if it makes you feel better.
d. Start afresh: Or pretend you are if you can't actually. You could trick your brain into thinking you are trying something new even when you are doing the same old thing you have done everyday for the last ten years. Wipe your slate clean. It can be hard but it is worth a shot. The idea is to try and like your work again.
Lastly, be determined to make the most of everything you have got. Grit your jaw and sink your teeth as hard as you can into the next assignment that comes your way. <110>Bon appetit.
ARJUN SENGUPTA
arjuns.hyd@cnkonline.com
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