posted
"Well, I was born on a sunday; on thursday I had me a job... Whatever you say, well, thats what I'm gonna do. cause I'm the working man, lord, and I'll do the job for you."
As I mentioned before, right now I'm working two jobs. And a third one every saturday, but since that one gives me the most joy, I'll leave it undiscussed for now.
About five years ago, I dropped out of college. There were various reasons for doing so, but mainly it was because I'd built up a rather large delay in doing my assignments; over six months of work at least. Besides, the interest in my topic of choice seemed to have faded, making it harder to find the will to carry on.
As soon as I left college, I needed to find a job, since I knew that sitting around the house all day would be impossible. Since then I've held a string of temporary positions, most of them jobs that require far less than my full attention. The longest period that I've held any one job was about three years, which was a position as cleaner (20 hours per week; 7-11 am) in the faculty where I started my shortlived college career. I appreciated the irony of the situation. My other jobs mostly entailed picking orders in a variety of store-rooms. Fortunately the sort of items that I handled changed every so often, which held off the boredom somewhat.
To give you a somewhat clearer picture, here's a list of company's that I've worked at:
# IKEA: which all of are probably familiar with. I spent about ten weeks in all picking out the orders of clients that always seemed to be in a hurry. The working environment was pretty relaxed though, nice co-workers for the most part. {music station: 80's, 90's and present day pop} # Brocacef: A far smaller company that supplies drugstores. This time I actually worked alongside a conveyor-belt, which was a new experience. {music station: some kind of horrible national station, playing cheap Dutch songs all day long, the horror!!} # Gall & Gall: Which supplies the whole of the country with alcohol in all shapes and sizes. First job I ever had where we had to reach a daily target. Basically a nice place to work, but I got into trouble with the manager over some petty stuff and after three months decided to leave. Nice perk: a monthly distribution of products that wouldn't sell anymore (But I don't drink that much, so it was a mixed blessing). {music station: same as IKEA}
Over the last year I have had problems at the job, several times. This was the direct result of rising tensions within my person, and my inability to deal with them.
Right now I work at a division of Samsung, where my task is to scan bank statements and make an electronic record, so they can create some room in their paper archive, by throwing out some of the less recent stuff. Because of the incompatibility of the scanning apparatus and the paper on which most of these statements are printed, I'm forced to make copies first. There's also a lot of de-stapling involved. {and no music whatsoever... }
In the afternoon, I work at a place that sells telecom paraphernalia to other companies. It's mostly packing the items to be sent, making sure they're sufficiently protected and processing them in the computer. Not a very uplifting job, but my two co-workers are really friendly. One of them shares my love for music, so we exchange information and tunes. Every day I bring along three CD's from my collection, and most of the afternoon is filled with soothing sounds as I work, which increases my productivity. ---today, the selection is Blur, Carole King and Page&Plant--- The third guy doesn't mind too much, since he says he prefers working to any music than silence.
I don't exactly know how long I'll be employed in either place, but I'm quite sure I'll change jobs within three months. Somehow I have a rather low boredom threshold, and once I really get bored my productivity drops drastically. I've actually had a physician state that I wasn't able to perform at a higher level position, since my mind is kinda pre-occupied.
While typing this post I'm constantly aware that I'm disregarding my duties as an employee, which makes me feel bad. But like I said before (and I'll probably say it again), sharing my experiences on Hatrack does help me, so my dereliction of duty serves a greater purpose.
One of the many explanations for the 'bad feeling' I have about myself, was being lazy. By now, I have realized that my actions during the years cannot be explained in such a simple way. I hope most of you who read this (if anyone makes it to the end, that is), will agree with me on this point. While I may occasionally display a tendency towards laziness (which I think is a very natural, human thing), most of the time I'm willing to work.
So what exactly is my point with this post? I'm not sure. It is just a continuance of my opening up and trying to lose the inclination to hide myself from everyone. As always any reactions are welcome.
quote:I hope most of you who read this (if anyone makes it to the end, that is), will agree with me on this point. While I may occasionally display a tendency towards laziness (which I think is a very natural, human thing), most of the time I'm willing to work.
I think most people who're lazy are willing to work most of the time.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I think most people have lazy moments, and I think they should. *smile*
On the other hand, until I buckled down and finished my degree, I, too, had a variety of short-lived low-paying jobs. (Waitressing, custodial, maintenance, dishwashing, roofing, clerking, etc.) My real joy was in the volunteer work I did -- which usually centered or at least complemented my eventual degree in community services (aka -- social work).
You might think about going back to school. At a pace that makes sense.
Hang in there. *smile*
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Okay, so I should amend that to most of the time I'm working. It's just that a large part of my labour is mental, which makes it rather hard to prove you've done anything. The more so if you don't produce anything.
While questioning whether I'm lazy or not this list of has also passed my scrutiny several times:
"If you're lazy... just stay in bed you don't want no money, you don't want no friends. If you're drowning, don't clutch no straws..."
posted
I think the word "lazy" can be applied more broadly. I'll be honest: you do strike me as a fundamentally lazy person, but neither do I think that this is inherently unworkable or an absolute negative.
Specifically, you're unambitious. You're doing menial labor at places where you're mainly concerned not with the end-goal of any given project but with the work environment (music, coworkers, etc.) itself. You possess the talent to do more, and are clearly bored by your limited engagement with your professional life. Because you're bored with menial jobs, you tend to bounce from menial job to menial job fairly often, preventing you from building the solid work history or acquiring the skills that you'd need to make the jump to a career track.
At some point, you need to decide "I want to do X. I need to do the following ten things to get X. So I will do those ten things." And then you need to pursue that with everything that's in you, until you've achieved that goal. Since this is harder than it sounds, you may want to set little goals for yourself -- "I will clean all the dishes by tomorrow; I will iron my laundry the next time, instead of just hanging it; I will run a mile on Sunday morning" -- that you're sure you can keep.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
The reason I keep changing jobs is not only due to boredom. I work as a temp, so in most cases I know aforehand that I'll be spending only a limited amount of time at a certain place. The boredom is only a contributing factor. I can fairly easily keep it subdued by daydreaming.
As far as the little goals go, I've already started to do so, but the results will be posted in another thread, which is more focused on an overview of my life than on any specific part of it (such as my work).
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Or read books like Create Your Own Future by Brian Tracy (check it out at a library -- don't purchase it. While I'm all for motivational books to get a person over a slump, you really don't need to line their pockets with more cash).
Basically it goes over exactly what Tom says -- making small goals, keeping a goal, getting motivated.
So it would be like having someone there to prod and encourage you every day (supposing, of course, you would continue to read in order to stay motivated and goal-oriented).
posted
Since last monday, I've been at a new job. Thuis time around it's actually something that occupies my mind for a far greater part. And besides it also combines both subjects I studied in college (Civil Engineering & History). In short, it is a project which aims to comprehensibly document all the real-estate possessions of the organisation that employs me. Working alongside one other person, we are check some 1000 files for the necessary paperwork, and then cross-refernce it with the data in the computer-system. Later on, we might also have to go out to the places in question to see whether the real situation matches our info. All in all, a rather interesting undertaking, which will look good on my resume.
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Is it possible you have some sort of ADD? Maybe you have some kind of imbalance or physical problem that keeps you from concentrating. What you talk about seems to be a lot like ADD in elementary kids.
Posts: 1042 | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
I'll not totally rule out that possibility. Is it possible for ADD to develop at a later age? I kinda remember that children who are afflicted by this usually do not do very well in school (as a general rule, not a law of causality, so correct me if I'm wrong). Personally I never had any problems with my assignments, at least not until the second half of my high school career. And even then it was only with specific subjects, mostly math. I find that I'm able to stay focused as long as the task at hand doesn't become too repetitive.
Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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