Love your job
Kevin Mokento | Friday February 5, 2021 11:00
Is this a counterintuitive notion? No. Counterintuitive is the sophistic rhetoric that our job would fall in love with us.
The onus is on us to love our job, principally because working is not a two-way romantic mission. I shall never endorse boxing, but I like the poetic manner in which Ali expressed love for his ‘job,’ “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand and I beat people up.” But he never performed in a mundane manner.
Apart from his colourful sense of humour in the ring, he is fondly remembered for his zippy athleticism and the catchphrase, “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” Ali lived and breathed passion at his workplace.
The arrogant showboat would often write a pre-match poem, psyching himself up to win, presumptuously predicting the round for knocking down his opponent.
He was often spot on! Ronaldinho, the celebrated Brazilian footballer, had a permanent smile etched on his face. He was the only high-profile football player who danced on the pitch, many-a-times before blistering a cannonball into the goalposts. What about the illustrious South African trumpeter named Masekela! I always sensed his infectious passion in the way he filled his cheeks with air, forehead creased, lips nearly pressed on each other in a neat pout, eyes shut, emotionally charged and beaming with positive energy. Aged 12, I was as sick as a parrot when the apartheid regime denied us the privilege of hosting Masekela and Makeba in Gaborone in 1980, deceptively faking a cholera outbreak. Ali, Ronaldinho and Masekela loved their jobs. Mere mortals can be happy at their workplace. May we never fall into the trap of believing that high-ranking professionals found a job they fell in love with patiently waiting for them in the C-Suite of a high-end corporate edifice. Searching for such a job could be a Sisyphean task. Elusive! Depressing! In fact, for the unwary, it could lead to a demoralising job-hopping streak. How can professionals craft jobs they love? Let me share five tips.
One, never be misled by irrational brain-tickling clichés uttered by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, and John Campbell, an American author: ‘Choose the job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life,’ and ‘Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.’ Welcome to the real world! Jobs can be unfulfilling. Work environments toxic.
Supervisors uninspiring. We need a positive mindset though. This compels us to make ourselves loveable. To inspire trust, respect, and acceptance in our team. To pride ourselves in our candid fidelity to the cherished teamwork value. Two, express your willingness to lend a hand to your colleagues and walk the talk. An ancient proverb advises, “Don’t withhold good...if it is within your power to help.”
Frequently ask yourself, how can I lighten my boss’ load and make him shine? If you’re endowed with a unique talent, offer it for the benefit of your colleagues. If you’re good at writing, without coercion from your supervisor, why not offer to write or edit board submissions or the company’s annual report!
You may consider being proactive in starting an on-line newsletter, thus playing a pivotal role in reaching out to clients for the benefit of the entire company. Three, avoid the pain of dragging yourself from bed each morning and worming your way to work.
Consider the bigger picture. Ask yourself, at a global level, how is my work helping suppliers, clients and the broader community? Acknowledge that at a personal level, your remuneration enables you to fulfill your moral and sacred responsibility as a provider. It empowers you to provide shelter, sustenance, favourite tipples, clothing, education, holidays and a whole host of nice-to-haves to your kin. Ruminate over this and your body will overflow with feel-good hormones, driving you to excel at your workplace.
John Campbell shared this salutary nugget, “When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves…we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.”
Four, appreciate the unique corporate culture of your company. Find your place and voice within this dynamic culture and position yourself to drive change. The 2017 Gallup’s study on ‘The State of the Global Workplace,’ in 155 countries stated that only 15% of workers are engaged at work. Imagine, a whopping 85% of the global workforce lacks the enthusiasm and the commitment required to effectively perform! If we fall in the latter group, our healthy ego should drive us to find our place in the former. We need to be fully immersed in our job and proactively transform an unfulfilling and perhaps unrewarding job into a loveworthy one. Five, we need to develop the moral fortitude to own our mistakes and convert moments of failure to opportunities for success.
In his book, ‘The World is Flat,’ an American author named Thomas Friedman wrote, ‘every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.’ May we be as agile and passionate as Ali, Ronaldinho and Masekela in loving our jobs. Resolutely determined to transform uninspiring thankless jobs to dignified thankworthy ones.