If You Are Sick and Tired of Working — Take a Break
I guarantee you are not alone

We have such days. Mondays do not make it any easier. That familiar feeling of having a Sunday evening pass by rapidly and the dread of heading to bed only to wake up for work that we do not believe in?
Hey, I am certain you are not alone. I was like that too.
The beginnings of my analyst years were spent in Technology consulting. It was a big thing then. The Accentures, IBMs, Capgeminis, SAPs, Oracles were the darlings of the technology frontier before Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet.
We work long hours. And I do really mean long hours. A simple project could go up to 15/16 hours each day. Every hour is packed with client meetings, pre-sales arrangements, sales pitches, project delivery with tasks to complete, and other miscellaneous items. In short, it was not a walk in the park.
At first, I was motivated to keep going. Live it, breathe it, move it, sleep it. Every moment for me was about go, go, go, go, go. I could not wait to acquire new clients for the firm, and I could not wait to meet prospects. I was on steroids.
It did not take a few months before I felt the slug in me coming out. I started to yawn in the office. I think I embarked on a 4 cups-of-coffee-a-day project so I could keep my momentum going. I realized very quickly that I was getting tired of working.
Still, that did not tell me anything. Being sick and tired is a description. I cannot solve any problems just by identifying that. I needed to know what I am sick and tired of. It was from there that I got more alert and self-aware.
I realized that I am sick and tired of the following.
1 — Colleagues Who Don’t Want To Do A Thing.
Look around us. We can see colleagues who play defense all the time. Their mindset is presented clearly when they speak. Take, for instance, the below: -
- This is not in my scope of work!
- I am not tasked to do this!
- No one taught me how to do this!
- Hey, this is not my problem!
I feel very down when I am around such people even before they start speaking. They are very nice people, I know.
However, when it comes to work, negativity weighs me down. I don’t want that. I want to keep moving forward to learn new things and meet new people.
Hence, whenever I do feel sick and tired of hearing what these colleagues say daily — I avoid them for that day. This is especially so for those days when I am already having trouble focusing my energy on getting things done.
I go on conservation and turtle mode.
2 — Repetitive Tasks.
Actually, I really meant tasks that are manual and repetitive. Data entry is one, booking office rooms for internal meetings is another.
I get sick and tired of data entry work pretty quickly. There is value in such work for sure because, without data keyed in, no further analysis can be performed on the existing data bank. Okay, yes, I do get that.
I used to intern in an administrative function. The task I do all day is to key in customer data from application forms into the computer. While prospects will require this process, existing customers do not.
I always wondered why the same set of data needs to be keyed in over and over. The response? Customer data could change.
Well, I am not too sure if I buy that. We don’t change the primary information that frequently, do we? Plus, I was interning in the age of google forms. This task could be decentralized to the customers.
So what do I do when I have to key in hundreds of customer application forms?
I decide to pamper my eyes, soul, and mind. First, I will ensure I get a pantry break every 2 hours. Next, I ensure I get a toilet cubicle staycation every 3 hours. So long as I get away from that desk, piles of paper, and computer screen for a moment — That works for me.
Try it. Toilet staycation works miracles.
3 — Meetings That Yields Absolutely Zero Results.
I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of being present in meetings that go nowhere. This is the perfect time for a calculus experiment.
Never measure speed or velocity alone without measuring displacement. We could be waddling all around without actually moving anywhere. That is why displacement is important.
Such meetings are a marvel. They are my moments of reckoning. 15 minutes into such meetings, and I will start fidgeting. Another 15 minutes in, and I will start pondering over the meaning of my life.
Give me another pocket of 15 minutes, and I would have captured the meaning of my life in story form. This is the exact story I conceptualized and draft crafted during such meetings over zoom. In fact, there are 2 I drafted in 2 such meetings.
Now with that little World-wise nugget of wisdom nestled in my brain, what should I do with such meetings? I start off thinking about the value of my time.
Naturally, my time is precious. I will review all meeting invitations in my email and decline all those that do not contribute to my work and saps all mental energy to yield nothing.
I limit my meeting time to 3 hours a day. This is my productivity ringfence. It works. Give it a try.
The Brief of Being Sick and Tired.
We know that feeling when it comes. Being sick and tired isn’t just about a description. It is a description that is appropriately captured and expressed using words. It IS about feeling sick. It IS about feeling tired.
We have to challenge ourselves in terms of identifying the root cause for feeling sick and tired. It is only then we can address such emotions and thoughts.
Our work and ambitions are worthy of our relentless pursuit. Backing off due to mortal interventions is unnecessary. We are humans. We are highly intelligent.
We learn and become better.
Just before that — Please take a break.
It works, no matter how short.
Take A Break. It’s Okay.
Aldric
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About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
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As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
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