Maybe it’s my generation, but I remember when going to work was fun, and you actually wanted to take on new projects and assignments to gain more experience and impress your colleagues and bosses.
We’re living amid an abundance of work avoidance
Today, it feels like so many people have flipped a full 180 degrees where they expend all their energies looking to take credit for everything possible while claiming they are just so damned swamped to take on anything new. Why actually do work to impress people when you can just pretend you do?
We’ve somehow arrived in an era when many people seem content to spend a few hours a day sitting in a few virtual meetings while avoiding actually doing anything. Most people have figured out how to game the system, inserting themselves into conversations to make it look like they are super-productive and irreplaceable when, in reality, they do very little.
Too many of us have become AI imposters
There is no worse example than the last two years of utter AI nonsense we’ve been fed from the vast majority of senior executives, tech marketers, politicians, and even some academics. I’ve lost count of the number of imposters getting up on stage preaching to the world about how our jobs and very livelihoods are about to be replaced, augmented, agentified, and ultimately decimated by AI. But it’s all OK, folks, because we humans will find new jobs that AI will somehow magically create. ChatGPT pro is going to supercharge us into these amazing people who are going to be so much smarter than we are today. Just spend that $200 a month to feel ahead of the AI monster snapping at our heels, and all will be fine…
So what’s the actual point in working hard when we can do what we need with a few prompts and pretend we’re clever? What’s the point in being passionate about our jobs anymore when we can just fake success, turn on our “Out of Offices” and binge-watch White Lotus in bed?
It’s not that we don’t have the time, we just don’t have the passion
Seriously, I despair of the number of people these days who just refuse to take on new projects and invest time to train themselves to do their jobs better, all under the guise that they “simply do not have the time.” I call bullshit on this. People who claim they don’t have the time are really saying they don’t have the passion. If someone asked you to prepare a presentation for a client who was going to take you to a Taylor Swift concert that evening, I bet you’d magically carve out some precious hours and free up your evening… because that actually gets you excited.
The Bottom Line: It’s time for a big professional reset to escape our humanist recession
So how can we get excited about our jobs again and reignite our passion for what we do?
Let’s face reality, everyone. The world has changed, and we’ve found ourselves facing a humanist recession. We need to become less depressed about AI coming for our jobs, about that long-awaited recession, and about weird politics breaking apart families and friendships.
We need to reset our current work habits and refocus on our future. Otherwise, we’ll withdraw more and more into a world where we’re becoming imposters. We need to embrace change, refuel our passions, and tune out all the rhetoric and noise.
My advice is to focus on building closer work relationships, get out more, and meet more people. Working with people, locking heads, building friendships, sharing experiences… this is what energizes us. At the end of the day, we’re all mammals, and we need each other.
Let’s take the time to learn new things, new tools, and new business theories. Sitting behind a computer for 8 hours a day is burning us out and sapping our passion and enthusiasm for what we do.
So let’s make it real and lean into our colleagues, clients, friends, and partners. Let’s make work fun again!
Peace Out,
PF
Posted in : Agentic AI, Artificial Intelligence, Change Management, ChatGPT, Employee Experience
