Be smarter at work, slack off

Be smarter at work, slack off - Mar. 17, 2006

I can't tell you how many times I've thought of mistakes I might have made in the middle of the night, but I don't think that's what this article is about.... I have noticed that I feel more creative in every aspect of my life when I stopped trying to work so hard.

Have I blogged this already? When I first started working at RIDES, the first time, I was so intense about it. I was determined to make it my big break (which it turned out to be). After a few weeks of that intensity, I had completely worn myself ragged. I noticed, for the first time, in the mail room, someone (probably HR) had posted a little sign that said "The four fold path: show up, pay attention, tell the truth, let go." It gave me a huge sigh of relief. Is that really all I have to do? I finally felt like I could handle what my job asked of me. The rest was imagined. You can't try to be anything at all....

I don't know why, but I was grew up believing that what it took to succeed... at anything... was something I couldn't fathom. I didn't deserve success so much as... not deserve it. In the working world I learned, with my dear friend Carolyn Helmke, that "everyone is incompetent except you and me." But what that really means is that everyone should do what they are. Do be do be do be. Anything else not only leads to necessary failure, but means you have to try so hard that you're bound to fail. It has to feel right to be right.