Make me
Why can I not motivate myself to set foot on the track - the track where I enjoy walking, the track where I've walked, jogged and felt like dropping dead on a regular basis for well over 11 years now?
I miss the track, the sun, the wind. I miss being outside. It's only three miles up the road to the track. I love that place. I've got to make me get back on track, literally.
Lethargy is spirit-killing.
The summer of my discontent
I had plans for this summer - real goals. I looked forward to the long days, the nights that didn't start until nine p.m., sunny, sweltering afternoons during which I'd head up to my local park and sweat out the days' frustrations on the track.
None of that came to be. Summer's almost gone, as the old Doors song says, and all I have to show for it this year is a decided lack of natural tan and my Peachtree Road Race t-shirt and race number. I did spend a fantastic weekend in New York City, only to return home and immediately put my mother in the hospital. She just got out of physical therapy rehab after three weeks.
My summer, or lack thereof, has been an endless stream of workdays that leave me too mentally drained to do anything but come home and vegetate until it's time to sleep, then wake up the next day and do it all over again. Life isn't supposed to be this way - listless, humdrum, tiresome. I want more.
I want joy.
Two words: I rule
Where I work, August means one thing, primarily: Self-evaluation time.
Why do companies force this upon employees? Do they seriously think it makes us feel better to first evaluate ourselves, then sit back and wait to see what our boss has to say based on our self-observations? The whole idea smacks of some '70s-era touchy-feely "I'm OK, You're OK" philosophy designed to boost the confidence of Joe and Jane Workaday. Does it work? Not for this Jane.
This week, my boss is on vacation. But I have to fill out three pages' worth of DeepThink. Do I embrace change? Not really, but I'm going to say I do. Participate in building partnerships for team and company success? If being forced to sit through two-hour meetings instead of actually doing real work counts then... yes.
Corporate employers of America, here's all the self-eval feedback your employees would really like to give you. Two words: "I rule."
Evaluate that, execucrats.
