Nightmare at Work? Wake Up!

Last night was one of those nights.  My sound sleep was punctuated by one hellish nightmare:   in this case, I had to write three short stories in less than two hours. . .but couldn't find a typewriter (yes, typewriter!?). . .and then when I found the typewriter I had to figure out how to re-set the margins. . .and the clock was ticking and now I only had an hour and a half. . .and then there wasn't any paper. . .so I had to go to the store for paper. . .but they didn't have any paper because they typically don't sell paper on this specific day. . .and then I had only a little more than an hour left to WRITE THREE SHORT STORIES. . .

And you know how this goes. . .at a certain point, you become aware that this is indeed a nightmare and not real life. . .but, you're warm and toasty in bed. . .and despite the nightmare you're kind of comfortable. . .so you're kind of reluctant to do this, but the only way to make the nightmare stop is to WAKE UP!

That is also so true of the workplace.    I have been in that kind of nightmare, too.   The work was starting to make less and less sense. . .the pressure was building. . .some of the people were (trust me, scary). . .but it was kind of comfortable because I was making a decent living and paying the bills.   Ultimately, though,  the only way I could stop the work nightmare was to wake up and make some changes (in that case - leaving the company).

The nightmares at work can come from many different directions and come in many different forms.  Sometimes the onset is insidious - it slowly builds and before you know it, you're in the middle of a situation in which you are severely compromised.    Very seldom will anyone stop this for you;  you need to wake up and stop it yourself.

This means you need to step out of the "comfortable" routine and do something different:   re-engage the team in a different manner, re-shape the team, get HR involved in a difficult situation, re-direct work. . .or yes, even do what I had to do - quit - and seek happiness elsewhere.

This reminder comes because sometimes in the middle of a nightmare, be it real or a nightmare at work, it's difficult to remember that we do, in fact, need to wake up to make it quit.

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My book, "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available for e-readers, tablets and PCs on Amazon Kindle.