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Stuck In The Middle #5 Hope over Optimism
Optimism is everywhere, from thought/cult leaders on LinkedIn (one even used optimism in the name of his company) to organizational values. But what if optimism wasn’t the benefit it was set out to be? What if there was an alternative? Hope. On the surface, hope and optimism may seem similar, but they are pretty different. First, it is crucial to
Stuck In The Middle #4 Embracing Alienation
Last week, I wrote about how even the meaning we find in our work is part of how we are exploited as workers. This week promises a path forward and how we can lean into the alienation that results from that exploitation. Before we can get into what this means practically, we must look at what it means to be
Stuck In the Middle #3 Finding meaning
Last week, we explored why people work a job: to make a living. Today, we will explore the other reason, finding meaning. Returning to my dad’s quote, “You aren’t supposed to like all parts of your job. That’s why they pay you.” Implicit in this quote is that there are parts of a job that you enjoy and that give
Stuck in the Middle #2 Working for a living
Years ago, when I complained to my dad about some aspects of my job, he responded, “You aren’t supposed to like all parts of your job. That’s why they pay you.” He had created a split between the part of the job that creates meaning (and you enjoy) and the part that earns you a living. He reasoned that you
Stuck In the Middle #1 Introduction
Welcome to the Stuck In The Middle Newsletter. This Newsletter aims to show you ways of thinking differently about the context of modern knowledge work. This first newsletter should be considered an extended introduction. What does it mean to be stuck in the middle? At times, we all feel stuck in the middle. You may feel stuck between the executive