The easy button
I have had the pleasure of driving the distance between my home in the Kootenays and Victoria multiple times. Recently, I did the drive for the first time in a new (to me) vehicle. I was surprised that I drove for most of the day without having to stop and refuel - my little car seemed to sip fuel as the countryside slipped by. I loved watching our beautiful province unfurl in front of me. This was a different experience from the trip where I once watched the fuel gauge dip ever lower while the kilometres seemed stuck. The anxiety of possibly not having enough gas in the tank became palpable as I drove gingerly to the next town. The drive felt challenging and effortful as I started paying attention to every road marker. I arrived at my destination exhausted but also weirdly proud of my ability to manage the situation.
In a series of studies to explore the relationship between effort and our moral judgements, psychologists found that we often use effort as a shortcut to a judgement of morality - something they call “effort moralization.” Study participants sometimes judged those who exerted more effort as less competent while continuing to regard them as morally superior and more worthy collaboration partners. While much of the effort moralization process is unconscious, I wonder how much of our relationship with overwork is related to working harder to be seen as morally superior or deserving of collaboration.
David Graeber wrote about “bullshit jobs” - jobs that are impossible to justify but require employees to pretend the contrary. He describes one kind of BS job - the taskmaster - who assigns tasks to others and monitors their work on those tasks, even when the work would continue unimpeded if they weren’t there. Reading his writing, I wondered how often I am a taskmaster, assigning pointless tasks to myself.
In our work with Dare to Lead, we talk about the value of self-compassion. How might self-compassion help me to be a better taskmaster for myself?
Here are some questions I am working through as I think about this:
Which tasks can be automated, eliminated or delegated without any impact on the quality of my work?
What do I do just to feel busy? (I really hope I’m not alone in this!)
How much of my work is added effort to convince MYSELF that I am a good, moral person?
How would my relationship with work change if I accepted my worthiness?
Of course, we will all sometimes have to do work we dislike or feel it requires more effort than its impact. The challenge is to be aware of slipping into effort moralization and allow ourselves grace when we find the opportunities to hit the easy button - and to extend that grace to others when they find a smooth groove in life.
How would life be different if we all reached for the easy button more often?
