Latest news about Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Your daily crypto news habit.
Why tasks take over, and how to put them in theirĀ place.
Morning amnesia
Every morning as I come into work a switch somewhere in my brain is flipped and I reset. Gone are my achievements, my promos, and the expertise I bring. Itās a strange sort of amnesia, a workplace Groundhogās Day, that makes every day at work feel like a struggle to keep my head aboveĀ water.
Eleven years at Google, promotions, awards, and recognitionāāābut this reset is what I feel every day. Iāve never been described as timid or lacking confidence, yet at work, I go into survival mode. Itās emotionally draining and psychologically counterproductive to come from a place of proving yourself to yourself. A drowning person is not thinking about whatās happening on the beach. Every ounce of energy is focused on keeping afloat. When Iām in survival mode, Iām that drowning person, in the moment, just trying to keep from goingĀ under.
Swimming toward theĀ beach
My husband, in stark contrast, is definitely swimming in the direction of the beach! We both work at tech companies, doing similar things at about the same level. Heās a product manager, and Iām a program managerāāābut those are distinctions without a difference. What is different is they way we think about our careers. He has been at his current position for about six months and heās comfortably contemplating his career progression. I listen and think, āWhatās this all about?ā. Six promotions at Google and Iām thinking about keeping my head above water. And hereās the critical difference: heās simultaneously doing the work and building a career. Iām in the moment. All my attention is on the work Iām doing now, which keeps me from projecting fartherĀ out.
Becoming a Taskrabbit
In survival mode, I donāt see the big things I am bringingāāāassets that are more valuable in the long run but less tangible in the moment. To push away insecurities, I tackle the tasks that are directly in front of meāāāand get an immediate, confidence-building boost. This is like fixing leaky plumbing instead of designing fixtures that wonāt leak. By putting all my attention there, Iām focused on incremental, immediate achievements. Thatās how I end up tasking. Tasks reinforce the idea of competence that longer term goals and bigger, riskier projects donāt. If you have insecurities, you need the reassurance you get from tasks done well and checked off theĀ list.
The taskingĀ trap
When you are early in your career, you are asked to do low level, short-term tasks. As you go higher, expectations change, projects are longer-term, success less certain, and the rewards much farther out. The kind of praise you thrived on early in your career would be patronizing at a more senior level. Competence is expected, not something to be remarked on. If you are hungry for constant affirmation, it is going to be hard. You need to beĀ fed.
Hereās the thing: when you do the tasks and do them well, you settle into a comfortable but limiting place in your career. Coming from a place of tasking wonāt help you advance. The higher you go, there will be less for you to do and more for your to create. Youāll have expectations to meet and targets to hit, but no one will tell you to do this, this, and this. Youāve got to figure itĀ out.
Keeping your head aboveĀ water
In survival mode you are in the moment. That makes long-term thinking hard, but it is exactly what is needed. It takes work to get out of the āhead above waterā mindset and realize you are actually swimming quite capably. So how do you change your perception from drowning to swimming? Thereās no easy fix, but through a process of experimentation, Iāve found some things that work forĀ me.
- First step: awareness. Recognizing survival behavior in yourself. If you are a tasker, you need to see thatās what youāre doingāāābut it doesnāt defineĀ you.
- Then, trust the evidence. Iāve learned to stop trusting whatās not true. When I think Iām drowning, thatās just wrong. All the evidence says I am swimming. Look at the evidence, whether achievements, promotions, or recognition. Trust where it has taken you soĀ far.
- A tip from career coaches is to do a career board. Sketch out what you have achieved. The achievements that really count may not be the obvious one, but ones you have forgotten, decisions that took you in a new direction and brought you to where youĀ are.
- Finally, there is the matter of confidence. We beat ourselves up because we are not confident. We waste time chasing confidence, forgetting that often valuable information comes from not being so confident. So does preparation, authenticity, and groundedness. So, if confidence is not your strong suit, soĀ what?
Awareness and trusting the evidence have helped me see what I bring and stop tasking. Iām not drowning afterĀ all.
The Tasking Trap was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.