Looking Inward

Dr. Peter Vajda, writing at Slow Leadership, notes that if you are dissatisfied at work, the problem may be you.

I agree with much of what is said in the essay but believe the amount of overstatement damages the credibility of the argument. An excerpt:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in a Time Magazine article, states: “Anything can be enjoyable if the element of flow is present. Within that framework, doing a seemingly boring job can be a source of greater fulfillment than one ever thought possible.” The Dalai Lama says: “I do nothing.” His work and life are the same. Anything can be enjoyable. Anything.

[Execupundit note: Anything? Watching a loved one suffer can be enjoyable? What sort of weird theory is this?]

These two do not say it’s the manager’s responsibility to make anyone happy. They don’t say It’s the flowers and plants that make folks happy. They don’t say it’s the extra percentage in the bonus, or the new training equipment, that accounts for one’s happiness. They simply point to what’s going on, or not going on, inside a person that accounts for their satisfaction.
The question of job satisfaction starts “inside.”

An important question to consider is: “What takes me out of that state of flow and presence and moves me in the direction of dissatisfaction?”