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Don't know if lazy is the right word, but the opposite of ambitious. Don't care about raise, promotion, recognition - just want to go in/out and do the least amount of work possible.
If this is you - why? Have you always been like this?
After almost two decades of hustling my ass off, making my boss hundreds of millions, and now, even the thank yous have stopped am firmly in the "do as little as possible" camp. Today, I have 4 clients to call. If that is done by 10:30 AM, the work day ends at 10:30 AM.
I go to work every 3rd day. Work for 24 hrs, off for 48. I used to do my work and then some. And you know what? I never received a thank you, good job, or any other recognition. There were others that sucked butt, didn't do half of what some, including myself, done, and yet they were receiving firefighter of the year, medic, etc. But also there is a "clique" here. So, one day I started slacking off. My shift captain and few others complained to me one day about it. And I let them know about it. So now, I come to work, do only what I need to and that's that. Oh and I do document things as well because at times it is a hostile work environment with their attitudes and harassment.
Why do I still work here? Because I'm not letting those narcissistic sycophants get in my way of having the career I always wanted. I've worked too hard to get this and they're not taking it away.
I always try to maintain a positive outlook when starting a job. However, I've been where I'm at for two years. There's no real shot to move forward. It's easy to get in a rut in situations like that.
I've been in my job function for almost 8 years, and lately more than ever I've been trying to keep from falling into the pattern described by the OP. It's the same crap at every company at varying amounts, and I've gotten burnt out on it. I've been trying to make a career change to something I'm a lot more passionate about, but the problem is that my current field seems to have barriers to keep you from doing anything else besides moving up into management (I have no interest in climbing the ladder), rather than other more technical roles. It's a bit disheartening, so I can definitely see why some people fall into a motivation rut. Best thing to do is to keep trying to find avenues to get out and arrive at greener pastures.
I've been in my job function for almost 8 years, and lately more than ever I've been trying to keep from falling into the pattern described by the OP. It's the same crap at every company at varying amounts, and I've gotten burnt out on it. I've been trying to make a career change to something I'm a lot more passionate about, but the problem is that my current field seems to have barriers to keep you from doing anything else besides moving up into management (I have no interest in climbing the ladder), rather than other more technical roles. It's a bit disheartening, so I can definitely see why some people fall into a motivation rut. Best thing to do is to keep trying to find avenues to get out and arrive at greener pastures.
I have never worked a desk job. I have always worked hard. Perhaps it was because one of my first jobs was literally lifting 120,000 pounds a day in 100 pound bags off the floor of boxcars that sometimes were over a hundred degrees inside in the summer. All other jobs seemed easy. I actually like the hard jobs or at least I liked them when I was young. I never had to worry about being overweight back then; they were my 'exercise' program and I got paid!
I am now 71 and as of January fully retired. Even now I still miss work and am thinking I might go back at sometime. I worked hard not just for exercise or the money; I did it because of pride and so I did not have to be ashamed of the person looking back in the mirror. I always gave a fair day's work for a fair day's dollar. If another employer was moving into my area I could go to them with my head up and tell them I was a good worker. My old employers always gave me plenty of great recommendations; so it did have it's advantages.
PS Always keep in mind that you are working for you; not them!
To me this is two different things. I'd like to think I am ambitious and career path seems to confirm that. That said, I am not trying to do more work than I need to. In that respect, sure I am trying to do the least amount of work possible to continue moving my career in the direction it is going. Why would I do more than I need to?
Now if someone is doing the bare minimum just to stay employed then that is a different discussion.
I was in IT for a computer illiterate company. I would go weeks with nothing go do. They were happy as long as the network was up and running. That is not even the good part. I worked 2-3 days a week for a six figure salary and 25% of the net profits.
I did do work but it was stuff like designing software and hiring the software developer to code it. Once the was done I had no work other than monitoring our network until the next project which may be in two more years. I automated a lot of my work and moved all of our software to the cloud using leased servers who were maintained by the server farm. Our email was handled by a company on the internet an any work that needed to be done that required a physical presence, since I lived far away from our computer room, was subcontracted. In fact I ha subcontracted out all of my duties and all I had to do is arrange for things to get done when and if they needed to get done.
It was not always like that, just the last 8 months. I worked my butt off before that. Did I mention that I came across emails between the company owner and our COO, both whom are married with children? A subtle note to both of them telling them that they may want to delete some of their email before it was backed up and saved for 7 years did the trick. I also knew where all the skeletons were hidden because so many people forget that email is not private and we monitored it and all internet access due to security programs we were pay too. Information truly is power.
P.S. I never threatened or would blackmail anyone. I just trusted that my discretion should be rewarded, not bought.
I have never worked a desk job. I have always worked hard. Perhaps it was because one of my first jobs was literally lifting 120,000 pounds a day in 100 pound bags off the floor of boxcars that sometimes were over a hundred degrees inside in the summer. All other jobs seemed easy. I actually like the hard jobs or at least I liked them when I was young. I never had to worry about being overweight back then; they were my 'exercise' program and I got paid!
I am now 71 and as of January fully retired. Even now I still miss work and am thinking I might go back at sometime. I worked hard not just for exercise or the money; I did it because of pride and so I did not have to be ashamed of the person looking back in the mirror. I always gave a fair day's work for a fair day's dollar. If another employer was moving into my area I could go to them with my head up and tell them I was a good worker. My old employers always gave me plenty of great recommendations; so it did have it's advantages.
PS Always keep in mind that you are working for you; not them!
Those two things arent mutually exclusive. I would bet a lot of people working desk jobs have hard jobs. Probably best to say "I have never worked a desk job, I have always done manual labor"
It this is true, great, despite your bitterness and idleness, you have used the system for a nice result, a very early retirement. But most people who practice this mentality won't be so fortunate.
It's just someone boasting on an anonymous internet forum! They just might be working the late shift Wendy's pick up window for all we know.
I'll keep busting my butt at work, staying ahead of my contemporaries, and enjoying the crumbs off the masters table. At least I know my work and my rewards.
Another factor is if you're a go-getter and show more aptitude and knowledge of things than management themselves, they may very well (in most places these days) conspire to keep you out of the fray because they will be threatened by you. . If you show your uselessness/laziness and spend your days playing politics you chances increase tenfold of a promotion. Ive seen this happen to a ton of valuable workers. I happened to me as well over the years and in return I just kept my head, went through the motions, collect a paycheck and left after 8 hours. No point in giving any idiotic employer with this type of mindset more than the absolute MINIMUM IMO
Most management does NOT want valuable, go getters around that threaten them. They would rather surround themselves with lazy rear end kissing "yes men" that don't question anything. . A lot of logic in this world isn't there?
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