Work Pleasure

The other day I cleaned off the top of my desk. This involved sorting the rubble into mounds that had something in common, and then dealing with each mound. There were bills to pay, records to update, forms to be completed, faxes to be sent, licenses to approve, documents to file, tax issues to unscramble, and on and on.

When I was done, my desk was breathtakingly clear of debris. Gazing at my uncharacteristically pristine work space, a peculiar joy came over me. As I walked from my office back to my home, I felt lighter. There was a bounce to my step. I’m reasonably sure my body was creating extra endorphins.

It made me wonder if other people get an actual physical pleasure from doing work, at least the kind where you accomplish something, no matter how unimportant. My guess is that people who work long hours get a sort of charge every time they complete a discrete task. People who don’t get that charge, on average, probably find jobs where they can work fewer hours.

I recall my corporate days, where I would spend eight hours refining a Powerpoint presentation that, in all likelihood, would have no impact on the business. I always felt a charge of pleasure when it was done. Each time I reviewed the beauty and majesty of my graphs and bullet points, I would get a new little surge.

I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.

Do you get pleasure from completing relatively unimportant tasks? And if so, do you work more than 40 hours per week, including optional work such as blogging?

Comments

[word police]

Discrete = separate

Yep.

[Elise]

Today I spent an exaggerated ammount of time on my personal page at the corporate intranet. Guess what.... yep! Surge! :)

[Fake God Almighty]

I felt immense satisfaction after creating The Universe. Since that event, all has been a less than satisfactory experience.

[bro]

I do and I don't. I work less then 40 hours (32) and feel a great sense of achievement if in a next job I can work even less for the same pay. Nevertheless I do feel good if I finish a task. I like writing, but I don't blog. It was already clear to me that you get a kick out of blogging; you announced to blog less a while ago, but you don't seem to do that.

[Schwaman]

I used to get that feeling, and I still do. Now though, I recently found a job that is seriously the closest thing on earth to not doing anything and still getting paid (no not the porn business!) I praise God every day for this job, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit feeling a lack of self worth.

[Felty]

I derive approximately equal pleasure from knocking things off of "the list" and from adding things to it.

I work 60 to 70 hours per week.

[Shane]

I work more than 40 hours a week and I blog, but I am a youth pastor so not only do I get pleasure from completing tasks I get the added bonus of believing that I am helping people find God. You can't beat that little endorphin boost.

[What Would Deep Throat Do?]

I own a business that employees 3 people. Doesn't seem like a big deal but in 2007 we did over half a million dollars in sales. Not bad for a start up that opened their doors late last year.

A couple weekends ago I came in on a Saturday and decided to tackle the piles of paperwork on my desk. Four piles, each about 3/4 to an 1" thick.

I eliminated 90% of said piles. Was I elated? Excited? OH YEAH. So bouyed was I that I tried to take a day off yesterday.....sigh....yesterday I began several new piles.

[rd]

yes,
72 hrs/week, if to condense 6 hrs/day actual work, other 6 hrs are in between time, so i surf the net, read papers or try to write the manuscript, but mostly procrastinate
i have no life

[Jed Snole]

Sorry to cut in with an off-topic post, but someone has to call this urgent news bulletin to Scott's attention. If ever there was a need for an emergency blog entry, the story of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox priests at the Church of the Nativity is it. How much longer can we endure siting by waiting for the opportunity to post our comments?

[Navin Harish]

Everyone gets pleasure out of getting a work done. I get that pleasure even after taking a dump in the morning when I come out of the loo smiling that I have got rid of some trash and I have completed one task that I have to in the morning. Silly but true.

[Mike]

I've been both a computer programmer and development manager. As a manager I'd only feel a sense of accomplishment every 4-6 months at the conclusion of a project. As a developer I get a rush every day, or at least every week, as I complete a module, test program, spec document, etc. That sense of completion and being able to move onto something else is extremely rewarding, regardless of how important the actual task is.

[sak_gatane]

wow!
I'm so happy that I've finally completed this comment! Yippy!
sak.

[Lymonhead]

I do get pleasure from work. I work way over 40 hours a week when you figure in all of my businesses and money-making endeavors, plus my barely read blog.

By the way, I liked the strip today. First pane was the best. The tiny cubicle is like the room around a person's heart whose soul belongs to a corporation - if even temporarily.

[Oran Looney]

Yep; I live to complete relatively unimportant tasks. As a programmer, I consider bug tracking software to be a perk; delicious little packets of work, each taking a few minutes to a few hours to complete. Sure, they're important to someone, but to me it's more of a game of skill.

I do a little blogging, and thanks to Google Analytics, I know for a fact that I have "few if any readers." I do it because it makes me think through ideas and complete projects, instead of leaving things half done. I suppose I'm over 40 hours a week if you count the site, but it doesn't really feel like work to me.

[Jonathan]

Oh, and I also admit having spent an inordinate amount of time on "perfecting" PowerPoints, customer responses and other tasks which have high visibility. It feels good to know that I am not the only one who struggles with keeping the "urge" to get it PERFECT under control.

Jonathan

[WCE]

I tend to get 40 hours' worth of work done in about 10 hours, a couple hours/day on average. It isn't because of laziness, it's just that when the work is divided up equally, my share takes about a fourth of the time allotted, when it's done right the first time, and I've had enought experience to get it done right the first time.

This leads to a lot of problems, many of which aren't the obvious ones.

I sometimes, out of a sense of pity more than anything else, offer to help a coworker who's struggling with a task to "help" him out, which usually ends up doing 90% of it. (Still, that's another two hours a day, so I still have lots to time to fill looking busy.) One might, naively, think that this would result in gratitude from the person I helped, or appreciation from the task manager who needed the task done on-time, but that almost never happens.

The nonlinearities of human nature come out with things like "gratitude" and "appreciation", and eventually dominate the group chemistry from then on until no one wants me on their projects. (I was kicked-off a multibillion-dollar program for suggesting an obvious way to save $30million from a $100million budget task. The guys running the billion-dollar tasks heard that I had a couple more ideas, and money is power.)

That saying about "building a better mousetrap" really needs to be updated. "Build a better mousetrap, and rat-catchers will burn down your house."

[Andy Coulter]

Work sucks.

[Esther]

I'm a student, and every time I finish a homework assignment and cross it out of my planner...I do get that little surge of accomplishment.

[GK]

Like many people I also get a kick out of completing something. While I was studying at uni, I would often procrastinate by tidying or doing other chores, because these gave me the kick I needed while endless research didn't.

My current job is somewhat of a mixture. There are often discreet parts to the jobs I do, but the whole job will go backwards and forwards between clients, coworkers, contractors and larger jobs can go for several months with no work to do, then reappear.

I do a lot of volunteer work as well, mostly with the sporting clubs I play for. It is definately more satisfying doing discreet units of work for these rather than the ongoing parts.

I get frustrated doing things that could go on forever, because I like to do the whole job; to understand it from every angle and for practical purposes, that desire is often impossible.

[the man in the trout mask]

In my job as a Mafia hitman I would consider the majority of my assignments to be "relatively unimportant",however,I always derive a sense of satisfaction from knowing that I have executed (a little Gangland pun there!) a cleanly efficient whack job. My colleagues say to me - "The guy is a two bit punk,just bash his brains in and be done with it" - but that's not my style - I guess that is why they also say "If anybody ever puts out a contract on me,I just hope they give it to the Trout." .... ah! brings a tear to the eye.

[whg]

Oh, yeah, I do work more than 40. Some from home, some 12+ at the job.

[whg]

I get some personal satisfaction from pointing out to the managers that they are clueless when I have proof, but not from completing those unimportant tasks. That is the worst insult to an engineer.
To have to compile data that they already have but are either too busy or not qualified to interpret is just plain frustrating and makes me want to look for another line of work.

[Cathy D]

I LOVE finishing tasks, whether they are mundane or monumental. At work, or at home. Checking that "completed" box, or scratching a line through the job list, just feels good. Finishing something I've procrastinated about is the best.
I participated in the "blog every day for a month" activity, and that was fun too...my blog is little read, but by gosh, those few people had something new to read every day for November!

[JoNa]

Yes, and yes.

I'd rather work than socialize. When I socialize, I talk about what I'm working on.

It's a disease.