markargent:

got out of bed at six and was only ten minutes late to work.

had my first monthly one-on-one meeting with my manager in about six months. I’ve been falling down a little, so the meeting was not quite at the come-to-jesus level yet, but there was plenty of beginning-of-year talk about goals and projects and what-do-you-think-we-needs and…

one of the most harmful memes in our culture is the one that says we must all reach the pinnacle of our personal and professional potential. every individual has to exceed expectations, every team has to win every time. every metric must be blown past, to be replaced with an even higher metric.

for all of my thirty-five years I’ve been told I could do incredible things if only I would apply myself. but the people telling me this almost always want me to do things I don’t care about, usually to their benefit, so I find it hard to trust their predictions. and frankly, if I haven’t managed to apply myself even fractionally to something I love yet, it’s going to be nigh on impossible to apply myself fully to something I only do so I can, on occasion, do the things I love.

dear employers: not everyone wants to be a superhero rockstar ballerina dinosaur. not everyone strives for that Employee of the Month plaque or other meaningless scattering of pennies from your bulging pockets. some people are just here for the paycheck. as long as a worker isn’t repeatedly inducing states of cascade failure, I don’t see a problem in letting growth and development occur naturally, as needs arise, if it occurs at all. laziness is harmful, of course, and not doing your job and expecting to be rewarded for it is foolish, but a disinterest in professional excellence is no sin in a sane society.

oh yeah. that.