The Apathy Cycle vs. The Passion Cycle
For the past week, I’ve had a vengeful case of bronchitis. The problem wasn’t the illness itself, but rather, the overwhelming apathy. I blew deadlines, skipped appointments, and even (rather ungracefully) bowed out of a new business pitch. I also didn’t post once to this blog, because for the first time in a very long time, I had zero passion for work.
Normally, passion is so central to my way of operating that I take it for granted, like water to a fish. But I just got a big ol’ refresher course in why passion matters.
Many people, if not most people, feel some degree of apathy about work every single day. Maybe it’s because of a micromanaging boss, or mind-numbing assignments, or a discouraging workplace. In any case, it develops into a very dangerous cycle:
Step 1: You’re indifferent, so you begin to operate at a substandard level.
Step 2: You mentally shut down.
Step 3: The people around you lower their expectations of you and your performance.
Step 4: You become discouraged, if not demoralized, by this negative reinforcement. Lack of passion devolves from indifference into outright resentment.
Step 5: Your performance really starts sucking wind, damaging your reputation and future job prospects.
Step 6: Return to Step 1, except this time, you’re passionately against your job.
So here’s the lesson. Lack of passion leads to poor performance, which damages future chances of success. It quickly becomes progressively more difficult to be passionate. Inertia is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
However, the opposite is also true. Passion is a virtuous cycle.
Step 1: When you’re passionate about your work, you produce better results.
Step 2: These results give you the inspiration to generate fresher ideas.
Step 3: Your reputation rises.
Step 4: Your network grows, because everyone wants to work with a passionate person.
Step 5: Basking in the glow of this positive reinforcement, you bring even more of your best self to the job.
Step 6: This, in turn, makes you more passionate.
If you’re in a job, a relationship, or any other kind of situation that sucks your passion, you’re probably trapped in the apathy cycle. See if you can inject fresh energy, to initiate the passion cycle. But if that’s too exhausting, the situation might require too much energy to be worth fixing. In that case, start finding people and places that generate passion give you the best possible chance of being your best.
To paraphrase something I once read somewhere:
Being in an apathy cycle isn’t your fault. Staying in an apathy cycle situation is.
December 18th, 2005 at 5:45 pm
Wouldn’t apathy inherently work forever against you at you current place of employment?
Not saying I’ve never been in the cycle, fighting to erricate it, and on the converse at times
dousing it with cans of Aqua Net.
I remember you saying once that if prospective employers should woo someone into changing
their lives, commiting to far away lands of unknown eateries and ways of snow dealing, they should
at least try and tend to morale as if it were the baby chick under the anvil of a favorite
Stren Fishing Line ad of mine from way back.
Yes, I know it is your fault for remaining in such quagmires, but what if it seems that they exist
on part from people who should lead you into passion?
Passions, BTW is a great soap. Voodoo spells, soft-Barbara Walters lighting. Awesome.
December 20th, 2005 at 7:51 am
Ooooh, good question. When your employer is the reason behind your apathy cycle — and this goes double if they wooed you into changing your live to work there — it’s even more damaging.
We tend to naturally look to our employers to provide respect, acknowledgement, and opportunities to grow. (In the book I call them “cherries.”) When we get those things, we rarely feel apathetic because those things are passion catalysts.
However when we do not get these intangible forms of currency (and let’s face it, most people don’t), it’s demoralizing because we’re giving so much of ourselves to the job. When we work late, answer emails after hours, and give our emotional selves to work, we deserve so much more than just a paycheck. And when we don’t get it, then naturally we want to rebalance the situation by giving far less than our best.
If you feel entirely unsupported by our boss, you might find yourself actively detracting from your employer. I call this “passive quitting:” you’ve mentally checked out, though you’re still officially employed. Once you passively quit, you might badmouth the company, pull down morale of those around you, stop delivering for clients, or worse. And that only makes sense, right? If you’re not being supported in being your best, why in the world should you give your best?
According to government research, people within a company who’ve passively quit cause billions of dollars of lost work time, stolen supplies, etc.
Thanks for your excellent points. I wholeheartedly agree that your employer owes you a debt of some kind in proportion to what they’re asking from you. Most times, that debt cannot be paid by paycheck alone (especially these days, when the raises are slim and the bonuses nonexistent).
It’s amazing how employers are so slow to recognize this simple principle. Treat people well, reward them fairly, and they’ll repay you in spades with their commitment and higher performance. Duh, right? Smart companies recognize this, and as a result, have low turnover, high satisfaction, and– here’s the important part — a stronger bottom line.
As for Passions, the soap — haven’t seen it but it sounds brilliant. My Tivo list is so lowbrow that voodoo spells and Barbara Walters lighting would fit in quite nicely.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
1) Barbara Streisand has the best lighting in history, next to Robert Redford.
2) Apathy’s just, well… whatever.
But seriously, I reserve passion for living breathing things like people. Work is just a job. Or as Marlon Wayan’s once said in mo’ Money, “A job ain’t nuthin’ but work!”
Passion is for people. We put our emotional energy in the wrong places, consequently we usually don’t get much in return and we drain ourselves that much quicker.
When we put passion in people, we tend to get passion back because people can give it back. A job can’t give you anything but a paycheck. A person can love you back. They can hurt you, too. but they can love you as well.
By the way Sally, this is my first post… hope you’re feeling better.
Talk to you on the 9th.
December 29th, 2005 at 10:41 am
Hey Hustleknocker -
A few points here.
First, “work is just a job” – this seems to miss the premise of this whole site and the concept behind it. If the work you do is “just a job”, then it isn’t really a *career*; my daughter took a “job” as a receptionist for a dentist, discovered an interest in the field, got some training, and now has a “career” as a surgical assistant (and who knows from there?).
Second, “a job ain’t nuthin’ but work” – I’m willing to bet that while Marlon Wayans’ *character* may have said that, Marlon himself would say otherwise. You don’t get as big as he is thinking about your work as “just a job”.
Third, “a job can’t give you anything but a paycheck” – true, but again, that’s the difference between a job (no passion) and a career (passion). (Although I’ve had abundant opportunity to experience the difference between people just doing a job and people with a passion for their job or career – doctors, lawyers, programmers, construction workers, even waiters – and let me tell you, I’ll pay extra for the passion.)
Lastly, passion is for anything you want it to be for – people, art, work, animals, education, anything. Okay, except for cleaning out the fridge. I agree to a point about misplaced emotional energy, but believe in moderation and balance in all things. Think of the passion for your work/career as an investment of your passion in yourself (a living, breathing thing). Be passionate about giving yourself the present of a thriving career.
- rb
January 2nd, 2006 at 12:01 am
What do you do when apathy is a management mandate? (No, don’t laugh. This really does happen.) I’ve seen fantastic designers and product managers be chastised by apathetic upper managers precisely because they refused to produce average work.
I discussed this with the company’s HR manager, and she explained to me that veterans of that particular company resented the enthusiasm, creativity and innovative streak of these guys. In their eyes, their desire to better the company was like saying that what these veterans did in the previous thirty years wasn’t good enough.
This HR manager actually recommended that a) they dumb down their work, and b) that they stick their noses to the grindstone for a year or two. None accepted her terms. They all resigned pretty quickly.
Other than leaving, what can a worker do when the virtuous cycle is ruined by bad management?
January 2nd, 2006 at 2:26 pm
How’s this for multi-tasking? Three comments in one!
1) To my friend Hustleknocker… I’m surprised. Aren’t you passionate about what you do? I think you are. If you weren’t, why on earth would you invest so much of yourself into your book/job/mission? I’m not making a value judgement, just confused. My sense from reading your book and talking to you is that you’re genuinely passionate about making a meaningful difference in the world. No?
2) To rbriem… yes, totally, absolutely, yes. Tell your daughter she gets a radical careering gold star.
3) And to thebrandbuilder, such a great question. Not only does the situation you describe crush morale, it also inevitably lead to significantly reduced career options. Here’s my feedback.
To stay in that situation is career suicide. The longer you stay, the worse it gets. (See Radical Truth #93: Escape toxic.) If you absolutely cannot leave, then generate as much portable equity as possible outside the job. Boost your skillset, make valuable new contacts, raise your personal brand value, and anything else that will start building the net. Then jump as soon as freakin’ possible.
January 2nd, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Yep. I’m making an ‘Escape Toxic’ T-shirt tomorrow.
January 6th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
“Escape Toxic” is very cool. Couldn’t agree more. As for passion vs. apathy, I still choose “focus” over “passion”. You can focus on your job and perform it at an exceptionally high level without investing an extreme amount of emotional energy in to it. Focus is about mental and emotional maturity and (sometimes having a little bit of hustler’s icewater in the veins). It’s not always pretty, but it works.
But as you’ve both pointed out, sometimes enough’s enough and you have to know when to fold ‘em and leave. Some envrionments just aren’t good for the career or the soul.
Still, when it comes to my health or my freedom, I’ll take a great focused doctor/lawyer over a passionate doctor/lawyer whose not very good any day of the week.
It’s just a matter of perspective and professionalism in the end.
(It’s possible that we’re all saying the saying thing, more or less.)
January 6th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Hustleknocker -
“… I‚Äôll take a great focused doctor/lawyer over a passionate doctor/lawyer whose not very good any day of the week.”
Yeah. And I’ll take an great impassive doctor over a lousy focused (or passionate) doctor. And I prefer oranges to apples. *My* original point was that given two equally capable people, with the only difference being “passionate” versus “apathetic”, I’ll choose (and even pay more for) the passionate one.
I’ve had to deal with doctors and lawyers and social workers and many more who believe as you profess to, that “A job ain‚Äôt nuthin‚Äô but work!‚Äù, and “A job can‚Äôt give you anything but a paycheck”. That’s a perspective I can live better without.
But sadly, we seem to live in a world where *passion* has become a unit of emotional currency, and people feel a need to receive as much as (or more than) they give. So let’s use “focus” or even “enthusiasm” instead. In which case, yeah, we are all saying the same thing.
But I think “Passion vs. Apathy” is a much better hook than “Focus vs. Apathy” or “Terrifically Interested vs. Not Really Quite So Interested”.
(Of course, I’m not a writer, so what the heck do I know?)
January 26th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
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