“Being engaged by your work” is the buzz phrase for 2007.

People used to work because they had to.  If you didn’t work, you didn’t eat.  Hunger was a great motivator.  Now the focus seems to be on fulfillment and getting people to work hard at their jobs because their jobs interest them.  Working for the sake of doing good work is long passé.  Now we must be engaged by our jobs and if that’s not the case, then somehow the employer is at fault.  Engagement is being discussed in newspapers, magazines TV:  everywhere.  Engagement is the new black.

Don’t get me wrong, the concept is appealing.  If I can go to work and lose hours there the same way I do when I’m playing Age of Empires III, then life is fantastic.  Who wouldn’t want a job that is so enjoyable (er, engaging) that it’s actually more like recreation than work?

Sadly, some jobs are just not that fun.  If cleaning toilets or changing adult diapers is engaging to you, then you, my friend are a rare breed indeed and you will always find work that you love.  I suppose the point is that a person should try to find out what they like to do in life and do that.  At the same time, if one is unhappy with one’s employment, then the choices are:  work to change what’s bad, accept that it’s work and deal with it or leave.  Simple.

Brain Dead Sunday.

I did feel creative when I woke up this morning and I actually shot a video blog that I’d been thinking about for a few weeks. However, after I watched it, I don’t think I can ever embrace this form of expression unless I do it for work. It’s too much of a reputation hit if it goes badly.

So after that, my coffee induced mental sharpness hit the cellar. I manage to make some lunch and play on my DS for a little bit. Then I went to the grocery store. That’s about the extent of my achievements for the day.

Oh and I packed too. I’m off to the West tomorrow and I have to say I’m looking forward to this trip.

This is turning into a very un-Mental Interface like blog entry. This is turning into one of those what-did-I-do-today blogs of which I’m not too partial. Ah well, it fits in nicely with the brain dead theme.

With any luck I’ll still be able to lift some weights today and put some stuff up on eBay tonight. Then the day won’t be a total loss. We’ll see.