...sometimes it's all we've got to hold us together. The quick and dirty fix – just enough to finish the day and get onto the next thing.

We all reach for these in desperation – when all else fails and we don't have access to implement the proper fixes or the proper tools.

But when you find that everything is covered in duct tape and you've run out of baling wire, it's time to start assessing the bigger problems.

Has the quick fix morphed into a standard of practice?

The world you live in doesn't match the world you want.

This might be stressful and frustrating. But don't sweat it –because it is this – and only this – that makes you valuable.  It's the difference between being an artist and just another clock-puncher.

The world is full of plenty of people who experience the world they expect. Having different expectations is the value you add.

The narrative is a powerful thing – the way we stitch together our world into a noble story. The narrative can also enslave us in a prison world of good guys and bad guys – black and white strawmen who manipulate and control us.

Maybe it's not really like that.  

Maybe, just maybe, the narrative is just a useful teaching tool for intergenerational transfer of ideas and morals. The narrative can be powerful –  it can make esoteric concepts real through simple stories. But maybe within that apparency lies the trap.

Too often we need a bad guy in the story. If there isn't a bad guy – we'll make one. Maybe really no one is to blame for a bad situation. Maybe if you pulled out all the actors, administered a battery of personality tests, lie detectors, – maybe, just maybe, you'd learn it was wasn't malevolence that motivated them – may, just maye they were just doing what was in their own best interest at the time.

The narrative we impose on our world doens't really fit well with this reality. The narrative of our world wants us to be the protagonist pushed and pulled by outside forces – ultimately completing some celestial story arc. The humanistic narrative is so much more attractive than the pedestrian reality of real life.

When your story arc is tied to success in your career – it's tempting to think that there are bad guys ready to waylay you and steal away your successes. It's tempting to believe that a person you don't get along with at work- or the work or office itself - is really the "bad guy." But maybe, just maybe, he or she isn't part of your narrative. 

Maybe the bad guy in the story serves another purpose – to give us an excuse for not winning. In the archetypical narrative the "good" guy wins in the end. When we don't "win," we get to be the victim and we get to blame it on someone else. It's a good way of excusing our own behavior.

The narrative can be a powerful thing – it can inspire us, guide us, and inform us. I'm just worried that we may be applying narratives to situations - particularly at work -  that really doesn't warrant one. We don't need a story to understand that the weather changes.

Maybe we we don't need a story of good and bad to explain what's going on in our offices.

I deny that this appellation - Attorney - imbues me with an autodidactic responsibility.

Not ready to sign yet?

Good.