Life – a user's manual Part II - Boksidan

Variation
Some like variation, others do not. And different people have different opinions about what variety means.
What I think is variation might show from table 1. Others see variation in jobs that I think are monotonous
and vice versa. When comparing, for example, a task that is to write different things on a computer in an
office to stand in a checkout counter in a store. The work in front of the computer may seem very one-sided
for the person sitting at the counter, because it means very similar movements all the time, the same image
before the eyes, and no meetings with people besides single colleagues. The clerk, however, would maybe
perceive the work at the counter as very monotonous, because in the clerks eyes it always causes very
similar intellectual considerations.
If the clerk and the store cashier would change jobs with each other while maintaining the same perception
of what variation is, they would probably soon find that the work was dull. But my experience is that,
fortunately, I changed perspective when I changed jobs, if I have felt engaged by the new task. In works
where I have not felt engaged the working days, however, have felt very long. And for me to feel engaged in
the task it requires at least the following:
- I want to feel that the job is meaningful forthe employer.
- I want to feel that I perform the task reasonably well.
- For me to feel that I perform the task reasonably good it requires that the task includes elements that can
be performed with different quality. If not, it remains to try to make the steps more quickly or while doing
something else that provides a small challenge, such as talking to colleagues. If none of this is possible
remains only to try deaf myself through, for example, listening to the radio.
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