On The Value of "Killing Monotony" at Work
Today we have some good advice for those of us who face bouts of "killing monotony" during our work day. If your job is always and consistently scintillating, inspiring, exciting, engaging, etc., you may not get much from this advice. Then again, you might have other times in your life, when you're not working, where you're doing stuff that's not all that engrossing, so this could help you there.
Just about every job I've had has had moments that were deadly dull. Some of those moments, especially when strung together, qualified as "killing monotony." And if it wasn't the actual work, there were days when the very idea of the commute was a killer. In my case, I've used public transportation more times than I drove to work, but I think you could apply the term "killing monotony" to some of those driving experiences too. Of course, over time many of us learn to use that time in some beneficial manner. We read, we listen to music, perhaps audio books, or tapes that help us improve ourselves. On long commutes on public transportation, we might even grab some additional sleep.
But back to work. In my own case, I've got a fairly fixed routine I follow each week, broken down into individual days as well. The routine, for the most part, helps me get things done on time. It reflects various aspects of the job broken into chunks of time. For example: regular reading and research; current projects; client contact; regular office management; ongoing administration like bookkeeping, business review, etc. Being organized not only gets things done, but, when you apply yourself and actually stick to the routine (which I do most of the time), it helps move things along so they don't get boring. But despite all that, there are times when I put off some series of tasks because I dread the monotony of having to go through the process required to accomplish the tasks. Until recently, there monthly reports that required lots of time gathering, organizing, and entering data. I'd put this off until I absolutely had to get it done. When I finally bit the bullet, it was all I could do to keep my concentration and slog through the nitty-gritty details. "Killing monotony" is likely as good a description as any of that process.
If you have bouts of killing monotony on the job, or if maybe even most of your job could be described this way (and I do feel sorry for you if that's the case!), there's something we Catholics have known about since the dawn of time - or thereabouts - that can help here. Actually two things: a) offer it up; b) do it for the greater glory of God.
When we offer something up, it's typically something that causes us discomfort or even suffering. Rather than complain about it, or become morose, we do our best to passively accept and endure the pain and offer that up for, perhaps, the suffering souls in purgatory. When we do whatever we do for the greater glory of God, it's not just that which causes us discomfort of pain that we do; rather it's everything.
Here's something from an especially reliable source to help instruct and inspire us to offer up that "killing monotony" on a more consistent basis by effectively turning it into an ongoing prayer. The very fact that God accepts such prayer from us in our most humble, even menial activities should demonstrate just how much Our Father loves us and wants us to get to Heaven no matter our circumstances here on earth.
“It is quite easy to make anything we do, that is not sin, into a prayer. In that way, it is hard for ordinary Catholics not to pray. Some particular forms of prayer may be hard, but to pray is not hard. If loving God is hard, ah, then it is hard to pray. But it is very hard not to love God, if we know anything about Him. Merely scrubbing floors is not prayer, but it can be made into a very beautiful prayer. If the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds, it is a pretty quick road from the scrubbing brush to Heaven…Very often quite simple people get hold of books or some person gets at them, and they are almost afraid to go on their knees, prayer seems to be made so difficult. But God doesn’t want us to pray only when we are on our knees. Some of our best prayers are while we are on our feet, tired feet, or when we are in bed.” (Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.)
Just about every job I've had has had moments that were deadly dull. Some of those moments, especially when strung together, qualified as "killing monotony." And if it wasn't the actual work, there were days when the very idea of the commute was a killer. In my case, I've used public transportation more times than I drove to work, but I think you could apply the term "killing monotony" to some of those driving experiences too. Of course, over time many of us learn to use that time in some beneficial manner. We read, we listen to music, perhaps audio books, or tapes that help us improve ourselves. On long commutes on public transportation, we might even grab some additional sleep.
But back to work. In my own case, I've got a fairly fixed routine I follow each week, broken down into individual days as well. The routine, for the most part, helps me get things done on time. It reflects various aspects of the job broken into chunks of time. For example: regular reading and research; current projects; client contact; regular office management; ongoing administration like bookkeeping, business review, etc. Being organized not only gets things done, but, when you apply yourself and actually stick to the routine (which I do most of the time), it helps move things along so they don't get boring. But despite all that, there are times when I put off some series of tasks because I dread the monotony of having to go through the process required to accomplish the tasks. Until recently, there monthly reports that required lots of time gathering, organizing, and entering data. I'd put this off until I absolutely had to get it done. When I finally bit the bullet, it was all I could do to keep my concentration and slog through the nitty-gritty details. "Killing monotony" is likely as good a description as any of that process.
If you have bouts of killing monotony on the job, or if maybe even most of your job could be described this way (and I do feel sorry for you if that's the case!), there's something we Catholics have known about since the dawn of time - or thereabouts - that can help here. Actually two things: a) offer it up; b) do it for the greater glory of God.
When we offer something up, it's typically something that causes us discomfort or even suffering. Rather than complain about it, or become morose, we do our best to passively accept and endure the pain and offer that up for, perhaps, the suffering souls in purgatory. When we do whatever we do for the greater glory of God, it's not just that which causes us discomfort of pain that we do; rather it's everything.
Here's something from an especially reliable source to help instruct and inspire us to offer up that "killing monotony" on a more consistent basis by effectively turning it into an ongoing prayer. The very fact that God accepts such prayer from us in our most humble, even menial activities should demonstrate just how much Our Father loves us and wants us to get to Heaven no matter our circumstances here on earth.
“It is quite easy to make anything we do, that is not sin, into a prayer. In that way, it is hard for ordinary Catholics not to pray. Some particular forms of prayer may be hard, but to pray is not hard. If loving God is hard, ah, then it is hard to pray. But it is very hard not to love God, if we know anything about Him. Merely scrubbing floors is not prayer, but it can be made into a very beautiful prayer. If the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds, it is a pretty quick road from the scrubbing brush to Heaven…Very often quite simple people get hold of books or some person gets at them, and they are almost afraid to go on their knees, prayer seems to be made so difficult. But God doesn’t want us to pray only when we are on our knees. Some of our best prayers are while we are on our feet, tired feet, or when we are in bed.” (Father Vincent McNabb, O.P.)
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