Cognitive Dissonance at a Job Near You!

I had a dream last night about returning to work after my year-long medical leave. The weird details of the dream are not important, but in the end,  I firmly resolved to never return to a stressful work situation.

It came down to the stress, I just couldn’t deal with it any more. My mind had had enough, so my body took me out of the game, big time! By all accounts, I was good at what I did, I contributed, I went above and beyond and I tried to mentor the younger sales type. But I had reached my limit and my body rebelled. A year after the fact and I still dream of the stress!

Now, I know stress is a part of my life and that I can’t avoid all stressful situation.  But work-related stress in today’s environment for an over achiever like myself is different.  With experience come insight and a sort of clarity as to what will work with business to business customers and what won’t.  When I saw executives with no clue beyond the latest consultant buzz, who’s goal was to grow a business at any (human) cost, just so they could potentially cash in when the company goes public or gets sold, I got Cognitive Dissonance.
When the size of my paycheck depended on meeting goals that I knew were not just unrealistic, but just plain unobtainable, I got Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is the anxiety that results from being forced to simultaneously hold contradictory or incompatible positions, like knowing that your goals are unobtainable and knowing that the know-nothing purveyors of the unrealistic goals will be judging You not on your work process or effort, but on achieving their unrealistic goals.

Cognitive Dissonance is striving harder and harder for unobtainable goals, while knowing that the System will grade me poorly for not meeting those goals! I couldn’t take it any more, my heart literally stopped!

What happened to the type of executives who actually cared more for their customers and employees, than the quarterly results?  What motivates these current executives to create a work environment, a System, that treats such dedicated, experienced employees as grist for their personal money mills. Why doesn’t it connect with these executives that when the very people, who built the successful business that they bought, are quitting in droves that their ‘Grand Plan’ is flawed?

Personally, I don’t get it, I’ve worked at company where growing the company for the long-term mattered more than getting to an IPO. Where caring for employees and retires was as important as paying the quarterly dividend. Recognizing this growing trend in corporate management had been a source of personal stress for some time.

Intellectually, I know it’s just commerce, and I know that it’s not the stressors, but how I react to them that is the cause of my anxiety. Einstein said that Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  I say Insanity is emotionally investing in a System that is based on an empty premise of importance, just so the purveyors of that premise can decide if you have worth to the System.

The resolve in my dream brought me one step closer to dealing with my Cognitive Dissonance. Getting these thoughts on paper has helped me shed some of the baggage of 45 years of continuous employment, without looking back.

To be continued…Advice to my Still Working Friends-
It’s Up To You To Make Your Work Less Stressful