photo credit: Ange Soleil ( a.k.a Tweng )

Next time you’re feeling down about your job, peek at this list of Top 10 Ancient Jobs That Sucked Big Time and maybe you’ll look at your to-do list with renewed enthusiasm.

You don’t even have to go back to ancient times; there are plenty of jobs today that pretty much suck, and if you’re here reading this, they’re probably not yours.

Sometimes we all need a little perspective.

Happy Monday! Hope this turns out to be a great week for all of us.

photo credit: Betsssssy

What? Play at work?

It sometimes seems like only the humorless are promoted to positions of power and they expect everyone else to be just as humorless. But play is linked to creativity, and without creativity, we would all be humorless drones.

So tackle your next task with imagination and wonder, and see what fun you can have even with mundane routines.

You might find a new way of doing the same old thing that saves time, produces better results, or saves money. Or all of the above.

(And by the way, if you get those kinds of results and they aren’t appreciated, maybe it’s time to find another job. One where you can work hard and be playful at the same time, get good results, and be appreciated.)

Don’t ever lose your spirit. Happy Monday!

photo credit: tyger_lyllie

Most employee handbooks probably don’t forbid being too serious on the job… but maybe they should. Then again, they also probably don’t explicitly forbid humor, unless it’s of the “inappropriate” variety. But a laugh among colleagues can relieve tension, deepen relationships, and make dull days seem brighter.

In short, it can make the workplace fun. And what’s more motivating than a job you actually like doing?

There’s definitely a way of taking it too far. I’m not recommending anything that risks crossing the line into harassment, although I have worked in some environments where there was almost a sense that unless you were risking HR wrath, you weren’t pushing the envelope hard enough. But that isn’t most workplaces, and that isn’t necessary for a healthy release of tension.

And it needn’t be distracting. Spending 15 minutes of every 30 minute meeting cutting up is probably a bit excessive unless you write comedy for TV. But a light comment now and then, a shared laugh with colleagues, or a running gag the whole office is in on can be the kind of thing you wake up in the morning with a smile thinking about, eager to go to work.

Is there much humor in your office? Share a laugh in the comments.

photo credit: Valerie Everett

It’s about as cliche a desk accessory as it gets, but a framed photo on your desk of something that inspires you may be just the thing you need to keep you focused and driven to succeed.

A few jobs back, I was overextended, managing three of the company’s top five goals within my small team, but it seemed worth it because I believed something good would come of it in the end, both for the company and for me professionally. But to try to make it all work, I was putting in really long hours at the office. Which meant that the very reasons why I wanted to succeed — to enjoy my life with my husband at our beautiful home in relative comfort — were out of my reach when I needed the motivation the most.

So I spent a couple bucks on having good quality prints made of some of my favorite snapshots of my husband and my home, and put them in good frames. Sure, I could have just made those images my computer screensavers or desktop wallpapers, but then I wouldn’t have them there in my peripheral vision all the time, just waiting to remind me about why I was there in the first place. Which also reminded me, after I’d put in a long day’s work, to go home and enjoy what I was working for.

Now that I work from home, I don’t need the reminder in such a visual way, but I do occasionally take a break from my desk to go hug my husband or take a stroll through our garden.

Maybe your inspiration is different: maybe yours has to do with places you want to go, or things you want to do. Maybe mementos of the past keep you focused on the present. Whatever it is that keeps you going, find a way to remind yourself frequently.

How do you remind yourself what really matters? Share your tips in the comments.

photo credit: Jacob Bøtter

Recently I stumbled across an older article at HBR.org about cultural transformation within a company through fun and laughter:

We’re a company—maybe like yours—where having fun was long viewed with suspicion. Sure, a lot of start-ups and Silicon Valley companies have wild and crazy cultures, with pillow fights around the foosball table the order of the day. But ours is a traditional, Midwestern manufacturing company, one that didn’t even allow employees to have coffee at their desks until 1989. Although we pride ourselves on our technological innovation, we make industrial signs and other identification products, not PalmPilots or rainbow-colored iMacs. We are an old-line company that has always taken business very seriously—again, maybe like yours.

So perhaps it comes as a surprise that, for the past seven years, we’ve made fun an integral part of the culture at Brady Corporation—not simply as an end in itself but for serious business reasons. We’ve found that getting people to loosen up and enjoy themselves has numerous benefits. It can break down jealously guarded turf boundaries. It can foster an esprit de corps throughout the company and greater camaraderie on teams. It can start the conversations that spark innovation and increase the likelihood that unpleasant tasks will be accomplished. It can help convey important corporate messages to employees in memorable ways. It can relieve stress—and, heaven knows, we can all benefit from that.

And it made me want to ask you, our readers about your work environment: is your company environment fun? Do you laugh a lot at work? Is fun encouraged, or are you sneaking laughs with coworkers behind the bosses’ backs?

You probably spend the weekend doing a combination of things, but if you have your way, how do you prefer to spend the bulk of your time on the weekend?

photo credit: Marco Gomes

This is, depending on what your source is, Bike to Work Month, and we’re in the midst of Bike to Work Week, and again depending on your source, either today or tomorrow is Bike to Work Day.

Despite the confusion, there’s obviously a great deal of merit to the idea of getting a car off the road, lightening traffic congestion, and getting some exercise in the process. Even if you don’t normally drive, riding a bike can be a whole lot more fun than taking the bus or train.

(I work from home, but have been trying to ride my bike to do quick errands – like stopping by the post office or bank – more often this week.)

The great thing about riding a bike to work is that it can be an opportunity to enjoy your surroundings, notice details in your town you may not have noticed before, and probably even arrive to work more refreshed and energized than if you just sat in traffic getting frustrated at people who don’t know how to merge. (Uh, why don’t people know how to merge, anyway?)

Of course there are logistical difficulties for some people: their commute is simply too long for practical bike commuting, or they’re not physically able, or there are no safe routes, or they have no facilities for freshening up when they arrive at work. (Although if the latter reason is holding you back, it’s worth considering riding slowly enough to stay cool and/or freshening up using a moistened washcloth over the sink in your workplace’s bathroom.)

Struggling with other logistics? Quite a few sites have tips, like the ones in the Berkeley Daily Planet:

Forget the car roads and find the bike roads. Try the routes recommended on the bike map for your area.

Use transit as a back-up to your bike travels. If you get tired, hop on a bus or BART for part of the journey. If you can add a bicycle component to your commute, you will probably find yourself wanting to ride more and more over time.

I can attest, from previous experiences commuting by bike, that the route I drove in a car was not usually the best route for riding a bike, so that’s a good, not necessarily obvious tip. And certainly mixing biking and public transit makes the commute easier if it’s a particularly long trek (assuming there’s at least some public transit along the way).

Do you bike to work, even occasionally? What other tips can you suggest?

Building Out the Green Infrastructure [The EcoInnovator]

Today, the fundamental underpinnings of the First Industrial Revolution are no longer true. Energy is no longer free; it is expensive in absolute and real terms. The externalities of energy usage are no longer acceptable to the general population. [...] We believe we are at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution.

7 Principles of Admirable Business Ethics [The Perfect Life1]

5. Become Community Involved: Remain involved in community-related issues and activities, thereby demonstrating that your business is a responsible community contributor. In other words, stay involved.

Stress Management For The CEO [Forbes.com]

He runs marathons, which he says not only keep him physically fit but provide major stress relief. What really sets his mind at ease, though, is a bowl of chips and some good salsa and guacamole with friends.

The Value of Workplace Practical Jokes [HBR Editors' Blog - HarvardBusiness.org]

In these days of dark morale, I find that an occasional, gentle joke can be quite a bonding experience for colleagues.

photo credit: xmacex

It seems likely that the intersection of people who are driven to do good work and people who are driven, period, is pretty substantial. But we all need breaks to recharge our bodies and our minds so we can dive back into our work week refreshed and ready to make the world a better place.

So tell us in the comments: what are you doing with your weekend to relax?

Or if your work entails weekend hours, how will you be spending your next day off?

(via GraphJam)