Drudgery, Craft or Calling?
As I dive deeper into different perspectives on high sensitivity as a trait, I feel compelled to share some of the ideas expanded on by Barrie Jaeger in her book Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). If you are feeling like you are spinning your wheels in your workplace, or struggling to understand the twists and turns in your career path, this might just be the book for you. If this is your first time hearing the term high sensitivity, please pause and read more about high sensitivity here first.
There are many golden nuggets of insight in this book for Highly Sensitive People, but one of the main ones that stand out is the simple but nuanced description of how our experience of work can slide along a continuum of states, with Drudgery at one end, Craft in the middle, and Calling at the other end. She writes,
“…while Craft captures either one’s mind or heart, it doesn’t get both. Drudgery has neither our heart nor our interest. And a Calling commands both heart and mind” (p.111).
Not everyone will find a job that engages their head and heart. Indeed, job satisfaction can seem like a lofty goal or even a form of privilege if there are difficulties putting food on the table consistently. Sometimes we make conscious compromises in favour of a reliable paycheque, but for highly sensitive people the instinct towards a role that resonates internally will be very persistent, making it difficult to settle into the status quo, or simply clock in and out. Our tendency to consider the big picture and to process deeply will beckon continually, it’s how we are wired.
Barrie Jaeger notes three metrics that are extra important for highly sensitive people to pay attention to when evaluating workplace fit:
Control (how much influence do we have?)
Meaning (do these tasks aligns with our values and convictions?)
Challenge (are we learning, growing and making the world a better place?)
No biggie right?! Friendly sarcasm aside, you can look back at your career path and do a little audit. If you find yourself in a role where you would rate your role high in all three of the above metrics, you are likely feeling pretty satisfied both mentally and emotionally (hello Calling). And, if you are in a role where you have very little control, meaning and challenge, it is likely taking a toll on you -Drudgery strikes again! If you are like me and want to get your nerd on, you can follow Barrie’s suggestion to make some bar graphs to visually compare and contrast these three metrics for each role over your career path. It’s an enlightening process.
Barrie’s book also introduces the idea of Drudgery Institutions. If Calling is the elusive sweet spot for HSPs, Drudgery Institutions are the rampant weeds in the garden. You’re probably already familiar with them, without having had a word for them. They are the workplaces where you feel like a cog in a machine, dehumanized. Where dollars drive decisions without a glance toward the common good or the environment. As deep processors and big feelers, highly sensitive people are extra distressed by interpersonal conflicts, poorly designed policies, and the undercurrents of toxic workplace cultures.
“Drudgery comes with a certain mind-set, a certain way of looking at work and life that’s degrading to the human spirit. This state of mind is common to a wide variety of institutional Drudgery jobs. As you seek to identify unhealthy places with dysfunctional attitudes towards its workers, keep in mind that the mental and emotional conditions within these workplaces is crucial to you” (p. 41). Later, she continues, “Getting out may mean letting go of the desire to change or improve the situation...It is typical that the practical side, the fearful side, makes leaving Drudgery very scary…You cannot expect to make an existing job better. If the job is meaningless, if the work is boring, if the people are making you miserable, you cannot change the situation…An abusive workplace is not a place we can change, and we shouldn’t try” (p. 58).
Oof! This is tough news for the HSP, we love trying to improve things and will exhaust ourselves attempting to do so. Dr. Elaine Aron, the founder of the HSP trait, and Barrie Jaeger both warn HSPs about an unhelpful habit we have of holding on to a poorly fitting job for too long, particularly if it aligns with one of our strongly held values. Does this sound familiar? The good ol’ white-knuckling-it strategy is familiar to many. Doing so, will at minimum deplete our resilience along the way, and at worst, could lead to burnout or workplace trauma. Barrie writes,
“HSPs cannot endure Drudgery work as long as others can, so don’t let the abilities of those who tough it out for many years, living from weekend to weekend, be your model. (Jaeger, p. 204)
Both authors note the other end of the pendulum for HSPs: choosing a simple stress-free job. This strategy, however, can also become problematic as it inevitably misses the intrinsic HSP need for meaning and leaves the HSP working incongruently from their values. Though these two tendencies are somewhat the opposite of one another, it turns out they both lead to drudgery for many HSPs. Talk about a slippery slope - at least we’ve been warned!
It is important to note that where you sit on the continuum is (a) personal and (b) can evolve with time; what is Calling for you may be Drudgery for someone else, and what is Calling for you today, may not be Calling in a few years. She even writes,
“…it’s not unusual that HSPs grow out of jobs like a young child grows out of clothes – and many times feel badly about it, believing they have somehow failed…” (Jaeger, p. 29).
I love this metaphor because it reminds us that growth is natural and that changes in career paths don’t equal failure, but may include some pinch points and growing pains along the way.
“…the need for a wonderful ideal that makes an ordinary job a way of bettering the world, the need for calm and quiet as a respite from too much stimulation – all of these issues push and pull the HSP out of good situations and into bad ones…Change and variety are part of what your career will look like. This is not a flaw. (Jaeger, p. 55)
And while it’s rare these days to stay in one company throughout a whole career, sometimes we need a little help finding our way around. If these ideas resonated with you, I’d invite you to dive deeper into the book - there are more golden nuggets yet to be found, not to mention some super helpful checklists. As with any resource, you’re invited to read critically and to notice what resonates for you. Lastly, if these ideas are hitting a little too close to home (you know who you are), and you would like some support, please reach out. We can process deeply together, and use our HSP strengths to find a way forward.
