Are You Energized or Drained at the End of the Day?

Many years ago, when I was in college, I had a part-time job at a photo processing plant (this was before the days of digital photography). My job was in the darkroom moving rolls of undeveloped prints that needed to go through chemicals to finish the photo process. It wasn’t a particularly hard job and I certainly didn’t mind the darkness. I was puzzled, though, how at the end of every shift I was mentally exhausted. This seemed counter-intuitive to me. How could such an easy job exhaust me? Equally puzzling to me was that I observed some of my co-workers were totally energized at the end of their shifts. I thought perhaps they might have been a little closer to the photo chemicals than me, but that was not the case.

Many years later I have been able to solve the riddle.

Assuming we are healthy, I have learned that each of us given an environment that complements our behavioral style has the potential to be energized at work. I find this exciting.

Behavioral science has been especially beneficial for me as I have worked in Human Resources over the past 25+ years. Not only do we have individual behavioral profiles, we work in roles where a particular profile or range of profiles can contribute to the recipe for success. Individuals whose behavior style is a fit for their job tend to hit all cylinders throughout the day. We may be overloaded with work, but we tend to end the day with a “bring it on” attitude.

This brings me to the solution to my riddle of why such a simple job at the photo processing plant left me exhausted. I was fortunate years ago to learn from a style perspective, we are not all wired the same. Behavioral assessment tools such as MBTI, DiSC and many others help us understand those differences.

If I had done an assessment of what was required for the photo processing job, I would have realized that those requirements were exactly opposite of my style.

• The role required someone who was willing to accept established, repetitive tasks.  I need to have control of my environment.
• Working alone at times in total darkness provided little time for social interaction. I am a people person and need lots of social interaction.
• It was important that we maintain consistent quality with the photos we processed. That required us to do the same tasks repeatedly. I thrive on variety and change.

In hindsight, it makes sense that I was exhausted at the end of every shift. From a behavioral perspective, I was hardwired as the exact opposite for what was required for that job.