Top 30 Indicators That You Might Be Bored at Work

It seems clear to me that we're more likely to thrive when we're plugged into Reality. And I've noticed that some people who are bored at work are unaware that they are, because they find things to do that disguise the boredom, or at least make it more tolerable. For these people (a little tongue-in-cheek) I offer this list of boredom indicators.

1. You can't sleep at night, so you sleep at work.
2. You've figured out how to sit at your desk so that nobody can see that you're actually sleeping.
3. You wonder if anyone heard that snore when you woke yourself up just now.
4. On the way to the coffee machine you look down at your coffee cup and you notice that you already have coffee.
5. You look forward to your bathroom break.
6. You just arranged lunch with two people you can't stand, just to get out of the office.
7. During lunch, you find yourself thinking about what to have for lunch tomorrow.
8. You enjoy deleting sp*m.
9. You read your sp*m.
10. You send sp*m.
11. You're usually current on your expense reports.
12. You look forward to required training.
13. It's all you can do to keep yourself from correcting obvious typos in Wikipedia.
14. You correct obvious typos in Wikipedia, but you do it under an assumed name.
15. No matter what you're doing, if it's work-related, you feel relief when you're interrupted.
16. At work, you surf the Web looking for a new job.
17. You do your Web errands (shopping, gifts, etc.) at work. No point wasting time at home on this stuff.
18. You've learned the keyboard commands for quickly displaying the next or previous browser tab so you can switch quickly to a tab more suitable for work when someone suddenly enters your office.
19. You listen carefully to the phone conversations of the person next door.
20. You look at your boss's home in Google street view — again.
21. You got pretty good at some of Google's more arcane commands by searching for your ancient love interests.
22. You've figured out how to use the Internet All your paper clips are
    pointing the same wayto spy on your dog sleeping on your sofa at home.
23. All your paper clips are pointing the same way.
24. All your paper clips are pointing the same way except the ones that you intentionally turned around so that they wouldn't all be pointing the same way.
25. You've discovered that your office is in a time warp, because the clock, while not actually stopped, is moving so slowly that it might as well be stopped.
26. You send long email messages to colleagues debating the finer points of stuff that even you don't care about.
27. You send email messages that are so long that if you were a recipient, you wouldn't read them.
28. Under an assumed name, you hold the daytime North American record in an Internet computer game.
29. When a random question comes into your head (like which tree species leafs out first in springtime) you immediately get onto the Web and find the answer.
30. And the Number One Indicator That You Might Be Bored at Work: You've read all the way through this list to get to the number 1 indicator that you might be bored at work.

There's nothing magical about the number 30. I just stopped because I didn't want you to get bored.  Top    Next Issue

The article you've been reading is an archived issue of Point Lookout, my weekly newsletter. I've been publishing it since January, 2001, free to all subscribers, over the Web, and via RSS. You can help keep it free by donating either as an individual or as an organization. You'll receive in return my sincere thanks — and the comfort of knowing that you've helped to propagate insights and perspectives that can help make our workplaces a little more human-friendly. More

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Doorknob Disclosures and Bye-Bye Bombshells

A doorknob disclosure is an uncomfortable, painful, or embarrassing revelation offered at the end of a meeting or conversation, usually by someone who's about to exit. When we learn about bad news in this way, we can feel frustrated and trapped. How can we respond effectively?

Double Your Downsizing Damage

Some people believe that senior management is actually trying to hurt their company by downsizing. If they are they're doing a pretty bad job of it. Here's a handy checklist for evaluating the performance of your company's downsizers.

Time Management in a Hurry

Many of us own books on time management. Here are five tips on time management for those of us who don't have time to read the time management books we've already bought.

Ten Reasons Why You Don't Always Get What You Measure: I

One of the "truisms" floating around is that "You get what you measure." Belief in this assertion has led many to a metrics-based style of management, but the results have been uneven at best. Why?

Wacky Words of Wisdom: III

Adages are so elegantly stated that we have difficulty doubting them. Here's Part III of a collection of often-misapplied adages.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Emotions at Work for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming November 30: Avoiding Speed Bumps: II

Many of the difficulties we encounter when working together don't create long-term harm, but they do cause delays, confusion, and frustration. Here's Part II of a little catalog of tactics for avoiding speed bumps. Available here and by RSS on November 30.

And on December 7: Reaching Agreements in Technological Contexts

Reaching consensus in technological contexts presents special challenges. Problems can arise from interactions between the technological elements of the issue at hand, and the social dynamics of the group addressing that issue. Here are three examples. Available here and by RSS on December 7.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenZLkFdSHmlHvCaSsuner@ChacbnsTPttsdDaRAswloCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info