It's 4.55pm on a Friday and Russell from People and Culture is winding up a two-hour meeting on risk and compliance that had eaten away at our souls.
Nine of us sit in a windowless conference room, bored, annoyed and despondent.
Rhonda from procurement eats almonds one by one like a squirrel and flecks of nut project from her mouth each time she speaks. Nathan from the executive office drones on about processes and Kristy from projects ticks us off for not completing our compliance training before the deadline. By the time Russell asks for any final comments, our minds drift to after-work drinks.
"I'll briefly share my screen to give an update on the restructure," Nathan says. We sigh. The thinking icon takes too long. "Your screen isn't sharing," we say in unison. Then, suddenly, up flashes an unflattering email about Rhonda and how she spits when she eats.
We all wonder how the drama will play out, but it's 5pm and Friday night drinks beckon.
This office scene might be complete fiction but many of us can relate to what is playing out in this windowless conference room.
Wallowing in work troubles?
The working world has changed since the pandemic and people are struggling to adapt back into their jobs after lockdowns.
It has tested our resilience and triggered existential despair at the realisation we have no choice but to work until we die.
But instead of wallowing in work troubles, using ancient wisdom and a stoic perspective could provide the tools to better manage them.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Marcus Aurelius faced similar frustrations as Roman emperor.
His timeless insights into human behaviour show that not much has changed in the workplace. He had a much bigger job than most of us.
If he could keep the Roman Empire afloat, then surely his stoic wisdom can help us all cope better with meetings that run overtime or a peer who eats crunchy apples in earshot while we are trying to work.
Rather than leave a job where you might find someone annoying, stoic guidance can help make your job more tolerable, meaningful even.
There is something that might help
The ancient Stoics knew a lot about hardship, welfare, disease, toxic people and death, which makes them more than qualified to offer guidance on working life.
When we suffer setbacks, view them as learning opportunities. "The impediment to action advances action," Marcus wrote in his self-help bible Meditations. "What stands in the way becomes the way."
Marcus's insights into managing tricky people are just as relevant today as in the second century CE. So too his perspective on incomprehensible corporate guff and the political scheming that all leaders must confront.
He came to expect that people would be frustrating, and knew that taking a measured approach was the best way for him to stay on top of his game and not let his work take over his life. "Be not heavy in business, nor disturbed in conversation, nor rambling in your thoughts," Marcus said.
He understood that some things were within our control and others are not — and realised we have power over our own minds, but not outside events or other people's actions.
A perfect mindset for the modern world
This is the perfect mindset to bring to the modern world of work. Time spent worrying about things we cannot actually change is pointless.
A colleague sits next to you breathing like Darth Vader? Move desks.
You wish you'd become an astronaut rather an accountant? Do something space-related as a hobby.
Your boss gives you an hour to pull together a presentation? Manage their expectations by setting out clearly what you can realistically do in that time frame.
"At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: 'I have to go to work — as a human being … I'm going to do what I was born for … or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?'" Meditations, 5.1
Annie Lawson is a former journalist and author of Stoic at Work.
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