Dear Employee of the Year,

Hey, I think it’s time to take a break. I’m serious. You’ve been sitting there, staring at your screen for the past 5 hours. Don’t you want to go out for some fresh air? Or why don’t we stretch our limbs for a while?

No? Well, I tried. What else can I expect from a workaholic? I probably shouldn’t have asked. But hey, I get it.

We want to get as many tasks done within our 9-to-5 shift. We want to have enough energy for other important matters in our life. We try to juggle a lot of things all at once. We want to stay focused every waking minute so that we can perform better.

The internet have helped us get work done easier. We can now send important emails anywhere we may be. Heck, we can participate in a meeting even if we’re still in the comforts of our bedrooms at home. At the same time, the internet ruined the concept of time, of creating a separation between time spent for work and time spent for other pressing matters in our life. We bring work anywhere we go. We’ve become walking bodies glued to their mobile phones and tablets. We eat emails for breakfast and have proposals for dinner. The internet somehow did the opposite of things for us. I mean you surely worked even more than before right?

Props to you Mr.and Ms. Workaholic, in all honesty. You deserve the title employee of the year. So I guess, it’s only fair – if not, it’s actually right – for you to take a break.

And, I mean an actual break. You know, one where you switch off everything the moment you step outside the premises of your office. No more emails or work-related phone calls. Be present with those around you. Listen to your family as they tell you about their day during dinner. Your smart brain feeds off of information and though nothing’s really wrong with that, it gets toxic when we fire ourselves up resulting to even more physical and emotional exhaustion.

It’s tough. I can only imagine how hard it is to break a habit but this is the only way for you to have an actual restful break. And believe it or not, uninterrupted breaks are actually essential to creative and critical thinking. If that doesn’t work then why not try this technique a friend of mine uses. It’s called the Pomodoro Technique. It’s all about setting time blocks per task. You have 25 minutes to fully concentrate on the task at hand. After doing so, you have a 5 minute break that allows you to do whatever it is you want. Grab a cup of coffee or maybe go for a walk. It actually works. You see, with this technique, we can fully immerse ourselves to either working or playing. It helps your bright little brain stay sharp by avoiding switching tasks.

And you know what else you can do so that you actually make the most out of your breaks? Why not try repurposing your workspace? We have the ability to shape the space that surrounds us in the same way that it shapes us. Changes are constantly being applied in numerous workspaces. The advance technology have made working different for us. And with the emergence of digital nomads or that guy we barely see come in, offices are being designed to encourage concentration and short breaks.

I mean have you seen the coworking spaces around here? They’re multiplying and for a good reason. They give their members plentiful of freedom to value short breaks. Plus, you should see all the different workspaces that you can use. Please, don’t mistake this as some sort of a workaholic-intervention whatsoever. You are entitled to choose whether you’ll listen to me or not. All I want to do is to remind you that you are more than your work. You deserve a sufficient amount of rest.

Yours truly,

Last Year’s Employee of the Year

2016 was the year the rest of the world gave the center stage to employee engagement. Improving and redefining the overall happiness of the workforce have been the talk of the town. The industry has redefined the standard workplace environment, conducted numerous surveys to get an idea on how to proactively solve this issue.

And much to our delight, researchers have recorded great results. According to a 2016 survey on Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement by the Society of Human Resource Management, eighty-eight percent of US employees are satisfied with their respective jobs, with thirty-seven percent claiming that they are very satisfied and fifty-one percent reporting that they are somewhat satisfied. These reports mark the highest level of employee satisfaction over the last 10 years.

The aforementioned study also notes that these employees are only contented to a certain extent, signifying that there’s still room for improvement. And with the economy staying relatively stable over the past year, companies are finding new ways to create better incentives and perks for their employees.

Companies and organizations alike have come up with different strategies to increase the overall happiness of their employees. Some have allowed for flexible work schedules and have offered some of their workers the option to work from home. All the while, some companies have instilled a more casual dress code in their office. Some have even tried redesigning their whole office.

Though tedious and not to mention, quite expensive, experts believe that designing offices that can maximize employee happiness is an alternate strategy that organizations can use.

Teknion, an American design company, released a research paper discussing the complex connection between humanity and environment health. Entitled Ethonomics: Designing For The Principles Of The Modern Workplace, the 2016 paper highlights the potential of workplaces to be reinvented into spaces that bring happiness and overall satisfaction to those who utilize it.

Its authors believe that companies should use different approaches in design to create places that are sustainable and healthy – office spaces that inspire people and make them feel good about what they’re doing as well as where they are.

Design expert Joan Blumenfeld, a contributor of the said paper, says that happy workplaces should have the ability to flex and provide to its workers a variety of space options that promote movement through the day. Bluemenfeld futher explains that though several companies are doing a great job in incorporating the aforementioned elements into their respective offices, this holistic idea should be recognized by everyone.

Ethonomics argue that in order to create an infrastructure for happy workplaces, it needs to have room for movement.

Until recently, humans heavily relied on their ability to move in order for them to survive. And so, it’s only right to optimize a workspace for a species that is biologically engineered to be in motion.

The authors suggests providing opportunities for physical activity because despite of our efforts to care about our wellness, our jobs and technology have glued us to a seating position. According to them, alert and engaged workers are those who have stimulating work environment that encourages them to stand and walk around. They further elaborated the importance of movement by highlighting that we are more alert after taking a walk – this feeling of well-being affects the way we interact with those around us, greatly.

The paper also suggests incorporating natural elements to your workplace. Research have said that “being within green space” can help reduce mental stress. In addition to this, they suggest integrating a mix of open and enclosed spaces as well as taking color and texture into consideration.

We stood by Woody and his friends as Andy grew. We helped Marlin and Dory swim to Sydney in search of Nemo, only to help them again – Marlin and Nemo, in this case – as they looked for Dory. We had our hearts broken as we witnessed Sully and Mike say goodbye to their little human, Boo.

For most of our childhood, Pixar told us stories about friendship and family. They taught us the power of pure imagination. Their technological breakthrough in computer animation and art in general made our younger years even more special.

Contrary to popular belief, their success did not come from a single idea but is rather the result of fresh ideas put together by a group of talented individuals and their collective creativity. Co-founder, Ed Catmull, discussed the workplace culture of Pixar in an article published last September 2008 in Harvard Business Review.

CGI making of 2015 Pixar animation movie Inside Out.

With an industry that demands new and fresh content, originality is valued. Several movie businesses choose to reproduce the success of other movies, tweaking specific details to make their own rehashed materials, instead of creating new concepts. He says that the natural instinct of executives to minimize risks hinders unique ideas from coming to life – a trait he and the rest of the company inherently avoids.

He adds that their success wasn’t pure luck, it was the result of their undaunted behavior towards failure and their ability to manage recovery from such defeat. He also discussed the importance of community, further explaining that creating an environment that fosters trusting relationship among talented people and releases everyone’s collective creativity engenders a vibrant community within the workplace.

Pixar’s philosophy is that they look for talented people, bet on the ideas they generate, give them freedom, as well as provide an environment that encourages honest feedback. Catmull shares that they setup teams to generate ideas that has potential to become great films and assess whether the relationship among them is healthy, as well as whether they are making progress or not. And whenever issues arise, they provide every possible support they can give without compromising their authority. Moreover, Pixar takes pride in the community they’ve created. The people from all levels of their studio support one another. They openly help each other to ensure high quality output. “It’s one for all, all for one” for him and the rest of the company.

Check out Pixar’s animation process guide here.

Catmull shares that Walt Disney believed in the ability of companies who invest in reinvention and the combination of technology and art to create magic. Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter even coined the saying “Technology inspires art and art challenges the technology” – a way of life that Pixar has established and continues to reinforce by giving everyone the liberty to communicate with anyone and developing a workplace environment wherein everyone is safe to express their ideas.

Ed and the rest of his team nurtured a culture that encourages learning, growth, creative freedom and innovation, all of which reinforced a more humanized way of working and supported collective creativity. The norm that Pixar have established inspired millions of executives to move towards a new workplace environment that can greatly benefit both companies and employees by adhering to certain principles or by revamping their physical offices. Employees themselves have invested in the said culture by trying out coworking spaces or shared office spaces.

The approaches Ed strengthened changed the way Pixar made animated films and gave more depth to workspace culture – spreading their magic to the world.

Among a sea of dreamers and wayfarers, there are lucky ones who watched their childhood hopes come true. Some became doctors, while some became lawyers. There are those who became musicians and those who became artists.

Then there are those who had to give their hopes away – the wishful thinking that someday they’ll get to do something that they love for a living. For their safety, for the sake of their families, for survival.

Sacrificing what they love and settling for something they don’t exactly admire can be torturing. Just imagine what it must have felt to be in a virulent environment from 9 to 5.

It makes every step heavy, every move inching towards madness. They want to walk away but the world says no because quitting is not an option. ‘Not right now’ they’d say ‘there’s too much at stake’ the world would reply.

Little Secrets

And so day by day they live through it, through all the gossip, petty drama and politics. The mad ones inhabited their own little ways – little secrets – of making each day better than before, chanting “one more day, one more day”.

They’d alter their mindset and use different techniques and meditations to lessen the weight of desolation. Every single day, they look for something positive; anything really, so long as it gives them another reason to stay. They try to laugh their worries away with coworkers and friends, focusing their minds into this tiny speck of sunshine and hope it’ll help them hold on for just one more minute.

Plugging their headphones on, they tune out the rest of the world and keep themselves focused to avoid getting side tracked by all the negativity surrounding them. They create boundaries and barriers between personal matters and work, hoping it won’t add more harm to their already miserable life.

They avoid insignificant gossip and drama, reminding themselves that they’re a full grown adult and are no longer in high school, participating in petty office drama won’t do any good. Any remark about their work will be regarded as constructive criticism and they try their best not to take any negative annotation into heart.

They create their own little bubble by customizing their cubicles with little trinkets and photos of those they love. They remind themselves that there’s more to this draining job by adding post-it notes with motivational quotes on your desk and computer screen.

When things get a little too overwhelming, they take a little break and go for a refreshing walk. They search for new inspiration or anything that can recharge them for the rest of the day.

They strive to stay true to their selves amidst all the pessimism, promising their selves that they will never take part in the unending cycle of despair.

Still, even the mad ones who manage to stay true to all these secrets, break. Sometimes things get too much and they walk away.

Some look for new jobs in traditional offices while some decide to abandon the mediocre corporate job and actually do something they love. Those who choose a new kind of profession find solace in coworking spaces, the kind of office that fosters positivity, creativity and passion. These workplaces give home to those who finally had enough of the toxic environment from their past jobs.

And before you leave, here’s another secret from the mad; no job is worth losing your sanity over.

Give your childhood dreams another try and become part of a community that strives to encourage its members to become better people.

From our parents, aunts and uncles to our grandparents – they all told us to be thankful. We, the so-called Lost Generation didn’t suffer through wars, didn’t have to sit in ditches and await grenades, nor did we go through the Great Depression – the economy is booming these days, establishing businesses is so much easier.

We can only imagine what they went through and how hard it must’ve been, but in our defense, we’ve had our fair share of suffering as well. We had front row seats to a show full of unwarranted killings, acts of violence and countless deeds that made most of us question our belief in God. We saw planes and buildings explode and watched innocent individuals be named as prisoners and criminals at a whim. We witnessed foes turn to friends with false pretenses. We had our hearts broken as families break apart and sat crying as children starve and got their futures ruined before they even have the chance to start one. We saw men in suits destroy the poorman’s livelihood while giant corporations steal and cheat. And in those insufferable moments, we decided that we’ve had enough. We stood up, one by one, and started to walk away. We refused to take part in all of this.

Ernest Hemingway called us the “Lost Generation”

Sounds romantic, sure, but it’s the term for all of us who are unsure of the purpose of our existence and refuses to define it with dull jobs inside menial offices. A term for those who are hurting and confused. A term for the disenchanted young ones who only want nothing but happiness as they live their lives.

We’re a generation that only wants the simple indulgences of life. We aim to live our lives through experiences, not just by earning money. We want memories to define us, not the numbers in our bank accounts. We want our life to be full of adventure and excitement, refusing to settle down in suburbs and nine-to-five jobs. We’ve turned away from cubicles and suits – creating jobs of our own and purpose.

The author of “A War Imagined: The First World War and English Culture” said that the idea of being ‘lost’ does not mean fading but rather refers to being adrift, wandering.

We are a generation of restless and spontaneous young people, who has no patience for conventionality and mediocrity. We are wayfarers. We try to learn all about the country where we were born in till we know every nook and cranny by heart and travel places we have yet to know. We emulate the life of nomads, revolutionizing the corporate culture one city to another with creative and risky innovations.

Slowly but surely, our lost generation of wanderers demolished the dispiriting premise of the nine-to-five grind and created an alternative that brought better possibilities as opposed to the traditional working culture.

We created workspaces that allowed us to have the freedom to leave whenever we want and be whoever we want. We made places that opened a platform for coworking among like-minded individuals – spaces that gives you the opportunity to grow and expand your creative freedom.

We brought the Internet to life and created communities that discuss philosophies and art through computer screens. We used the technological initiatives of our present time to change the political and economic landscape of the world.

We are revolutionaries and risk taking artists unafraid of bringing a great shift to the seemingly damned world we live in. Lost and confused as we maybe, we are closer to finding ourselves than any other generations that came before us.

Be part of the lost generation, of wayfaring artists and revolutionaries, join us today and take a step closer to attaining peace of mind knowing that everything you do, will not be in vain.