Joy in the Journey

There are a lot of different personalities in the workplace and a lot of different people. There are many different ways to dissect the population; people vs. processes, analytical vs. emotional, etc. In addition to these differentiations, I've found one other way to divide the people I work with in 2 main groups: 1. Those who take joy in a journey, and 2. Those who only take joy in finishing a journey.

Being an OpzGuy myself, can you guess which side I take? I have the hardest time not picking processes over people, I am analytical to a fault, and my main goal in life is to get things done. I've come to realize that I don't take any joy from doing the work of a project. The only time I'm really happy is when I'm actually checking something off my list.

This is pretty sad, because it means I'm probably not enjoying life enough but I just can't help it. Once I start a project, I can't think of anything else until it's done. It's like an unfinished project leaves a loose end in my mind that distracts me so much I can't focus on or enjoy anything else until I finish it.

I've actually taken this a bit to the extreme. I hate having any email in my inbox. I can't leave the office for the day until I have completely cleared out my inbox. If I did leave while there was still email in my inbox I wouldn't be able to give my full attention to anything until I return to the office the next day and I probably wouldn't sleep very well with that unfinished business hanging over my head.

My coworkers have discovered this and take joy from sending me email right after I leave the office. They know I will get the email on my phone a few minutes later and it will distract me for the rest of the night. Of course, it doesn't usually bother me enough for me to respond to it that evening because I try to hard to leave work at work, but I might be better off if I just replied to it and got rid of it.

The Other Side

Now, I have a coworker who I work with closely who is the exact opposite and takes great joy in the journey. He loves the challenge of a task and is not overwhelmed by a project that might take him months or even years to complete. He enjoys the journey and revels in the things he's learning and accomplishing while working on the task. It's possible that the unfinished task may wear on him a bit as well, but overall he is much better at enjoying his day-to-day work and not being concerned about taking on a task that will take him weeks to complete.

I believe my personality might be better suited to an early phase startup, but as the startup begins to mature and get to a point where it has more resources to put into fixing bigger problems, I think the person who takes joy in the journey might be better off. My current company is hitting this phase now, and I'm having a hard time taking the time to do the big projects we need to take our business to the next level. In the meantime, my "Joy in the Journey" coworker is in his element and frankly is exactly what we need right now. I'm working to be more like him but am also glad for the contrast.

Which are you? Can you take joy in the journey or are you only happy when you are completing a task? How about the people you work with? Do you think one personality is more conducive to a startup environment?