“F**k this morning flew hey… it’s already smoko?”
Construction work is mundane and oppressive.
Because it’s so oppressive it means, as a Construction Worker, you have to go somewhere mentally just to get through the day.
Most construction jobs are repetitive, monotonous, thankless, sometimes degrading and at times very physically demanding.
Further to that, you don’t even get to think for yourself most of the time as a Construction Worker.
There is always someone above you, thinking on your behalf and telling you what to do. You follow orders and wait for instructions the whole day.
That’s what makes it soul destroying – you are not even making your own decisions or solving problems with any autonomy.
There is always someone over your shoulder giving their 2 cents telling you how to think.
That’s why you have to go somewhere mentally to get through the day as I said.
However, there’s a really important point you should always be aware of and it’s this…
Everyone on your site is doing EXACTLY the same thing you are.
What you and everyone else does at work is…
WISH THE TIME AWAY.
You wish the time away until your first smoko.
You go back to work and immediately start wishing the time away again until lunch.
After lunch you wish the time away until you can finally go home.
How often to do hear guys talking about how quick the time went or (alternatively) how slow it’s going?
“Time” is a constant talking point on every site.
Now, you might be reading this and saying to yourself:
“Yeh but I’m at work, what the fk do you mean(?) – of course I’m wishing the time away, I don’t want to f***ing be there. I want to go home.”
YES… of course this is true, who wants to be at work – you’d rather be at home. I’m not here to tell you otherwise.
It’s just when you say this type of thing to yourself you are making a BIG mistake in the process.
It’s a very common and easy mistake to make which is partly due to your upbringing + working in Construction from a young age.
The mistake is this… you have probably grown up believing that the following is a ‘universal law’ of society:
Work is work and “life” is the time when you’re not at work.
(eg: with family, friends, weekends… doing things you enjoy etc etc)
AND…
‘wishing your life away’ – which is what you’re doing every day on site - regardless of the reason is NOT OK.
I’m not saying I have the answers but it’s something to think about anyway…
Thanks again for reading really appreciate it!
As always “have a good safe day”
Cheers
Stu
