Awake at Work Quotes

“The reality that everything is constantly changing provokes and tickles our attention because we never really know what’s going to happen next. We are awake at work precisely because everything is in question. Everything we are, everything we do, everything we want and desire, is basically in question each and every moment. This powerful and sharp reality demands that we wake up.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“nothing is guaranteed in life and that our search for security at work is pointless.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“To be awake at work is to engage each circumstance now, on its own vivid, fluid, and uncertain terms.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“Work is a mess” encourages us to first recognize that we can never have a completely neat relationship with our livelihood. Treating work’s messiness as if it were a mistake or liability only creates further unnecessary distress and resentment. By developing the attitude that work is a mess, we can learn to relax and be curious about the surprises and interruptions. By engaging the messiness of work directly—appreciating both the advantages and disadvantages—we become fully equipped to engage such events in all their variations.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“But when we mix our impatience with mindfulness, we don’t forget that being who we are where we are is utterly and perfectly sufficient.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“Finally, being kind to ourselves invites us to relax. Not just to kick back and light up a cigar or have a cocktail, though this could be fine at the right place and time. Relax in the sense that we can drop the burden of maintaining our point of view. At times of pressure, we can find ourselves being defensive or rigid—maybe taking ourselves a bit too seriously. Maybe we have to hold our ground on changing a critical deadline or one of our project team members is throwing a tantrum and blaming us for a deskful of problems. Being kind to ourselves suggests that we can lay down the heavy burden of taking a stand. We can afford to lighten up and listen and adjust—to be with the situation even if it is sticky and unpleasant. Being kind to ourselves invites us to appreciate that whenever work—and life in general—does not go the way we want it to, we can pause, put our heavy bags down, give ourselves a “cup of tea,” and remember that we are not just doing a job but are being awake at work.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“Typically, business treats groundlessness or uncertainty as a liability or inconvenience, a temporary mirage on our way to perfect and lasting control. It’s as if work perfectly executed would eliminate uncertainty, guaranteeing success with no surprises, no mistakes, no risks misjudged. To be awake at work is to take exactly the opposite viewpoint. Rather than being a liability to be eliminated, groundlessness is acknowledged as the foundation or essential nature of all that we experience—the basic and unavoidable fact of life.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“When at work, Use established routines to pursue objectives, Use messiness and surprises to innovate and succeed.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“The reality is that there is no solution to work’s inherent chaos and messiness. Work by its very nature will always be uncertain. The good news is that work’s messiness and uncertainty need not be distressing. They may, in fact, be just what we are looking for.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“Today we are a supportive and helpful colleague; tomorrow someone considers us problematic.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“anything can and does happen at work, and we have no option but to be open as circumstances unfold.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos

“is unpredictable and chaotic—and it is in this untidiness that the warrior general finds victory.”
― Michael Carroll, Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos