List Of Yucks To Help You Define And Avoid Soul-Sucking Tasks

Achiever - Lack of diligence or hard work around you; when there's no finish line in sight because it's too far away or it keeps getting moved

Activator - Waiting around for projects or people to start what you've been talking about; wasting time when you could be getting things off the ground

Adaptability - Predictability and routine at work; stagnation or mundane work is not fun because you draw excitement from changes in the moment

Analytical - Things that can’t be proven — even data can be frustrating if it is qualitative and not high on the reliability/validity scale; when people try to convince you to trust your heart over logic and facts

Arranger - If people bellyache about change when you could be taking action toward the outcome; being asked to stay on a singular focus or path when being nimble or having a panoramic view would help fit the pieces together

Belief - If your values get questioned or pushed around; if your work or company culture is misaligned with your beliefs

Command - Avoiding issues and conflicts or "beating around the bush"; seeing passive responses at work, or worse — passive-aggressive

Communication - Having your expression squashed or shut down; being alone or feeling like people want you to be quiet

Competition - 2nd place, because it feels like the 1st place loser; when there's no measure of success so you have no idea how you compare to others or how the company wins

Connectedness - Closed-mindedness or when people refuse to see that issues impact more than just us; experiencing an us vs. them mentality — because we all have a ripple effect on each other

Consistency - Unnecessary customization when standardization would serve your team or customers better; seeing or experiencing unfair treatment

Context - When the past is forgotten or disregarded; repeating the same mistakes at work, and not proactively avoiding failure by learning from the past

Deliberative - Feeling pressured to rush into judgment and action; making hasty decisions; new acquaintances asking too many personal questions

Developer - Seeing wasted potential in another person; typecasting people or limiting their career path

Discipline - Chaos and confusion about what outcomes are expected; flying by the seat of your pants; disruptive or urgent requests that stem from someone else's lack of planning

Empathy - Blocking or disregarding emotion as legitimate in the workplace; dismissing people’s perspectives or reactions

Focus - Distractions and interruptions when you're in the middle of something; going off on tangents in meetings or conversations

Futuristic - An environment stuck in the past; contentment with status quo

Harmony - Constant friction among people on the team; wasting emotional energy by rehashing areas of disagreement rather than looking for common ground

Ideation - A role or company that focuses on doing what you’ve always done (unchanging practices and processes); being surrounded by closed-minded thinkers

Individualization - Being asked to apply a one-size-fits-all approach; treating every audience (or person) the same, or receiving a "template" presentation

Includer - Cliques or a feeling of in-groups and out-groups; witnessing intolerance or exclusion, especially when you can tell that person wants to be heard

Input - Doing busy work, and not feeling useful in the moment; when you can’t find a resource for someone and you know you've curated that information in the past

Intellection - Being the recipient of decisions (and needing to execute on the deliverables) without explanation; working on a team where acting before thinking is the norm

Learner - Experiencing a "know-it-all" who dominates meetings by asserting his correctness and is not open to curious exploration of new ideas; having a monotonous role or set of tasks

Maximizer - Delivering work that isn’t great — good isn't enough; obsession with pulling up weaknesses and what's broken, when instead we could be spending time figuring out how to make ourselves truly exceptional

Positivity - Negative Nellies on the team who always want to pick out what's wrong with people or situations; staying serious or dark for long stretches of time

Relator - The social discomfort of making surface-level small talk with new people if it feels disingenuous; networking or events where you don't know anyone and there's an expectation to schmooze

Responsibility - Broken promises — on the giving or receiving side (both feel horrible); disappointing people or missing expectations

Restorative - When people ignore problems and find "bandaid" solutions to keep going while the problem persists; sweeping issues under the rug and not taking accountability

Self-Assurance - Being told how to do something, or having someone trying to control your actions; being questioned or getting dictated to

Significance - Being invisible or ignored at work; working in a role that isn't contributing substantial value; small thinking

Strategic - Being stuck in the status quo, especially when people resist productive change; waiting for people who are making slow decisions and connections

Woo - A shrinking or stagnant social network — no human interactions for long stretches; a ho-hum audience reception, especially when you were sure they'd be engaged.