Answering Questions You Haven't Asked: Why can't you relax? What's missing at work? What's the most important thing to do at work? How can you do it at work (the most important thing that is)?

Is there any danger to asking or answering questions that haven't been asked?



with the guidance/approval of Einstein, the patron saint of questions:



let's start with the question of questions


 why are you thinking about work when you're not at work?  

leaving aside the problem of why you can't enjoy yourself when you're not at work


is it because you're the lemon being squeezed at work? asked to do more with less? being rewarded with less?


surveys suggests that many believe they can't let go because they have a smart phone 

















...and their cell phone acts as a 24/7 electronic leash and that their office is 'walking the dog' and that they're the the working class dog?

surveys also suggest people can't let because they aren't taking their vacations

...and if you just can't seem to find the will take vacation, why? 


survey says, its because you think...

and if you do manage to take that vacation, why can't you seem to let work not intrude? survey says....

so, if surveys suggest most can't relax when they're not at work


does this mean most are not happy at or about work?



surveys say yes, most don't find full filling and here's why:

so what's the answer?  is there a way to make work work better? 

so what should pay attention to today and everyday at work (and in your life)? survey says...



Nothing is more important for your happiness (particularly today) than learning how to learn



If we wanted to get Zen about this.....

We might try a work version of a Zen koan such as 'what is the sound of one hand clapping,' but since Bart Simpson pretty much wrecked that one ...

you might think that young grasshopper should ask: 


What is the sound of one learner learning at work? 



What can Zen can tell you here?



Perhaps that at work, at least, the sound of one learner learning is actually the sound of two or more learners. Confused?

Don't be...It's just that all learning at work is a social activity (as is, perhaps, all learning)

And that's great news for everybody

Because even at work the element of the 'social' is (or can/should be) fun, full-filling, meaningful a type of  glue that brings everyone together and makes everything look like this:


And if learning is social and social is fun, isn't the logical implication that learning is fun

In today's world, you might ask should you take someone else's word on it?

No. And you don't need to

When you look at the numbers



And ask people how they prefer to learn at work, they won't tell you they won't to learn all by their lonesome (all they do need time for this as well)

 what they'll you is that they want to learn by sharing

 Here's the survey breakdown detailing how people say that they prefer to learn at work:

What does it this mean to the leaders and workers of the world?

It means that people prefer to learn from others and also that people want to be in charge of their own learning (and perhaps that traditional forms of learning are not as effective or appealing as prevalence and habit might suggest)

So what should you do if you need to learn something new at work? or if you want to develop a learning workplace? 

Surveys suggest the answer is: Embrace others and embrace learning (because they are not separate but they go together like your right hand  and your left hand)

And as Mae West famously taught us all. When it's the right thing, the thing that we really need...





So whether your right/left/center leaning, whether your going forward or turning, learning is all around and should be integrated into each and everything that occurs at work...a learning you is a learning team is a learning organization

If you've learned anything here you can now answer the question of what should put at that top of your to-do list at work? 

And if you're worried about productivity and downtime, no need, as long as you keep in mind that every moment we are learning something, the question is are we learning the correct things:

And if you're wandering if you and the others you work are so smart that they don't need to keep on learning, if you're not smarter than michelangelo the answer is you're probably not as smart as you think if you think you've got nothing to learn 


and since we're already in greeting-card and fortune cookie zone (and people are still buying greeting cards and opening their fortune cookies)



It's worth remembering the greeting cards and fortune cookies which have pointed out for years that trees keep growing until the day they die (not necessarily putting on height, but growing in rings of years/wisdom and putting out new leaves every year. And so should you.