Our organization’s five partners went away on a retreat to discuss the next year’s budget. The remaining employees who had experience under their belt were essentially out all day, leaving five of us entry levelers to run the office by ourselves on a Friday.
The day started off strong at our weekly 7:30 am sales meeting. We all showed up. At 8:30 am, we took a field trip to Starbucks. At 11:30 am, three of us called an impromptu meeting to discuss the onset of enjoying country music. 1:00 pm called for a very leisurely lunch at the favored deli. And the rest of the afternoon we took turns DJ-ing our favorite tunes.
Were we unproductive? No, we finished everything we had to do that day with time to spare.
So what is the point? A company’s leaders hinder its efficiency? Anarchy should rule after all?
The point is that if we were any older and had any more experience, even with time to sit around and music to play and useless conversation to have, we probably wouldn’t do it. We might be out on the golf course with our friends or stopping in with lunch for our spouse or being there after school to pick up our children. The older you get, the more you have to lose and therefore the less time you have to waste.
No other time in our life will be confined to our office with no one watching - we had no choice but to have fun with each other. We had to be there but we could be casual. At entry level, we can afford to waste time because as far as we know we have a lot of it. Honor your lack of experience. But be sure to mark your Outlook calendar for three to four years from now you’ll want to know when you should start holding on to your dwindling time clock.