Turning around that frown (blurgh!)

Having just returned from a ski trip to France, I was struck by how much I missed work while I was away. More so because a few weeks earlier, it was a very different story. It was not so much WORK! as work™ – that boring, 9-5 drudge that other people talk about. I had lost the spark for my brilliant, interesting, challenging WORK! and found a miserable, depressing, down-hearted disrespect for work™.

How did that happen? We lost a big client through no fault of our own – bought out by a US giant with a centralised translation team. The crushing injustice! I want the expensive chocolates back we sent at Christmas! Bugger! It also coincided with the close of the financial year for many businesses so work generally slows down around this time until new budgets are set. All of which resulted in despair – the like of which I have not experienced before.

I felt myself dreaming of jacking it all in and going to work in a stationery store, sorting coloured pencils all day into colour-spectrum order and shouting at children who try to pick one out of the line. Ah – bliss…. I digress. And everything annoyed me. Clients making changes halfway through a project. Translators questioning my instructions. It all added to my hopeless mood.

But of course it all picked up. An exciting new high-profile project started, new leads were found and regular clients re-emerged with shiny new budgets intact and my mood turned around. Not because of any management-speak bol… baloney – focus on the positives, maintain a winning attitude – GET IN THE SEA! In my opinion there is only one way to turn around your frown (sorry) – catch yourself on and get a grip!

As if the stationary store would let me sort pencils and shout at children all day. And I might have to work at the weekend – horror! The translation industry is fantastic with the opportunity to work with amazing clients and suppliers across a huge range of industries.  Our work is often challenging, always interesting and full of surprises. I finally remembered that I love what I do and that’s a rare and lucky thing. So here’s to less work™ and more WORK!