I make it a habit to come in to work early. I'm normally at the office between 6 and 6.30 AM. This is not out of any masochistic desire to impress the heck out of the boss, but due more to the simple fact that I am more productive in the mornings and it's nice to be able to work uninterrupted for a couple hours before anybody else arrives. Or at least operate under the pretense that I am working. I am, after all, posting to my site right now. I also then feel little to no obligation to stay a significant length of time after hours since I would much rather head home to my family at that point. (Normally, in the early mornings, I answer what pertinent Emails I have and prioritize a To-Do list that, more and more these days, sits looked-at rather than checked off over the course of the day.)
Something that intrigues me is to sit and watch how the rest of the office comes alive between 7.30 and 8 AM. For the first hour or so that I'm here, it's deadly quiet but for my own ambulation. And then, in the space of half an hour, the building itself seems to stir and come to life.
The respiratory system starts with a premonitory distant hum, followed some seconds later by the first blast of stale air and settled dust from the heating vents. The autumn sunrise, coming later this time of year, filters through blind slits, and as the beast begins to shake itself from it's evening's repose, its human inhabitants begin to filter in for the day.
This is what truly intrigues me. Office lights are turned on, coffee is brewed, computers are fired up, papers are shuffled, photocopies made, phones begin to ring, faxes sent, intercom pages broadcast and an increasingly steady stream of human beans begin circulating through hallways and offices, carrying data, ideas, distractions and conversations to the various cells of the organisation.
Some employees are content to sit immediately at their desk and leave only when called to do so. Others are loathe to spend more time sitting than absolutely necessary; taking whatever excuse to 'do business' elsewhere in the building. Some people bring with them a certain vivacity to the work environment, infecting fellow coworkers with an effervescence they would not otherwise have had. This is, almost unavoidably, balanced by those for whom trudging to the office is, in itself, an exercise in willpower; their work is a chore and each completed project the culmination of a monumental effort.
By midmorning, there is a certain equilibrium established, lulling noticeably at noon, and not quite picking up to the same level of activity for the balance of the afternoon.
If you can take the time to distance yourself from your own work for short periods throughout the day, it really is an interesting process to observe.
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