Sisyphus and The Bionicles

In Greek Mythology, mortals don’t mess with the Gods. But Sisyphus was a mischief-maker, a Greek myth version of a cross between Bart Simpson and Jesse James. He constantly taunted the Gods, he stole their secrets and played them against each other. He once escaped punishment by outfoxing and chaining up Hades (the God of the underworld). When he was finally sent to the underworld after dying he convinced the Gods to let him back to Earth on the ruse of chastising his wife for not giving him a proper burial. But when he came back, he was reminded of what made life beautiful; the sea, the sunshine on his back — and he refused to go back. This time Zeus himself grabbed Sisyphus by the neck, threw him back into the underworld and had a punishment waiting for him that would be worse than death

He was given a boulder. The boulder had to be pushed up a mountain. When the boulder reached the top of the mountain, it would roll back down and he had to push it up again..it would roll back down and he had to push it up..for the rest of eternity! (1, 2)

The Bionicles

Dan Ariely is a professor of Psychology and Behavioural Economics at Duke University. He is one of those cheeky devils who shows us through his often bizarre experiments that we are not the rational supernovas we think we are. We are irrational and often behave in ways that are in conflict with our best interests. We don’t fit in neat economic models and we are not money driven analytical machines (well, most of us anyway). What we are is a little messed up. We are driven by irrational emotions, nutty behaviours and forces outside of our control.

In one of his crazy experiments, Dan wanted to test what makes work meaningful. Here is what he did:

He asked participants to build Lego Bionicles. Because you know who doesn’t love building Lego Bionicles. But there's another reason; the building of Bionicles is somewhat similar, at least conceptually, to the creative work that drives innovation.

The participants were divided into two separate conditions or groups. In the first group, they built the bionicles, and after they were done, Dan stood the finished product on the table in front of them. They were told they would be later dissembled and the parts used for the next participant. They were offered $2 to build the first bionicle, $1.89 to build the second, $1.78 to build the third and so on until at some point the participant decided that it wasn’t worth their time to build another. On average participants built 11 for an average sum of $14.

The participants in the second group were offered the same amount of money per Bionicle, but in this case, there was a vital difference. As soon as they finished building a Bionicle and started working on the next one, Dan began dissembling their completed Bionicle. Right in front of them. Their finished work was dissembled before their eyes and the parts placed in the box.

The first group built their Bionicles under what was called the ‘meaningful’ condition — because they were allowed to feel they completed their ‘work’ satisfactorily. Those in the second group were labelled the ‘Sisyphic’ condition — named after our tragic hero from before.

Those in the Sisyphic condition built an average of seven bionicles — four fewer than those in the ‘meaningful’ condition.

The world, however, is separated into two types of people. Those who love building Lego..and those who don’t. So what if you love building Legos, well in the first condition you kept going because you enjoyed the process and found meaning in it. But here is the fascinating bit, in the ‘Sisyphic condition’ there was no relationship between the internal joy of making Legos and productivity. No matter where you sat in terms of your love, under the ‘Sisyphic’ condition you made an average of seven Bionicles. (3)

Whats Your Dirt Doing In My Yard?

Lucas Jackson as played by Paul Newman in the movie Cool Hand Luke — is the kind of rapscallion that Sisyphus would have been proud of. Sent to prison for getting drunk and knocking the heads of parking meters — he is the kind of character that would not be held down by the establishment. He constantly ticked off the warden and the guards. After his second escape, the warden figures out a punishment that finally breaks his spirit. Dig a hole..fill it back in, Dig a hole..fill it back in, Dig a hole..fill it back in.

What the Sisyphic condition demonstrates is the futility of work. Even our poor hero Sisyphus would have felt a sense of progress if he was rolling the boulder up different hills or if he saw his boulders were being used to build a cathedral on the other side of the hill. But rolling up the same boulder up the same hill, digging and filling the same hole — There’s something about this cyclical version of doing something over and over and over that seems to be particularly torturous and demotivating.

What this post really is about is motivation. It's about how the work we do can sometimes break our spirit. For close to 7 years I worked in a job that was Sisyphean. Days were filled with repetitive tasks, little acknowledgement and the feeling of being a cog in a big soulless machine.

What was missing was meaning, a glimpse that the work being performed serves a higher purpose. Ray Anderson, the late CEO of Interface a carpet manufacturer had an epiphany. He realised that his company was poisoning the environment. So he initiated a journey to change what it makes, how it makes it and what it does with the waste. He wanted a company with a zero footprint goal by 2020. Interface’s employees were so motivated by the opportunity to work for a higher purpose, that they challenged themselves to find innovative modifications to the production process, the strength of the shared vision encouraged cooperation and collaboration and made work more effective and efficient.

In the companies own words:

“The evidence of a successful, lasting cultural change at Interface can be found in the great number of innovations conceived of and implemented by employees on the shop floor. Interface employees are connected to something bigger than making carpet. Sustainability has inspired and empowered associates with a committed sense of higher purpose.” (4)

We all cant be Ray Andersons but as business owners and managers — we need to recognise when tasks turn Sisyphean and either infuse those with a greater purpose or if that isn’t possible, offer genuine acknowledgement. From personal experience, there is nothing more soul-deadening than spending hours writing reports that no one reads, attending meetings for the sake of attending meetings, blindly ticking off a job description checkbox Mon-Fri 9–5 only to rinse and repeat the week after. The managers aren’t wholly to blame, the attitude the employee brings to work also plays a part. But what the story of Sisyphus and the bionicles teach us is that to crush a persons spirit deny them of their individuality, their autonomy, give them a task and rob it of meaning.

To conclude, a quote from Albert Camus’ essay The Myth of Sisyphus

Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth.

Passions of this Earth must be tapped into and rewarded..not punished.

References

1 — http://dbanach.com/sisyphus.htm

2 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

3. Dan Ariely ‘Payoff’ and Dan’s TED Talk

4- Barry Schwartz ‘ Why we Work’