15>7

[amelie]

First, thanks to all who have responded to posts down through the years so that newbies like me can have the benefit of different perspectives on the hexagrams and their changing lines. What a fabulous repository of insight/reflection.

Next my question, and thanks in advance for any and all feedback/insight offered.

I'm feeling a bit disgusted with my work environment, wondering if my idealism and sense of mission is misplaced, or that maybe I'm badly miscast in my current role. No one else (most especially management) seems to think that what I focus on is a priority, and I'm viewed as a bit of a zealot about things that don't matter (fixing problems that have been ignored for years) and dinged for the things that seem to matter most to my supervisor (plenty of paperwork and artificial deadlines). Lately I've been feeling dispirited and burned out. In response to my question "What is right focus for personal growth at work". I drew 15>7. After reading lines 2 and 3 of 15, the message seems to be that I"m not to be afforded the luxury of throwing in the towel on this struggle, right? Any further thoughts/clarification regarding how to maximize my learning curve in this situation would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[tigerintheboat]

Personal Growth

I'm feeling a bit disgusted with my work environment, wondering if my idealism and sense of mission is misplaced, or that maybe I'm badly miscast in my current role. No one else (most especially management) seems to think that what I focus on is a priority, and I'm viewed as a bit of a zealot about things that don't matter (fixing problems that have been ignored for years) and dinged for the things that seem to matter most to my supervisor (plenty of paperwork and artificial deadlines). Lately I've been feeling dispirited and burned out. In response to my question "What is right focus for personal growth at work". I drew 15>7. After reading lines 2 and 3 of 15, the message seems to be that I"m not to be afforded the luxury of throwing in the towel on this struggle, right? Any further thoughts/clarification regarding how to maximize my learning curve in this situation would be GREATLY appreciated.

I am not sure you are obliged to stay, as you asked for instructions for "personal growth" in the situation. Yi's response is to be modest, devote yourself to the work, finish what you start, and don't try to draw attention to yourself (or your self-imposed mission).

But if your mission is in conflict to managements, you may get personal growth but you may not get much career growth! Yes, the world is full of supervisors who are petty tyrants, and who impose artificial deadlines, no doubt of this. But sometimes, when people insist on getting done what they think is important, a supervisor communicates in indirect fashion by settling deadlines on what the supervisor thinks is important.

Yi suggests here that you will get personal growth by subordinating your ego. That would mean meeting the supervisor's deadlines and still trying to do what your mission is, what you think is right. Is there someone in the company who appreciates your mission, someone above the supervisor?

Finally, Hexagram 7. Is there a role for organizing others, getting them on board your mission, without being in conflict with management? It may just be that Yi is just telling you to be a good soldier (self discipline, honor and loyalty) while you carry on your mission and are humble about it, but H7 is usually given to the one who will be the leader.

What do you really want to happen at work? Is it just that ego is not satisfied with people's reactions to what you do?

Tiger

 

[willowfox]

"What is right focus for personal growth at work". I drew 15.2,3 >7.

The right focus is to concentrate solely on what they have given you to do, so don't try to do more than that, it is not your job. Your job is to follow orders which requires self control and discipline on your part. You are a part of a company, so you need to make yourself fit in, just like a soldier in the army, there is no leeway for individualism.
Follow the rules and they will love you, as every employer loves an obedient employee, that is why they have bosses who design the jobs for the employees to do.

 

[amelie]

Thanks to both of you for your responses. I guess the answer is then to find other employment. I"m not very good at towing the line on things that don't feel meaningful. To give some context, I run a public program that is designed to help people. The work I do is supposed to show what happens to those people. The current information that we collect is not very reliable or accurate. In order to get the necessary feedback and perform the revisions that were necessary to issue new report requirements, I ran up pretty close to a deadline for getting the new data collection approved. The approval is now overdue because another office responsible for the final approval is understaffed and the key liaison is on sick leave. I feel inordinantly self righteous about this, because I feel like I'm the only one in this process that has had the right focus. Everyone else is interested in maintaining status quo and creating a good looking surface, regardless of the rot that lies underneath.

I guess you could see why the term "zealot" fits my approach

But maybe the universe is telling me to take my passion somewhere else?

 

[Senecatwo]

Dusted off my archaeology equipment to dig up this thread, but the funny thing is that I just received this same reading about a housing related issue, but I have also been focused on what other people around me are doing wrong even though it's not necessarily my place to worry about them, which I think is the scenario I read here.

Sometimes we correctly see what is wrong but our position and circumstances don't allow us to do anything about it. Sometimes we think we see something wrong, but it turns out our position and circumstances don't allow us to see what the whole truth is. That is why it is important to be authentic enough to not compromise your inner commitment to the truth, but modest enough to know how far being on a crusade for your inner truth is going to get you with other people who are just trying to get through their day in peace.

What tigerintheboat and willowfox said about this reading seems like wise advice for me to follow in general right now, beyond the question I was asking, I think they got at the heart of what the lines mean in general