Are You Bored at Work?

**Tim Elliott** (0:00)
This is the Morning Drive, and this morning, a master class in motivation for professionals. Here is the concept. Instead of a simple how-to, a deep dive into the burnout versus grind debate. Do you like that?

**David Mackenzie** (0:17)
Love that.

**Tim Elliott** (0:18)
I spent ages working on that.

**David Mackenzie** (0:19)
You did, because I know you did, because you always do, and you always send me your notes the day before.

**Tim Elliott** (0:24)
I know, I tried to sort of key you in. David Mackenzie is the MD of Mackenzie Jones. You're sort of the Zen Master of Mackenzie Jones, aren't you?

**David Mackenzie** (0:31)
I'd like to think I am, but I suspect I'm not.

**Tim Elliott** (0:34)
The man with the plan.

**David Mackenzie** (0:35)
The man with the semi-disorganized plan.

**Tim Elliott** (0:38)
I'm wondering if you've even got the answers, I'm not sure. I have to say, by the way, thank you for the David walked in this morning with a gift, a water bottle, which is... Not just a water bottle, Tim.

**David Mackenzie** (0:49)
I got one for Faraji as well.

**Tim Elliott** (0:51)
Oh, that's very nice, it's black.

**David Mackenzie** (0:53)
It's a proper MJ mark, you are now branded.

**Tim Elliott** (0:57)
That's marvellous.

**David Mackenzie** (0:58)
Good, actually. We try to encourage, and I know this sounds a bit hippie, we encourage our guys not to use plastic.

**Tim Elliott** (1:03)
A bit hippie.

**David Mackenzie** (1:05)
I want people to use... We have a water machine in the office that isn't plastic, it's one of those ones you plug straight into the mains, filters it, and we have those for everyone. So everyone has their own one with a little name on the bottom.

**Tim Elliott** (1:16)
That's so sweet. It's like being at primary school.

**David Mackenzie** (1:20)
It's like the milk cartons.

**Tim Elliott** (1:22)
Do you all sit in the carpet and have stories?

**David Mackenzie** (1:26)
I love the way you've taken this away.

**Tim Elliott** (1:29)
No, I thank you. I think that's a great idea, because of course, rehydration is very important, particularly now, because we're in 40-degree heat. Oh, my goodness me. See, I have got a sensible head.

**David Mackenzie** (1:39)
No, I walked right after this morning, my dog, and at one point he sat down, and you can see him looking at me going, just let's go home, mate. We've ticked the box, just let's go home.

**Tim Elliott** (1:49)
Those little puppy eyes.

**David Mackenzie** (1:50)
I'm just broken. He's a malamor. I could see him lying in the grass going, it's just so hot.

**Tim Elliott** (1:58)
Right. So the inspiration for today comes from a post. You sent me this. This is quite an old post. This is something around about 2018, but I mean, it's as relevant now, I think, as it was. And it was called, Seven Ways to Motivate Yourself When You're Uninspired at Work. Of course, at work, it's sometimes you don't, you're not as excited as you might otherwise be.

**David Mackenzie** (2:18)
Challenging, I think. Do you remember this was written two years before COVID?

**Tim Elliott** (2:21)
That's a very good point. It was written by a lady called May Bush, who was a former chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley. So has been around the corporate world at a very high level. She's now a, she's got a business called Career Mastery, which is all about...

**David Mackenzie** (2:35)
She's a really clever lady, actually. I did a bit of googly on her.

**Tim Elliott** (2:39)
Oh, I'm sure you did.
It's all about corporate training. She works as a keynote speaker and a leadership advisor as well.

**David Mackenzie** (2:47)
We're literally five minutes into this.

**Tim Elliott** (2:49)
I know, I'm really sorry.
We all want, right, or we all... Maybe we need to feel that work has meaning. You got to have something other than just the financial side.

**David Mackenzie** (2:59)
Yep.

**Tim Elliott** (3:00)
Everybody has to get up and go to work, right? Beyond that sort of pure financial necessity.
At the very least, work's probably better when it has some meaning.

**David Mackenzie** (3:10)
Yes.

**Tim Elliott** (3:10)
Yeah.
So, there are two schools of thought here, and I think we start here. There's the Grind It Out Camp versus the Optimize Your Energy Camp. Which one of those actually can scale a business? You know, the...

**David Mackenzie** (3:25)
Do you know what? I think it's a combo of both.

**Tim Elliott** (3:27)
Okay.

**David Mackenzie** (3:28)
And I think the Grind It Out is a mentality of, when it gets tough, you just keep going.