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Why We Treat Ourselves Like Nobodies

We manage work like it’s just generic toil. Work becomes anti-human, a pile of tasks handed down by nobody and received as nobody. No context. No ownership. Just something to do.

No wonder people don’t identify with their work, don’t want to engage in continuous improvement, and don’t feel motivated to make things better. Then we’re shocked when morale tanks and quality slides.

The world is full of enough demoralizing nonsense. We don’t need to add more by building systems that ignore the human at the center of the work. We not only need to do this, it needs to be how we design our kanban or any other way we take on our work.

So ask! Wonder! PONDER!!! When you define (and see) who you are and what you want, how does it change how you act? How does it change how you take on tasks, how you say yes with conditions, or how you explain what you can’t do right now?

I keep saying things about using these tools to say no to work. Any can say no, and regardless of how many tools you have people will get tired of hearing it. So, forget saying no for the moment and figure out how to say yes intelligently…with a reason, with a timeline, with clarity. And if that timeline or those reasons are too difficult, then you have a conversation.​

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You Don’t Value Yourself as a Stakeholder

We humans don’t prioritize things that help us grow because we don’t value ourselves as stakeholders in our own lives. We put everyone else’s urgencies ahead of our own development. Growth gets shoved aside for “just one more task,” and then we wonder why we’re burned out, stuck, and resentful.​

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s research on flow looks at why we get good work done in ways that don’t stress or hurt us. This doesn’t mean there’s no emergencies or unexpected, it means that we just handle them well. Flow is a state of optimal focus where we’re fully immersed, energized, and performing at our best. This requires a balance between challenge and skill, clear goals, and immediate feedback.

When we treat our own growth as optional, we never develop the skills needed to handle increasing challenges. We stay stuck in anxiety (challenge exceeds ability) or boredom (ability exceeds challenge). We never reach that place where work feels both effortless and meaningful. By refusing to invest in ourselves as stakeholders, we sabotage our own capacity for flow and with it, our ability to do work that matters and feels good while we are doing it

That’s not humane. And it’s completely fixable.​

Board done in KanbanZone (our Kanban Partner), Get 3 Months Free.

Today’s Kanban

Your Work, Your Life, Your Vision

The “My Work, My Life” board isn’t just another task tracker or vision board. We are solving a problem here of a gap between overload making you do many unrewarding things quickly, and you knowing exactly how you can get work done well in an appropriate amount of time.

The board starts with your personal vision, which frankly worries me because so many people say stupid things about personal visions. What we want here is your work to be in context of who you want to be. If it is not, your work will always be at odds with who you can be. That’s self-defeating and I am not a fan.

Personal Vision Panel (Left Side of Board)

Before you touch a single task, you declare your ground rules:

The bullet points here are examples. Not the answers….

What do I want to be?

What state to you want to be in at any point in time?

* Calm

* Informed

* Ready to help

Where do I want to be?

What is the environment you want to be in?

* Surrounded by thoughtful people

* In meaningful conversations

* Present in the work

How do I want to be?

How are you wanting to present yourself?

* Open-minded

* Patient

* Consistent

Why do I want to be this way?

Well…why?

* To build lasting relationships

* To actually improve things

* To grow, not just perform

When you write these down and put them on your board, something shifts. Suddenly, taking on a task that makes you not calm becomes visible self-sabotage. Working with a client who isn’t thoughtful becomes a values-conflict you can address. You’re not just reacting, you are structuring your work so you can be the most effective.

And yes, I know you won’t always have a choice. I know you will have crap pushed on you. Everyone has to do their taxes. ​

Work Context Lanes (Middle Section)

Work doesn’t arrive in neat categories. But you can contextualize it so you understand what you’re actually carrying:

Planned Work (Projects)

* The main work: strategic, committed, expected

* Example: “Design rebrand for key client”

Unexpected / Growth Work

* Half of these are surprises; half are things you need for your own development

* Critical insight: Growth work is urgent and important—not because someone’s waiting, but because you matter as a stakeholder

* Example: “Learn new AI tool” or “Respond to New Customer Request Quickly”

Administration

* Necessary but low-energy work

* Example: “Submit timesheet,” “Organize files”

The Doing Columns (Right Section)

Once work is contextualized, it flows through:

This board has three workflows centered around planned, unplanned, and crisis. Crises can come from any of the three context columns. We do want to see how much of our work flows through the planned and unplanned work and….

The Crisis section is its own set of triggers. Crises always trigger immediate action and retrospectives. If something was an emergency, you need to ask why and figure out how to prevent it next time. This turns reactive firefighting into proactive system improvement.​

Even non-crisis work can move to the Retro/Kaizen column if it didn’t go smoothly. The board becomes a learning system, not just a tracking system.​

Value for the Individual: Claim Stakeholder Status

* Anchor work to your vision: Before saying yes, check: Does this align with calm, informed, ready to help? If not, negotiate or decline.

* Prioritize your own growth: Move learning and development into “urgent/important”—because you are waiting for it, and you matter.​

* Use crises as data: Every emergency is a chance to learn and improve the system so it doesn’t happen again.​

Value for the Project Manager: Design for Agency

* Make vision visible for the team: Encourage everyone to define their personal ground rules and share them. Suddenly, task assignments become conversations about fit and alignment.​

* Track work by context, not just status: Planned vs. Unexpected vs. Crisis reveals patterns—and helps teams advocate for sustainable loads.​

* Turn crises into action: Build a culture where emergencies are quickly resolved, examined, and prevented.​

Value for Leadership: Build Systems That Value all Stakeholders

* Stop treating people like task robots: When individuals can articulate their values and align work accordingly, engagement skyrockets.​

* Measure team growth as a metric: Track how much time teams spend on development vs. firefighting. Growth is ROI, not a luxury.​

* Model the behavior: Share your own vision. Show that grounding work is a strategy.​

Conclusion

You’re not nobody. Your work isn’t random. And when you anchor every task to a clear vision of who you want to be, work stops feeling like an assault and starts feeling like progress. The “My Work, My Life” restores agency, builds meaning, and turns every crisis into a chance to get better.

Stop being nobody. Be somebody who chooses their work, their growth, and their future.

Next Episode: We’ll explore how visual management transforms abstract chaos into tangible, shared understanding—and why that changes everything.

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