How have the ways you labor changed over the years? My very first job that my social security benefits will register goes back to working in a local Roy Rogers fast food restaurant at age 16, serving fried chicken and biscuits. I was on my feet most of the day and took pride in inserting my time card into the punch clock machine registering the start of my shift with that satisfying hole puncher crunch sound. Over the years my labor has varied, from jobs requiring me to be able-bodied (working catering jobs as a food server long into the night); to the humility required for anonymous temp jobs until something better came along; to a hybrid version of physical movement and mental activity (when I was a middle school English teacher); to work that leveraged my intellectual capacity and knowledge — as a professor and now as a creativity strategist.
That diversity of labor has been a privilege.
Thank goodness that by the 1880’s, efforts from the carpenter and machinist unions led to the ratification of Labor Day as a national holiday in the United States. Depending on my life stage, my emotional state over Labor Day weekend has been a total spectrum ranging from full relaxation to anxiety and nostalgia. I can remember Labor Day signaling the last lazy days of summer as a child and the excitement I felt about entering a new grade of school. I can also recall those years as a professor when Labor Day made me feel a bit anxious as I made finishing touches on a syllabus for a brand new course, uncertain if the learning experience would be a hit or bomb with the students.
As the U.S labor movement grew, and laborers organized, the recognition that rest was essential for us to produce our best work became as predominant as fair pay and wages. When I researched the content for Move. Think. Rest., a book that explores an alternative, human-centered way for us to think about productivity called the MTR (pronounced motor) system, the prevailing insight I had is that our best work must be cultivated, not simply produced. When we cultivate our work we not only focus on efficiencies, output and metrics, but we also incorporate the time needed to let ideas marinate, to collaborate fully, and to value slow as much as fast.
As I think about this upcoming Labor Day weekend, I invite you to indulge in some backcasting and forecasting. Whether you manage a team, have just started a new job, or feel like you’re slogging your way through the motions, I encourage you to use this Labor Day weekend to hit pause. Here are three prompts that I used in a recent microretreat I designed for myself. Choose one or all of them — but do allow yourself to slow down and consider how these prompts can help you to cultivate your best work. Don’t spend more than 20 minutes on each prompt.
Promp #1: The 25 Year Time Horizon. Pick a moment in time 20 years ago, and describe your personal condition from a physical, social, emotional, and spiritual perspective. Then, pick a different moment in time that occurred just five years ago, and again delineate where you were from a physical, social, emotional, and spiritual perspective. When I did this exercise, the 20-year backcast was a time when I was in a pretty vulnerable state. I had gone through a really bad breakup, and I wasn’t happy with my job. On the other hand, I was thrilled to be traveling the globe and experiencing different cultures. Then the point I focused on, that happened just five years ago, was shortly after turning 50 years old. I was married, a homeowner, an entrepreneur and had a very clear sense of myself. When we do this backcasting exercise it grounds us and gives us perspective on any worries and concerns we may presently have.
Prompt #2: Big Breaks. Sometimes I call this the “It Just Takes One” exercise. List 10 big breaks in your life that have happened in the personal and professional dimensions. This backcasting exercise is really cool because it goes into a category of acknowledging that exponential change often happens from small moments. It only takes that one introduction, that one encounter, that one email, that one break to open the aperture of opportunity. There’s something about acknowledging the people and circumstances, and times when we decide to show up, that really builds momentum and traction. What’s cool about the big breaks exercise is that you can go into the office on the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend and do this exercise with your team. Thinking about big breaks within the organization can build momentum for the fourth quarter of the year.
Prompt #3: The Dream State. This forecasting exercise helps us to get really audacious and blue sky in our thinking. The question I pose is “Where would I love to be in five years? Who do I desire to be in 5 years? What would it take for me to get there?” What emerges may surprise you. Notice that I used verbs like love and desire — not like or need. And if you already did the 20 Year vs. Five Year Arc exercise, then you’re astutely aware of what’s feasible in a five year time horizon. Just consider how much the world changed between January 2020 and January 2025!
These are very heart-centered, emotional exercises that fuel how we labor. They’re not solely mental exercises about what’s practical or feasible in our current state. These prompts are designed to liberate you.
So spend your Labor Day weekend doing some backcasting and some forecasting. Rest and dream in honor of the laborers who came before us, and out of respect for the seeds you’ve sown over the years.
