45 Work And Life Struggles Illustrated In Comic-Charts By Liz And Mollie

Liz Fosslien leads Content at Humu, where she helps leaders and their teams take small steps towards profound improvement. Prior to joining Humu, Liz designed and led workshops for executives at Google, Facebook, and Nike on how to create inclusive cultures. Her writing and data visualization projects have appeared in CNN, The Economist, The Financial Times, and NPR. She starts the day by eating plain Greek yogurt and reading academic abstracts.

Mollie West Duffy leads Organizational Development at RALLY, and was previously an Organizational Design Lead at global innovation firm IDEO. Mollie also worked as a research associate for the Dean of Harvard Business School. She has helped companies of all sizes to develop good workplace culture. Her writing has been featured in Fast Company, Quartz, Entrepreneur, Quiet Rev and other digital outlets, and she's taught design courses at Stanford and USC. Mollie loves personality tests.

Their relationship started when the women were set up on a blind friend date after Liz moved to New York City and felt lonely. At the time, Mollie was writing articles about workplace culture and organizational design, and Liz was riding the highs and lows of a startup and creating illustrations based on her experience. "We decided it might be fun to try working on a project together, and we've been collaborating ever since!" the duo told Bored Panda.

"The topics we write about stem from our similar personalities and interests: we are both introverted, creative people who have studied and worked in the traditional business world. We've both experienced ups and downs as we navigated our career paths and have relied on introspection and emotional intelligence to help us choose the right roles and projects," they explained.

Liz and Mollie think a lot of our emotional problems come from outdated teachings telling us that to be a professional, we must never fail, fuss, or feel. "That's a ridiculous idea: if you're a human, you're going to have emotions, whether you're watching a sad movie, hanging out with your friends, or (you guessed it) on the job," Liz and Mollie said. "Even when we hear the phrase 'emotion at work,' we tend to think of career milestones: job interviews, salary negotiations, and annual reviews. But you've probably felt just as intensely about day-to-day, seemingly mundane events."

"You're thrilled to receive a thumbs-up emoji from the CEO in response to your Slack comment, you're infuriated when a colleague interrupts you for the fifth time, and you fret over whether you need to immediately reply to a work email that appears in your inbox on a Saturday evening. That's all normal. And figuring out what to do with those feelings starts with accepting and acknowledging them."

Emotions at work get a bad reputation because we so often suppress them, Liz and Mollie said, instead of dealing with an issue when it's small and manageable, our feelings fester and come surging out as tears or anger or in some other, unhealthy way.

And it's not like the pandemic has been helpful too. "So many people we've spoken with have experienced burnout over the last year (especially working mothers; nearly 1 million working moms have dropped out of the workforce altogether)," Liz and Mollie said.

They highlighted that work can be stressful on its own, but the pandemic has added an extra layer of anxiety and uncertainty to everything. "One trend we've noticed is that people aren't taking breaks anymore. Data shows messages sent after normal work hours have doubled, and people are working three times as much as they used to over the weekend. And no one wants to take vacation days, because there's nothing to do. We've both tried to put healthy practices in place, like disconnecting from our devices completely one day of the weekend."

Psychologists are also reporting a rise in “pandemic burnout”. Many people find the current phase of lockdowns harder, with an increasing number feeling worn out and unable to cope.

They warn that many are finding the latest lockdown more difficult because of the realization that coronavirus will stay around longer than expected. This period of dashed hopes and sustained stress is similar to overwork, which has prompted symptoms such as fatigue.

In the UK, for example, 60% of people are struggling more to stay positive daily compared with before the pandemic – an 8-point increase from November, an Ipsos Mori survey found.

If all of this hits you too close to home, give yourself permission to have feelings, and to have needs. Even at work. Deep breath, Liz and Mollie said, it's okay.

"Quick note: we're not saying you should become a feelings firehose and express every emotion that pops into your head," they added. "But if you're feeling overloaded, acknowledge that. And then ask yourself: is there anything within my control that I can do to feel better? Can I cancel any upcoming meetings to give myself more heads-down time? Can I talk to my manager about re-prioritizing some tasks? And if you need a break, take a day off! Watch Netflix, or go for a hike, or read a good book. Just do it. Chances are you'll feel better—and be a better employee—for it."

Speaking of books. Currently, Liz and Mollie are working on their second title that's focused on really hard emotions, like perfectionism, despair, and comparison-induced anxiety. No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power Of Embracing Emotions At Work was selected as a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Fortune, and I'm positive this will be just as engaging.