I recently went for an off-site team building day with work colleagues. In the build up to this day, we voted on what we’re do as a team – I was one of the ones that got outvoted :(. The winning votes decided that we go for kart racing.
Frankly, I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it – just seemed so dangerous, it was way outside my comfort zone (I don’t like going outside my comfort zone) and I knew I was going to take the first place on the leaderboard (if we’re reading it from the back of course). Plus, I’m not an adventurous person. I participated anyway but only because I wanted to be (perceived as) a team player.
Let’s face it: I’m not the best driver in the real world – what are the chances I’m going to be any good on this track? There were several instances where my kart would get stuck at the side of the tracks and while stuck (and even a couple of times while driving) I had this one colleague who kept running into the back of my kart with his at full speed with his and as someone who has been involved in a few car accidents over the years, it would uncover that trauma that, I now realise, I never quite healed from.
There was this one colleague I remember noticing who, after one his races, had an excitement that you couldn’t fake. It made me realise, firstly, that he was really enjoying this experience and, more importantly, it taught me how (very) different from these other guys on my team: kart racing doesn’t excite me. I’m very happy in my routine, I’m very happy in my comfort zone. As I reflect on this and try to come up with even just one reward I could get from this activity I spent the whole day in, I keep coming up short. I don’t think the fear of the possible stigma of being tainted as a not-a-team-player that drove me to participate in this counts as a reward.
I had no rewards, and yet I carried the risks of all things that could go wrong. I think I’m better off (and will be happier) spending more in activities that have a lower risk/reward ratio. Otherwise, I’m just wasting time.