The Loop of Doom

"Doom loops," and "self vandalism" are two interesting terms that came up last week with regards to the Great Recession. (Seriously, we've got to think up a more colorful name for it.) They're the terms a Harvard professor uses to describe what happens in a company when cost-cutting becomes the only goal and everyone's afraid of being laid off. (Read Mike's column about it here.)
In a doom loop, the scared-s**less employees clam up just when their innovation and brain power is needed most. Because they are afraid of offending the boss in any way, they don't mention how some process could be done better or cheaper. And that leads to the "self vandalism."
The column's emphasis was on doom loops in the workplace. But I think they can also loop their evil way into your head and affect your home life as well.
Example: I didn't get in enough running (or do much of any exercise) last week, which put me in a very bad mood. The depressed and gloomy mood then kept me from running because, really, what's the use of anything? The more the days went by, the worse I felt and the less I wanted to exercise.
Instead, I did what I wanted to do, which was watch television. I watched the Food Network. I watched Alton Brown--not in his normally excellent "Good Eats" but in some bizarre staged 10th anniversary show of a type I would not normally sit still for. I did not cook, because I was so, so defeated from a heroic (and ultimately futile) attempt to keep the two-week grocery bill for the three of us under $200. I should have been able to do that with all the garden stuff, shouldn't I? Proof again that no matter what you do, you lose. Might as well lie still as a stick on the couch watching Food Network until you die.
In fact I've spent the past week curled up in a tight mental ball, wishing for time to pass more quickly (until the financial troubles have passed) and yet more slowly (so we have more time before the college forbearance loans expire). A tight little ball of fermenting cabbage in the dark and gloomy basement (another Alton Brown episode).
Doom loop indeed.
The trouble is, you're not very receptive to new money-making ideas when you're hunkered down, waiting for things to pass. And that's a bad thing indeed.
So this week is dedicated to thinking of things that cheer me up. For instance: I made up a toe-tapper about a...um...little walk I'd like to take the dog on. Humming it brightens things up a little. (Don't worry. I'd never really do any of those horrible things in the song.)
It's a start. Maybe I'll think of more things later. But right now, I've got to get my shoes on and head out to exercise.