Complacency

One of the things I've been struggling with recently is complacency at work.

When I started in my new position in September, I felt really motivated, with a real "go-getter' attitude, and all the exciting projects my manager had were really exciting.

Fast forward 4 months, and I feel like I've fallen victim to the machinations of bureaucracy. I'm rarely bothered by illogical procedures (or when I am, I feel pessimistic about them ever being improved) and poorly done work just seems par for the course. What, the "Actus" part of the website hasn't been updated for 2 months? Cut us some slack people. The hotel reservation is 40€ more expensive if we go through the official University travel agency as compared to just calling the hotel? I'm not the one who set up the system!

I found this nice post on workplace MOJO that seems to sum it up well:

Giving up could be the result of what you might call a comfortable culture. It’s on cruise control. Whereas at some point in the past, people were excited to push things, create things, challenge things, and make things better, now they’re content to, well, just sort of do their thing and go home. Now they weren’t initially wired this way, mind you. They probably actually used to detest this mindset in themselves and others. But now–after months and/or years of pushing against negative culture, prodding their managers for feedback and empowerment, and running into bureaucratic dead end after bureaucratic dead end when pursuing their ideas–they’ve given up. They’re tired. Frustrated. Fed up. They’ve lost the energy and spirit to press on. The feel powerless.

That last part about being frustrated, fed up, spiritless and powerless brings to mind the metaphor 'death by a thousand paper cuts'.
I've realized that things that used to shock and horrify me as terribly unprofessional (like a bad website), barely even faze me now. If I really focus on it and think about it, I can identify what used to shock me, but I have a hard time feeling any urgency about it. It makes me wonder if my critical eye for quality has gone to mush. Is it too late to get it back?

The silver lining is that my manager still has lots of projects and is a real reformer (partially thanks to several sabbaticals in the US). Hopefully some vacation will bring back a more positive outlook.