Expert Perspective

Work/Life: Stuck in the Elevator Shaft of Our Lives

BY Tom Stern | 04-21-2008 | 7:28 PM

This article is written by a member of our expert contributor community.

The latest YouTube sensation is a long-suppressed video from 1999, showing edited highlights of a man going slowly bonkers while being trapped in an elevator for nearly two days. At one point, the poor guy, stuck in an office building on a weekend, attempts to literally climb the walls. I don’t claim that I would have behaved any differently if I was in his shoes at the time, but I believe his ordeal has provided a cautionary tale for the rest of us, and a reminder that in every supposedly negative turn of events there exists a lesson for the next time.
So, if any of you overachieving, stressed-out businessmen and women ever find yourselves in the same predicament as this latest Internet star, don’t view it at as an invitation to chew your fingernails to the nubs or pound your fist against the imitation wood grain. No. This is just another aspect of the successful business person’s tendency to rail and fight against anything they cannot control. Looked at in another light, being stuck in an elevator could very well be nature’s way of imposing down time on you. Claustrophobic, psyche-busting down time to be sure, but down time nonetheless.
Do some breathing exercises. Think about how you might structure that Great American Novel you’ve always had inside you. Try to sing the entire soundtrack to “West Side Story” from memory. Try to recite the play-by-play from the historic 1984 National League game five playoff between the Cubs and the Padres, also from memory. If you have your briefcase with you, write a love letter to your spouse. Write letters to your kids. By the time you’re through exploring the ways you have been forced to relax, you’ll forget to check and see if you can get cell phone reception in an elevator shaft. But, if you do, and you’re lucky enough to be stuck in the elevator on a Saturday and Sunday like the guy on YouTube was, it’s free weekend minutes! Maybe you can call a few long-lost friends; you know, the ones who somehow got the work/life balance you’ve always wanted and whom you have secretly always envied for their seemingly effortless happiness. Their soothing tones will remind you of what you can still achieve if you’d only take things a little more slowly.
The possibilities for constructive use of your new-found quiet time are endless. Sure, the whole no-food-or-water thing could get old fast, but if you really are the type-A personality everyone says you are, this is but a trifle. Not that I wish the fate of being trapped in an elevator on anyone. I’m just saying, see it as an opportunity and not a setback. A way of discovering that circumstances have handed you something that will ultimately be healthier for you, despite the first rush of disappointment you feel at the news. Kind of like when Starbucks is out of pastries.