<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Workplace - Trotzendorff</title>
	<atom:link href="https://trotzendorff.de/category/psychology/workplace/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>https://trotzendorff.de</link>
	<description>Running over sticks and stones</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:53:11 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>
	hourly	</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>
	1	</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://trotzendorff.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/cropped-florian_blaschke-scaled-1-32x32.jpg</url>
	<title>Workplace - Trotzendorff</title>
	<link>https://trotzendorff.de</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
<site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">72357874</site>	<item>
		<title>He Was Done — I Still Had to Tell Him It Wasn’t Enough</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/he-was-done-i-still-had-to-tell-him-it-wasnt-enough/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/he-was-done-i-still-had-to-tell-him-it-wasnt-enough/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:53:11 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hyrox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53951</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[His legs were shaking before he even went down into the next squat. He stood in front of me at the wall ball station with that look people get when they are no longer really deciding anything. They are just trying to keep the body moving for one more rep, then one more, then somehow another. He picked up the ball, dropped down, came back up, threw, caught it. I watched the movement and called it straight away: no rep. Not because he missed the target. Because he had not gone low enough. That was the hard part. It was not some obvious fail. Not a total collapse, not a messy rep, not something dramatic enough for anyone around us to notice. It was a matter of depth. A few degrees in the squat. A tiny gap between almost there and there. He nodded, barely, took the ball again, tried again. Same thing. Close, but not enough. No rep. I Had to Say No, and I Had to Keep Him Going By then his legs &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/he-was-done-i-still-had-to-tell-him-it-wasnt-enough/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53951</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>You’re Not Your Job. Fine. Now What?</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/youre-not-your-job-fine-now-what/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/youre-not-your-job-fine-now-what/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:32:17 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Autonomy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Competence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Job Crafting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reflection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relatedness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self Determination]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53939</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[It usually happens in a very ordinary moment. Someone asks what you do. At dinner. On a train. Between two meetings. You answer almost automatically, but not quite. There is always that tiny pause before the sentence lands. »I’m a lawyer.« »I’m in health care.« »I’m a carpenter.« »I work in marketing.« It sounds like a small difference. It isn’t. Because in that moment, you are not just sharing information. You are revealing a relationship to your work, and maybe to yourself. Lately, I have been seeing more and more versions of the same argument: don’t say »I am« when it comes to work. Say »I work as.« The line is usually delivered as a small act of wisdom. A sign that someone has thought deeply about identity, freedom, and the danger of reducing a whole person to a title. And almost everyone seems ready to applaud. We hear a sentence like that and immediately assume reflection. Maturity. Self-determination. Emotional health. I’m not so sure. We Applaud the Sentence Before We Examine It Of course &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/youre-not-your-job-fine-now-what/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53939</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>In the Dark, Organizations See Eigengrau</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/in-the-dark-organizations-see-eigengrau/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/in-the-dark-organizations-see-eigengrau/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:31:41 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Information]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Perception]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53904</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Try this tonight. Turn off the lights, close the curtains, and wait until the room is as dark as it gets. Then keep your eyes open and look into the darkness. You might expect to see black — complete absence, the visual equivalent of silence. But that is not what happens. Instead, a faint grey appears. No shapes, no contours, just a dim and uniform field hovering in front of your eyes. In German there is a word for this phenomenon: Eigengrau, literally »intrinsic grey.« It describes the subtle brightness we perceive even when no light reaches the eye. Vision science explains why. Even in complete darkness the retina does not fall silent. Photoreceptors continue to fire occasionally, neurons remain active, and the brain interprets this background activity as a minimal level of brightness. What we perceive, in other words, is not the world but the baseline activity of our own perceptual system. We never see pure darkness. We see Eigengrau. Noise: perception always starts with a baseline One of the central insights of perceptual &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/in-the-dark-organizations-see-eigengrau/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53904</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Free somebody</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/free-somebody/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/free-somebody/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:45:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carreer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Learning]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53898</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[You did everything right. You studied. You worked hard. You built the résumé people told you to build. Degree, internships, late nights, promotions. The quiet promise behind all of it was simple: if you put in the effort, you would eventually gain something that feels like freedom. More autonomy. More room to decide how to live. More control over your time. For a long time that story made sense. Work hard, move up, become free. But for many people today, that promise feels strangely hollow. The ladder is still there, but climbing it doesn’t necessarily lead to the place it once promised. Careers have become less predictable. Work has intensified. Security often feels temporary. You can follow the script perfectly and still end up wondering where exactly that promised freedom is supposed to appear. Which makes a sentence by Toni Morrison feel unexpectedly sharp: »I tell my students, ›When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/free-somebody/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53898</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Welcome to the Hiring Simulator — the Strategy Game Nobody Enjoys</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/welcome-to-the-hiring-simulator-the-strategy-game-nobody-enjoys/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/welcome-to-the-hiring-simulator-the-strategy-game-nobody-enjoys/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:22:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Algorithms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hiring]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53816</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[There’s this story we keep telling about the job market: it’s tough out there. Fine. I can live with that. And I’m saying this as someone currently in it — reorienting on the way to my next role. I’m having conversations, doing calls, sending applications, waiting, looking closely at what’s out there. And there’s this slightly surreal experience of trying to meet a system where it is, without letting it define me. But first, let me be clear: I get it. Fewer openings, more applicants, smart people competing for the same roles — that’s real. Labor markets have always been cyclical, and economists have data for that. What doesn’t make sense is the vibe. Scrolling through my feeds lately feels less like »people looking for work« and more like watching a weird strategy game. Everyone is min-maxing their character build. And I’m not exempt — I catch myself doing it, too. You start out thinking you’ll just be honest and clear, and two weeks later you’re squinting at job ads like they’re riddles, asking yourself &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/welcome-to-the-hiring-simulator-the-strategy-game-nobody-enjoys/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53816</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>When Failure Gets a Standing Ovation (And Why Knowing When to Quit Might Save You)</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/when-failure-gets-a-standing-ovation-and-why-knowing-when-to-quit-might-save-you/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/when-failure-gets-a-standing-ovation-and-why-knowing-when-to-quit-might-save-you/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Dec 2025 10:44:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decision-making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Failure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Resilience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Successs]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53772</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The room in that unassuming, almost ugly office building smelled like spilled beer and sweat. Concrete walls, neon lights, cables running along the ceiling, a cheap PA system humming somewhere in the corner. People leaned against each other on folding chairs, scrolling through their phones, waiting for the next person who would walk on stage and say the one thing we are all trained not to admit: »I failed.« A guy steps into the spotlight. Hoodie, sneakers, that slightly hunched posture of someone who has told this story too many times in his own head already. He clears his throat. »I dumped two years of my savings, countless nights, and a pretty decent relationship into that startup,« he says. No trembling voice, no drama. Just data. A timeline of effort and loss. »And then it died.« People laugh at the right points. They cheer when he mentions the moment he finally pulled the plug. Someone whistles. When he leaves the stage, they clap as if he had just pitched the next billion-euro idea instead of &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/when-failure-gets-a-standing-ovation-and-why-knowing-when-to-quit-might-save-you/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53772</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Autumn Is a Masterclass in Transitions: How to Navigate Everyday Shifts at Work</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/autumn-is-a-masterclass-in-transitions-how-to-navigate-everyday-shifts-at-work/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/autumn-is-a-masterclass-in-transitions-how-to-navigate-everyday-shifts-at-work/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:18:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Organizational Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tiny Habits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transitions]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53689</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The light tilts, the colors deepen, pavements shine after quick showers. Autumn moves the city from one state to another without fuss or apology. That same current runs through our workdays: from tiny thresholds to bigger crossings it’s all about the art of leaving one thing cleanly and arriving well at the next. These transitions come in all sizes — from the eyelash-thin switch between two tasks that lasts a heartbeat to the long arcs that reshape teams, companies, and people over months, sometimes years. Why transitions feel tricky (the short science) To ground the rest of this piece, here’s a brief science primer on why these in-betweens matter — what clings to attention after a switch, why switching itself costs energy, how unfinished goals keep buzzing until you make a plan, why endings color memory, and what actually helps: detachment, workable boundaries, simple rituals, and brief doses of nature. Skim the highlights below; we’ll weave them back into concrete moves throughout. Attention residue: After a switch, part of your mind sticks to the last &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/autumn-is-a-masterclass-in-transitions-how-to-navigate-everyday-shifts-at-work/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53689</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why We Crave Strong Leaders in Crisis — And Why That Might Be a Problem</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/why-we-crave-strong-leaders-in-crisis-and-why-that-might-be-a-problem/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/why-we-crave-strong-leaders-in-crisis-and-why-that-might-be-a-problem/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2025 17:20:36 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53622</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[1. The Pattern: Crisis Hits, and We Look Up Take a moment and think back to the last time you felt truly uncertain — maybe during a global pandemic, a major reorganization at work, or a personal crisis. Chances are, you found yourself gravitating toward someone who seemed to have all the answers. A boss. A political figure. A loud voice in a crowded room. This isn’t just anecdotal. History tells the same story: when chaos hits, we look for order. When everything feels out of control, we want someone — anyone — to tell us what to do. We want certainty. We want strength. And we often find it in the form of top-down, no-nonsense leadership. Even if we know, deep down, that this type of leadership isn’t always good for us. 2. The Psychology Behind the Pull There’s actually a name for this tendency. Several, in fact. According to the Terror Management Theory, when we’re reminded of our mortality (think: pandemics, wars, job insecurity), we cling to figures and ideologies that offer us &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/why-we-crave-strong-leaders-in-crisis-and-why-that-might-be-a-problem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53622</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Two Truths and no Lie: Why Business Mantras Are a Beautiful Illusion</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/two-truths-and-no-lie-why-business-mantras-are-a-beautiful-illusion/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/two-truths-and-no-lie-why-business-mantras-are-a-beautiful-illusion/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2025 12:38:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53617</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[You’re in a meeting. A big, bold, slightly terrifying opportunity lands on the table. You’re not fully prepared. Your team’s maxed out. Your to-do list? A crime scene. And your gut? Screaming maybe. One voice inside says: «Say yes before you’re ready.» Another whispers: «The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.» Welcome to the paradox of business advice. For every punchy quote, for example on LinkedIn, there’s an equally viral one saying the opposite: «Move fast and break things.» vs «Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.» «Be authentic.» vs «Fake it till you make it.» «Never take no for an answer.» vs «Know when to walk away.» «Done is better than perfect.» vs «Whatever you do, do it well.» None of them are wrong. But none of them are always right. Nonetheless, we love these quotes because they sound like shortcuts. They give us the comforting illusion that complex decisions can be solved with a single line of text. But that’s misleading. Context &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/two-truths-and-no-lie-why-business-mantras-are-a-beautiful-illusion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53617</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>The «Real Men» Dilemma: Why Leaders Struggle to Say «I Don’t Know»</title>
		<link>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/the-real-men-dilemma-why-leaders-struggle-to-say-i-dont-know/</link>
					<comments>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/the-real-men-dilemma-why-leaders-struggle-to-say-i-dont-know/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Trotzendorff]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2025 16:44:35 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Workplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Masculinity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://trotzendorff.de/?p=53614</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Leadership has long been entwined with traditional masculine norms. The ideal leader is often seen as decisive, strong, in control, and emotionally stoic – traits stereotypically coded as male. In fact, classic research found people implicitly associate leadership with being male («think manager, think male»). Many organizations still operate like a «masculinity contest» culture. Some core unwritten rules of this old-school masculine code include: Never show weakness. Admitting doubt or mistakes is off-limits – a «real man» always projects swaggering confidence. Always be in control. Losing or appearing uncertain isn’t an option; one must win and be right at all costs. Avoid «feminine» traits. Traits like empathy, openness, or vulnerability are seen as unmanly; one must embody only traditionally masculine qualities. Never ask for help. Seeking support is seen as a sign of incompetence – a competent male leader should be self-reliant. Underlying these norms is the idea that masculinity is something to prove and protect. Researchers note that manhood is often viewed as a precarious social status – one that must be earned repeatedly &#8230;]]></description>
		
					<wfw:commentRss>https://trotzendorff.de/psychology/the-real-men-dilemma-why-leaders-struggle-to-say-i-dont-know/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">53614</post-id>	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
