As someone that works part time in an office and part time at a busy riding school/dealer yard, I often have cause to compare the two very diverse roles. I think the one thing that really seperates the two jobs above all others is expectation.
Yesterday I arrived on the yard after an extremely dull and lazy morning in the office feeling rather flat,miserable and a bit hormonal with strong desire to do nothing for the remainder of the day. Sarah, the full time girl was feeling similar and we both agreed that as the boss was away we should have a 'take it easy' day. Now take it "easy days" at the office generally involve gossiping with colleagues, browsing the internet forums and emailing old friends. Come on, we've all had them. So why then, does an 'easy day' at the yard involve riding 4 horses, teaching 3 lessons mucking out 7 stables plus a heap of sweeping and tidying? 
The answer is expectation. It is the same with Health and Safety. Colleagues in the office become enraged about H&S if they see a box or some wires lying around the floor. I spent 1/2hr yesterday afternoon balanced on top of a 10ft muck heap trailer wielding a sharp pitchfork!!! My office colleagues would be appalled but on the yards you are expected to make your own risk assessments and get on with your job. After all, there is no real way to make sitting on a half broken TB 4yr old safe - so why sweat the other stuff?
Anyway, I did enjoy my lazy afternoon. Although I rode 4 horses, I only read *rode* Sovereighn who has decided that dressage is his forte and has finally learnt to canter in an outline. BLISS!! However after this my motivation went downhill rapidly for the 3 ponies and I was actually on my phone for most of Cloud's exercise regime (don't tell the boss!). I gave up on Prince after 20mins as he was pretending to be frightened of legs which is a tiresome game he occasionally plays when in the outdoor school. I also nearly got myself into A LOT of trouble riding Cloud out to the field bareback at a fast canter (too lazy to walk lol), not realising my boss' wife was walking her dogs in the next field. Fortunately she saw the funny side as there were no clients or liveries about to get ideas about cantering through the fields themselves. Sometimes it is so boring having to set a good example all the time
Despite our lack of motivation, Sarah and I got the yards done early as the schools are on half term so we did an extra thorough sweep and tidy which left everything looking lovely. Once the sun went down and the lights came on, I got a really nice 'winter' feeling seeing the tidy yard, full stables, with every horse muching hay. My clients arrived for their evening lesson and my motivation/adrenaline kicked in as I love teaching. I had a great 2 lessons. Everyone jumped - even those on the more challenging ponies - and they all left on a real high. It is nice teaching adults as they seem to have lower expectations of their own abilites which means they really relish all their achievements. So satisfaying for an instructor when everyone leaves beaming and madly patting their horses.
I hard-fed last thing with the late night clients arguing over who got to feed whom. Of course I insisted on doing Hector and Sovereign myself as they are my favourites. Hector gave me a loving look out of his big brown eyes. He can be jumpy with strangers but he really trusts me now and let me rub his head a few times over the door before he dropped his nose into his bucket. Sovereign pulled his best Feed-Me-Now faces complete with lots of lip-licking in case I hadn't got the message! He is so cute - Sarah says he is spoilt but I love the way he will shout at you across the yard if you don't feed him first!.
I locked up and turned the lights off and looked up to see the sky alive with stars. In the darkness I could hear the horses munching contendedly and I felt the satisfaction of another day well completed. I never get this sense of satisfaction from the office - and that's why I think I get more done on a lazy day at the yard than on the busiest day at my desk.