Tag Archives: working hard

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Who Wants to Work for Fear and Money?

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Have I got a job for you! You will do what the boss tells you to, check with her before you do something on your own, and meet the numbers she tells you to meet or your fired. If you do all that, you will get to keep your job and get paid every two weeks.

Are you in?

Using the fear of losing your job and the reward of getting paid is how most businesses have been managing (controlling?) their employees for the last hundred years or so.

It works…kinda.

Depending on how badly you need the job, you put up with it. But for how long?

And what kind of work and life does that lead to?

A friend of mine had a “great” job at a big company. He was a team leader. He was earning good money. Even in this still struggling economy his job was “safe.”

And he couldn’t wait to leave.

The culture he was working in was destroying him. He felt like the company didn’t really care about him, his coworkers, his family, or even the idea of a life outside the office. It’s hard to put in your best effort for a company like that.

He was offered a job with the type of culture he was looking for and he took it. When he put in his two-week notice the company was upset. They didn’t want to lose him. They offered him a promotion and more money. They thought the old model of motivation still worked, they just had to push harder.

Wrong.

My friend took the other job. He’s super excited about the culture and is already happier, more engaged with his company, and ready to do his best work.

Gallup has done a lot of research on “employee engagement.” An engaged employee is someone who is emotionally and enthusiastically involved in the purpose of the company. He enjoys his work and looks for ways to create, innovate, and do more than is asked of him. It’s the kind of employee every business wants.

Bad news. Gallup’s numbers from 2015 show that only 35% of managers are engaged and only 30% of all employees are.

This old method of motivating employees leads to a bunch of disengaged, unhappy, ready to jump ship at a moments notice people.

Who wants to work in that type of environment? Nobody. It’s one of the reasons there is so much turnover in the workplace.

It also costs a company’s bottom line. Gallup estimates that employee disengagement costs American companies about $300 billion every year.

Ouch.

There is a better way.

The best organizations engage us by asking us to share in their purpose and share in the pleasure of:

  • Creating individual and team goals
  • Contributing something signifcant
  • Innovating
  • Making a difference
  • Working with people who support and encourage us
  • Working towards and achieving goals
  • Celebrating achievements and being rewarded for them
  • Helping us become an expert at what we do

Add in an understanding that your entire life is not the job and now you’ve got someone working with their heart and soul. Now you’ve got someone who will stick with you.

Questions for comments: How does your company engage its people? How could you improve that?

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If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Do It

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Finding and pursuing your Passionate Purpose seems like a lot of work. (And I still haven’t watched all of Shark Week that I DVRd.) It is a lot of work. It’s a lot easier to coast through days, weeks, months, and years, never putting out the effort to live that extraordinary life.

But that’s not what you want. You want something different. You are all in on pursuing your Passionate Purpose. You are going to capitalize on that by increasing your income to the point you can change your family tree, give to others, live where you want, travel where and when you want, do what you want, and be financially free.

I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours–JK Jerome

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So when you get tired, or down, or you question yourself just remember, yes, all the hard work is worth it. If you do it right, you will also enjoy the entire journey.

I know it can be overwhelming to imagine that you are going to become the person who can do everything you must do to achieve all your dreams.

It will take time.

It will take effort.

It won’t go in a straight line.

You will hit walls.

But if you continually think about what you want and who you want to be, make a commitment to it, and consistently take action every day, you will succeed…

…and it will be worth it.

Get moving on something that will start you on the path to finding and pursuing your Passionate Purpose. After all, the years will go by either way. Do you want to look back twenty years from now and say I just kept making a living, or do you want to look back and say that was when I decided to start earning an extraordinary life?

My hope for you is that you get started right now on your Passionate Purpose. What are you waiting for?

Go.

Now.

Why are you still sitting there? GO!

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Sometimes Less is More

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Try harder. Work harder. Do more.

Does that sound like the voices in your head? Maybe that’s just me. (Maybe I should see someone about that.)

We all work hard and want to succeed. That’s a good thing. But, the idea that you must go 100mph all the time to get ahead is just wrong. (Try going 100mph off a cliff and see if going all out all the time still makes sense.)

Sometimes letting off the gas a little is what is needed. Sometimes we need to let someone else have the spotlight. Sometimes we need to listen – really listen. Sometimes we need to stop working so hard, slow down, think, create, and plan.

I went to a musical last night. One of the actresses was a good singer, but something didn’t quite feel right as I listened. Then it hit me. She was belting out every lyric. There were no dynamics, no highs and lows, loud and soft.

Don’t get me wrong, she could really wail. But, there wasn’t as much feeling and emotion in the songs as there could have been. By trying too hard all the time she was actually hurting her performance.

Do you ever do that? I know I do.

If you find yourself pressing too hard today, trying to top someone else’s story, trying to make the most and best comments at the office meeting, or trying to cram too many things in your day, slow down.

Back off for a minute. Re-evaluate. Prioritize. Be more selective about what you say and do.

Let me know how it works out. I’m going to try that today.

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Who Else Wants to Get More Done in Less Time?

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You are working harder than ever. From the second the alarm clock goes off until your head hits the pillow at night you are working. It’s slowly killing you and you’re starting to notice that all that work isn’t doing as much as you thought it would.

It’s time to spend less time working to do more.

Ok, get the guys in the white coats. Greg’s really lost it this time.

Nope, never been more sane. I’ve noticed that when I’m trying to put out all the fires and be all things to all people, I let other people determine my priorities. You know what happens then? My most important tasks don’t get done.

When I decide my top three priorities and take them one at a time until they’re done, I get more important things done. That helps everyone more.

Here’s how you do it, depending on if you’re self-employed or you’re an employee.

Self-employed:

1) Ask yourself: What is the most important thing that if you got it done today would make the biggest difference to your business?

2) Do that until it’s done. I know sometimes “things come up.” But you need to schedule time for your most important activities or something will always “come up.” At the minimum, work on this task for one hour. Then take a break for emails, phone calls, fires, etc. Then repeat the process.

3) Repeat steps one and two for your three priorities until you’re done for the day.

4) If time remains, do the next thing on your list.

5) Celebrate a great day! Go for a walk with your spouse. Eat some boiled peanuts and watch a martial arts movie. (Wait, that’s just what I like to do. Sorry.)

If you’re an employee:

1) Meet with your boss and ask him/her and work out what the companies goals are for you – short and long term. What does he expect from you? What are the top three most important things he expects you to get done?

You might think you know this already. Hey, you might. But, you also might be surprised just how different your ideas of what is important are from what your boss thinks.

2) Focus 80% of your time on those top three things your boss wants done. Do this in one-hour increments. Tell everyone, no interruptions during that time. Set a timer. You will be shocked what this type of focus will do.

3) As you show your boss how much important work you’re getting done, see if he will delegate some of your less important work to someone else. (You will be surprised how often the answer will be yes.)

4) Use the other 20% of your time to do the less important but necessary tasks of your job.

5) Win the office fantasy football pool. Whoo hoo! (Whoops, sorry, that’s my stuff again.)

Let me know how this works!

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Working Too Many Hours Hurts Everyone

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We tend to think that working long hours shows we have a strong work ethic. It’s proof we’re not lazy and it will lead to more success.

Some of us even get in competition with our buddies on how many hours we put in.

But research shows that too much work is actually counterproductive. It hurts your health and your productivity.

A new study, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed a correlation with work hours and risk of stroke.

Compared to the “normal” 40-hour workweek, working from 41-48 hours increased your risk of stroke by 10%. If you worked up to 54 hours a week the risk jumped to 27%. The last group working over 55 hours a week saw risk of stroke increase by 33%.

The reason for this isn’t proven yet. The researches think it could be due to increased stress, longer periods sitting at your desk, or just the fact that you have less time to eat right, exercise and take care of yourself properly.

Meanwhile, a Stanford study shows that after you reach 50 hours a week your productivity takes a big hit. Push it past 56 hours and your work starts to downhill fast. When you reach 70 hours a week, you produce nothing worthwhile with all that extra time.

That study focused on munitions workers so it’s not exactly the same for most of us who do office work. However, many other studies show the diminishing returns from overwork and not enough sleep.

You can get away with it in short bursts for big projects, but if it becomes the norm, your quality of work – and your health – will suffer greatly.

Depending on the survey, around half of American workers now say they put in more than 50 hours a week.

It’s time to start asking ourselves what we – and our employers – get for that?

Is there a better way to work less, get more done and achieve more balance in our lives?

Yes!

I’m going to give some ideas on that in my next post.

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Workin’ Hard or Hardly Workin’?

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We all work hard and it seems like there’s always more work to be done.

I’ve noticed something about myself and I’m wondering if it’s the same for you. When I plan out my day and stick to the plan I get a ton done.

When I just have an idea of what I’m going to do, I don’t get as much done. Yet, I still feel like I worked just as hard. How does that happen?

This morning I realized how it happens for me.

I work from home in the mornings and I had great plans on important things to do. Then I decided I needed to upload the video of my daughter’s recent musical performance. My phone didn’t sync with my Mac, so I had to download a program – 30 minutes gone.

Then I noticed a few hundred photos on my phone that were taking up space so I decided I needed to upload select photos from my phone to my Mac – another 20 minutes gone.

And so it went:

Check my email — four different accounts – 25 minutes

Send YouTube video I created to a contact (and watch some of my old ones) – 30 minutes

Check FB messages and notifications – 5 minutes

Renew my library books online – 5 minutes

I finally shook myself and realized that although I felt like I was working I had spent almost 2 hours doing absolutely nothing on my daily planner. Not good.

I hadn’t planned well, and I wasn’t even sticking to my not so great plan. It wasn’t that the things I was doing were bad, it’s just that they were taking me away from the more productive things I really wanted to get done.

Focus, Grasshopper, focus.

When I stick to my plan and work in hour blocks on my most important thing that aligns with my purpose, great things happen.

We can spend all day working on things that aren’t very important, or we can focus on the things that really matter. At the end of the day we’ll be tired either way.

The first way is an empty, dissatisfied, frustrated tired.

The second way is a job well done, life is good, earned relaxation now kind of tired. I love days like that.

Let’s GO!

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