your work matters

“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.”
― Aldous Huxley

Imagine working for a company that wants to make work exciting, fun and challenging while offering top quality service and yet not all companies care about their people, those both inside and outside the business.  There are organizations that value their staff and the result is that the employees desire to do their best for their customers and for the company.

Recently I’ve come across a number of people who are being bullied within their company, micro-managed and intimated by threat or coercive pressures by poor management practices.  The bully doesn’t belong as a leader or manager in any company and yet they find a way to maintain a position of power in their organization.     Results matter and how they are achieved matter as well.

There are some companies that boost results and have better ways to manage people and better ways to get results as well.

Take a look at these values, what do you think?   Is it a top company?  Does this company value its employees and customers?

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

What company do you think has these values as part of their business structure?

The company that has these values is Zappos.   Is this an organization you’d like to work for?

What kind of organization do you want to be a part of?   What kind of culture would you fit best into?

your better life

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

 

Are you living the life you want to live?    A lot of people aren’t living the life they want, they are existing but not living.   As a coach I get to talk to many people who are struggling and want to live a life that is different than the one they are living.

People are looking for a “secret” something that will improve their finances, fix a relationship, boost their career, help them lose weight, help them believe in themselves, repair broken relationships or to find joy and happiness in their lives.  There is no secret formula for creating the life you want without putting in the effort to get what you want.

Maybe the secret is a massive amount of work on the things you value the most.  The secret is starting and doing something that will lead to better results for you.

The point is that unless you do something different today your tomorrow won’t be any better than it was yesterday.   If you are waiting until conditions are perfect, until you have that one missing thing, before you start you’ll never ever start.

Your better life starts when you stop making excuses and decide to transform each day from now on.

How important is your health?

How important is your family?

How important are your relationships?

How important is your career?

How important is your personal and professional growth?

Take a few minutes and write down what is important to you.   Are you honoring what you value?

Many people choose to live a life of misery to show to their neighbors and friends how successful they are.   We equate success with finances and it isn’t working.   There are many, many people who have great bank accounts  who are living in personal poverty.   What is your life really like?  (Feel free to comment … share your story)

it’s your choice

“When faced with two equally tough choices, most people choose the third choice: to not choose.
”
― Jarod Kintz

What stops more people from achieving their desired results than anything else? It is the inability to make a choice.   People make choices all of the time but when asked what they want from life, they hesitate.  Maybe you do as well.  What do you really want?   Living the life you really want comes down to making choices.

One of the more popular questions I get asked is “How do I make a decision?”  And maybe it isn’t how to make a decision it is how to commit to that decision once it is made.  Decisions often require some level of risk.   To do one thing I give up something else, or do I?

The challenging part of making a decision is living with the decision that is made.   The second guessing of the decision or the fact that there was a cost to the decision in the first place leaves many wondering if it was the right choice.    Be prepared to commit to the decision whatever it is before you make the decision.    Believe that your decision is correct and set your expectations accordingly.

What decisions do you want to make?   How will you make them?  How long will it take to make the decision?  What will it take to commit to that decision?

Listen to a commencement speech by Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com founder)  and answer the questions.  What do you want your answers to be?

don’t stop until you get there ….

“Success is not determined by the outcome. The outcome is the result of having already decided that you are successful to begin with.”
― T.F. Hodge

The old ways don’t work and you’re still doing things the old way.  It takes doing something different to get different results and you know that and you’re still doing things like you did yesterday getting the same old tired results.  You want a breakthrough in your life.

Take a quick a few minutes and think about these life categories and rate them from 1 to 10.  1 being not even close and 10 being I’ve got it nailed.  Where are you in these areas?

1. Finances
2. Health/Wellness
3. Career
4. Professional Development
5. Personal Development
6. Relationships
7. Friends
8. Spiritual
9. Recreation/Vacation

Rate each category and do it fairly quickly, you really do know how well you are doing in your life.  If some area is really poor then just admit it to yourself.  Now add it all up.   The maximum score is 90 points and if have less than 70 points you’re probably looking to make some changes.  If you have less than 50 points life isn’t working well for you.   And if you have less than 30 points you really need to step things up.  No matter how many points you gave yourself there is room for improvement for change.   If you’re a high achiever and have 90 points or more you’re ready to really push to new limits of performance in your life.

Take a look at your scores and think of ways that you can make a change in an area  that isn’t going so well.  Just admit it to yourself that it isn’t working and commit to making a change, a BIG change in that area this year.

What changes are you willing to make to live the live you really want?   You are the only one that can change your life.  If you want it to be better it starts with you.  Create the goals that will enable you to achieve the results you want.    Develop a life strategy so that you can get the results you want.

the best place to work

“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.”
― Marvin J. Ashton

Do you work for an organization that would be characterized as a “best place to work”?   Do you feel motivated to come to work?  Do you feel like there is a clear path of advancement?   Are your skills and talents being used?   Is the company ethical in all aspects?   How would you describe your place of work?

Great places to work don’t just happen, they are created, they require great leaders.   Great companies have great cultures.   Great cultures reflect great values.   If your values are not in complete alignment with the values of the company there is going to be some cognitive dissonance that you’ll experience and that may impact your ability to thrive.  Do you own the values of the company as your own?  Do your values fully align with the company you work for?

Great places to work value people.   Leaders recognize the value of relationships and nurture and foster opportunity for growth within the staff.  People who can stretch and engage all the talents you bring.   In a sense a great place to work is going to have an environment that is consistent with a coaching culture.  A culture that enables the best out of each person on a consistent basis.

A coaching culture works by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system which leads to better performance.   Imagine a culture which is committed to your success and developing and improving your social and emotional awareness so that you could develop professional and personally.  In that type of environment employees would feel empowered to speak with honesty and candor about significant issues.  Organizational transparency would exist and  lead to less conflict, less withholding of information and better engagement.

In a sense the best place to work would be an environment of compassionate understanding with high performance objectives.   It would be an environment with excellent performance objectives that challenge and require the best of everyone and with a culture of compassionate understanding people would want to perform.   That is different from a culture that “needs” to perform.

What kind of culture does your place of work encourage or discourage?  How do you feel about going to work each day?  Are you working in a place you’d consider the best place to work?

Is this the best place to work?

how important is it

“Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.”
― John Cleese

How important is it?   Have you looked at your goals recently?  Have you looked at your life recently?   What have you done that is important to you?

More and more people are moving from place to place and doing something without thinking about the value of what they are doing.

Rate what you are doing on  daily basis from 1 to 10.

Is what I am doing adding value to my life  (1 = Little, 10 = Much meaning)?

Go through the things you do each day and see how they add value.   What isn’t adding value?   What are you doing that does not add value to your life?   Why are you doing it?   What if you stopped doing it?   Would that matter?

What are you doing that will add value to your day or your life?   Are you doing it?