Tag: success

Fighting the funk

From time to time every professional deals with it. Periods during which we go through the motions. We feel tired, emotionally drained and in some extreme cases sometimes unmotivated and unchallenged. Nonetheless, we put our heads down and press on. In some instances these feelings generally go away after some time, however during this period things can surely be stressful. I dub this feeling, "The Funk". The funk is really a mental state of being. There are many potential contributing factors that can put us in such a state and the focus of today’s blog is to help us to be more aware so that we can address them in an effective manner.

Have you ever worked with someone who is always bubbly? Every morning they have a smile on their face; they are chatty and are usually the one who brightens up the office. The one day that this individual walks into the office and is not their usual self, everyone takes notice. Why? Because for someone like that to be withdrawn, it often means that something is going on. If that one day turns into weeks or months there is a great cause for concern. The same can be said when the opposite occurs-- a typically withdrawn or reserved individual becomes very loud, curt and abrasive for no particular reason. Everyone takes notice! It is the change in behavior that is immediately apparent to everyone around such examples, but what about the reasons behind them?

In my book, How To Make It From The Classroom To The Cubicle, which was first published back in March 2013, I wrote a section entitled, “People are People”. This is something I also have addressed in blogs, but particularly during the training workshops that I conduct. The premise is that because we have lives and aspirations outside of the workplace it is very easy that these outside factors can affect our disposition when we do come into the workplace. It is impossible to keep the different aspects of our lives from intersecting because after all we are only human. Imagine that "bubbly" person mentioned above. They could have just gotten some bad news about their child or they could be in the middle of a family crisis. Imagine if it were you dealing with a situation like that, coming to work knowing that the moment you are through you have to return to the same set of circumstances at home? Imagine all of that with the added stress, pressure, politics and social interactions that are part of the workplace. It does not seem so simple when viewed from this perspective!

That said there are two different angles with which we can take when we fight the funk at the work. Our Approach: things we can do for ourselves and Management's Approach: things management can do on behalf of the employee.

Let's start with the employee's perspective. If you as an employee are dealing with a set of personal matters that are starting to encroach on your ability to function effectively at work then something has to be done. You need to speak up to ensure that someone understands the struggles that you are going through and if possible can facilitate some sort of relief. The bottom line is that at some point you may have to trust someone with personal details about your life. However, it does not mean that you should go babbling off your business to any ear that wants to listen. You should to be very strategic with whom you let know what is taking place in your life. A member of the human resources team or someone in management might be ideal candidates, as they can potentially offer you helpful options on behalf of the company. Be mindful that the passive approach: wait until someone notices you before you speak of your dilemma, could lead to more stress and anxiety because that help may never come. Trust me, others do notice, but many are afraid to get involved with other people's problems, primarily because they have problems and issues of their own.

From management’s perspective, they must pay careful attention to their employees and step in when things seem amiss to ensure that individuals are getting the right assistance as early as possible. Any good leader should be cognizant of the fact that at any given time, people who you are leading may be dealing with issues that stem from factors that are both internal and external to the workplace. That said, a leader should not wait until those times to 'pry' or try to build trust. It may be too late. A leader should encourage open dialogue and interaction that fosters trusting relationships between his or her staff members and him or herself. Hence, when matters do arise, there is some foundation of trust that the employee can hopefully feel comfortable enough to step on.

These two perspectives however can give the impression that only serious matters can affect your mindset at work. This is not true. If you are in the doldrums at work because you feel like you don't fit in, or feel like you don't belong, or feel like opportunities are passing you by, you too can affect change. I have often heard the sentiment from people that I encounter who feel like they are being overlooked at work and that it’s management's responsibility to take notice. While this is somewhat true, it is equally your responsibility to speak up and affect change. You cannot feel alienated on an assumption. It is far more effective to speak up and bring the matter to management's attention first before casting any judgment or resigning yourself to feelings of being cast aside.

Speaking up is not a license to become a complainer. It is simply exercising your right as an individual to express yourself. When that is done, you should lift your head and by extension your demeanor and give your best until things turn around. When management knows that you are unhappy about something and you still exhibit the right attitude, you stand out. When you have the opportunity to whine and complain, but instead you raise your concerns in a polite and direct manner, you stand out. When you stand out, you increase the chances of things changing for the better.

The main takeaway today is this: the funk is real. From time to time we are going to feel like we don't want to be at work and the reasons can be numerous. Recognizing those moments and effectively identifying and dealing with the factors that cause them can make a positive difference on your career. For things that are fixable your responsibility is to fix them. For things that are more complicated, HR and management can assist you in dealing with your situation. However, if after careful assessment you determine that the factors that affect you are a result of the work environment and after an honest effort they cannot be changed, then you should exercise your freedom of choice and explore other job options. Your career depends on it.

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.

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Why should you ask for more responsibility at work?

Welcome back to the Weekly Wisdom blog. Firstly I would like to thank you for returning. If this is your first time, thanks for visiting. Remember that the full archive is available and you can search for a topic that interests you. And if you don't find what you are looking for, drop us a line with a question and we will work on publishing a response just for you.

Today we are going to explore a topic that will interest some of you and scare the rest, Why should you ask for more responsibility at work? You might be thinking to yourself; Why would anyone in their right mind ask for more responsibility? And doesn't more responsibility mean more work? You are right to question and hopefully today's post will help you find the answers.

The primary purpose for this dialog is to bring to light a fundamental truth about building a career, progress is essential. You see, every time you get increased responsibility it indicates progress. More money does not necessarily mean more responsibility and you must be careful when you chase after the money and forget that there should also be some responsibility to go with it. Let me give you an example to further illustrate this point.

I am a huge sports fan and every so often you would hear about an athlete who signs a mega deal to be the star player on a team. Unfortunately, they do not always live up to initial expectations. It is not uncommon for to see these players get diminished roles on their teams which often results in added pressure to perform. As you can imagine, supporters and critics alike do not make things any easier. What point are we driving at here? What makes a player happy, the money or playing? Shouldn't he just enjoy being paid for doing nothing? You see, for a guy like this, the money is great but it is not enough to satisfy his desire to be in the game. We too must adopt this mindset in our professional lives if we are going to be successful. This principle is important because, just like in sports, the moment it is determined that you are too costly to keep around for the value that you are bringing, the relationship will be terminated.

With that understanding, we must look at having more responsibility as an opportunity to prove your worth to your employer. It exposes you to new areas and experiences that can help you grow as a professional. These experiences add up over time and only serve to make you a more versatile and well rounded employee. In the modern corporate landscape, an employee who can develop new skills over time is better suited to ride the waves of change when it does come.

As I close today's segment, asking for more responsibility shows a desire that most others don't have and definitely sets you apart from the rest. One word of caution though, if you are unreliable in your current scope of responsibilities then this advice is not for you. You run the risk of raising the ire of management. You are better suited trying to perform at expected levels before trying to handle more.

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.

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Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful: Don't measure your success with that of others

Today marks the last edition of the series, Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful. It is entitled: Don't measure your success with that of others. In this installment we explore the perils of trying to measure ourselves using someone else's measuring stick. Based on the first blog in this series (link here) the goals that we set for ourselves on the quest for success must be personal-- which implies that the success that we are to discover must also be personal. The best way to explain this is the use of a sports analogy.

The journey to success is often likened unto a race, which conventional wisdom tells us there must be a winner. If that is the case, does it imply that in this 'race' toward success all of the other participants are destined for failure? Does it also mean that we all should give up once someone is officially declared the winner? I say not so! If you have ever witnessed a men's 100 meters dash at an Olympic athletics competition, you would see that when the race is over there is more than one person celebrating. Why is that? Well if you understand a fundamental dynamic of success then it will make sense. If coming in second place is the best that you can do, then you will be doing yourself a disservice by not being comfortable with that fact. You see, you will never be happy if all you do is keep comparing yourself to other people. I am not saying that they can't serve as a source of inspiration, but to have an obsessive compulsion in trying to match up or even outdo the competition in every aspect is very unhealthy. It is under such conditions that jealousy and greed are developed, which can result in cutting corners to make up the shortfall.

On the other hand, there are those of us who are working night and day trying to live up to some unrealistic expectation that may not likely come to fruition. And it’s not because you don't have the desire, but maybe it just was not meant to be. The best example is a parent-child relationship. A parent may have lofty aspirations for their child to become a doctor. What then happens to a child who wants to be a chef, but enrolls into medical school simply to please the parent? His/her parent’s desire is not going to compensate for the hardships they may endure. This is why setting your own goals is important. The ideal scenario is when a parent can help a child to set goals and then provide support in helping them to attain those goals.

Handling your success can be summarized into the common expression- be comfortable in your own skin. It doesn't mean that once you make your decision the process will then be easy. Please be warned that this could be quite the contrary. It means that once your planning is over, you enter this race with the understanding that there will be challenges and times of second guessing and even major frustrations. However, knowing that the dream that you are chasing after is all yours, gives you the inner strength to keep running and a greater sense of satisfaction when success does indeed come.

So what have we learnt from this discourse:

Setting goals is the most important step in being successful. After all, with no finish line how can you tell if you have made it. The goals must be challenging yet realistic. Don't bite off more than you can chew all at once. Break them up into smaller goals so that there is a continual sense of progress.

Once the goals are set the work begins. There will be obstacles, good days and bad, however you must believe in yourself! Trust in your ability and most importantly trust in your gut instinct.

Acting like you belong is a take on the old adage, think like where you are headed and not where you currently are. It is simple, yet revolutionary. It tells you that you cannot be bogged down by your perceived differences and or weaknesses. You either belong or you don't! It is your decision.

Focus, focus, focus - Do not take your eyes off of the finish line! Anything or anyone who is in your way needs to be removed.

Lastly you alone can determine what success is. Chasing after someone else's dream will only lead to a life of frustration.

If this series has been insightful please leave a comment or send me a message. If any questions may have arisen while reading this series, by all means send me questions and I promise I will answer them.

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.

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Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful: Eliminating the noise

Today our journey continues with the fourth installment of the series, Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful: Eliminating the noise. We are almost to the end with only one more remaining. If you are joining this discourse and have not read the others that preceded, I recommend that you go back and read them once you have concluded reading today's offering. It is really important that you get the entire picture of what is being communicated in this series. Now let us begin with today’s message.

I submit to you that you that your ability to eliminate the noise has a direct bearing on the level of success that you can attain. It also impacts the timeline in which you can see this success. Distractions and a lack of discipline are lethal dream killers, which leave many individuals who once were loaded with potential, wondering what went wrong. Focus then, is a powerful and necessary character trait one must develop. To better understand focus, let us examine the image above of a racehorse.

As you may have noticed in the picture the horse is wearing blinders or blinkers. In general if you have ever carefully observed a horse race you would notice that most if not all the horses where blinkers. Have you ever wondered why? The answer is encapsulated in the very nature and anatomy of a horse's eye. It is said that the equine eye is the largest of any land mammal. It has the ability to see a staggering 350 degree range of monocular vision. However most of this vision is peripheral, which is relatively poor. As a result a horse is easily spooked when it is approached from its periphery and tends to rear on its hind legs or take flight as a defensive strategy.

I did some research to find out why race horse owners see it fit to put blinders on their horses and this is what I discovered:

Blinders help the race horse run in a straight line. Because of its vision a horse has the propensity to run in a diagonal line, so blinders reduce the peripheral vision and keeps the horse's focus down the track.

Blinders help the race horse from being spooked by the other horses in the race. Remember it is in the horse's nature to be alarmed by objects that are moving in its periphery, which means that a horse race is the perfect environment for a horse to become unsettled.

Blinders prevent immature horses from turning around and looking at its rider. Imagine how dangerous this can be for both horse and rider if this occurs at full speed in the middle of a race.

From these examples it is evident that blinders help a horse to keep focused, by keeping its eyes looking forward and reducing distractions at crucial moments. The same ideology is applicable to you. Are you so prone to distractions that you easily lose focus and begin placing your attention in other directions apart from your goals? Or are you easily spooked by competition? The moment you realize that there are others vying for the same position, same prize, same promotion and same job, you get scared and your instinctual reaction is to take flight? If this describes you today then you are in need of proverbial blinders. You need that ability to block out all of the distractions and noise that can take you off your course.

As I close, I challenge you to do some soul searching in order to identify all of the distractions that are preventing you from living out to you full potential. It is only after you have identified these distractions that you can create a plan to block them out. Remember what distracts you may not necessarily distract me, so this exercise requires a serious self-assessment. I guarantee you that eliminating the noise will make a world of difference as you continue on your quest to success.

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.

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Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful: Self Belief

In today's blog we are on number three of the series entitled, Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful. We will focus on the ever important subject of self-belief.

Talent, ability, skills, training and opportunities are all essential elements that one must have to experience success. However, I submit to you that the absence of self-belief is a sure way to retard any potential achievements. Believing in one's self is bigger than just about the ability that you have. It is a catalyst that keeps you in the game when all the signs around you point to failure. I came across a study recently which was spearheaded by Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University in California. It was entitled Growth Mindset, and if you do some searching online you will find some good information. The idea behind this study is that an individual's drive, discipline and determination toward achieving can help make up the talent or intelligence gap when compared to their contemporaries. The study tracked students from a young age for a number of years and found that children who were identified as having comparatively less ability than their peers were able to make up that achievement gap. And in some cases supersede those who were significantly more advanced at the same starting point.

In other words, students were able to effectively make themselves smarter by simply believing and willing themselves into working harder.

Isn't this simply outstanding? How many times do we limit ourselves to societal standards and groupings? This thinking has caused many persons to view themselves less capable than others and effectively stunt any growth and development, by quenching all belief and desire to achieve. The study also goes on to demonstrate that those who were labeled as having advanced intelligence and ability have to fight the tendency to be lax when it comes to discipline and desire. Why? See, it’s easy for someone to believe in themselves or their ability when they never really faced major challenges. But how they cope when the challenges do come is extremely important. Be reminded that someone on the other side of the spectrum would have been facing challenges all their lives, so they would already have experience in dealing with them.

That said, it does not matter where on the ability scale you find yourself. The potential for you to advance and achieve beyond your societal labeling depends on you. You must have that self-belief that pushes you past the purported limits and be the over achiever that you have the potential to be.

So where are you today? Have your eyes been opened to the fact that the one thing you are not born with or that you could get qualified in is essential to maximizing your natural talent, academic achievements and professional qualifications? Yes, self-belief is a trait that you have to extract and perfect yourself. No one can force you to believe more in yourself. You can only be inspired to do so. My hope is that after reading today's blog you are inspired and begin to chart a course beyond your initial expectations.

It is never too late!

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.