Hello! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
I hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend and took time to unplug and recharge. This can be a hectic time of year for many as we prepare for the holiday season. Don’t forget that investing in yourself is not a selfish act at all; it is a key requirement to allow yourself to be at your best.
The world has so many problems that need solving, so we need you to be at your best. Your contributions matter.
This week’s article focuses on simple steps you can take today to transform your work life. Many people believe they can’t afford to have a job that they love, but it’s the reverse that’s true – you can’t afford to stay in a job you resent.
Hope you find it helpful.
As always, reach out to me at tim@timparkins.com if you’ve got feedback, ideas for content you’d love to hear my thoughts on, or just to say hi.
I love hearing from you.
Onwards and upwards!
Tim
Simple Steps To Crafting A Work Life That Sucks Less
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For years, I’ve been saying that “work is broken” for so many people. (In fact, that’s why I do what I do – to help people make work suck less!)
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This HBR article really reinforces how negatively people view their work. According to some data cited in the article, employee engagement is at an all-time low; only 18% of people felt engaged at work. An important footnote to that data point; that was pre-pandemic. The data shows it has dropped even lower now. 73% of people report symptoms related to stress at work.
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​Work is literally making us sick.
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This triggered what was called the “Great Resignation”, but was actually more of a “Great Work Shuffle”. People are not exiting the workforce – because few can afford to. Instead, they are leaving one job and taking on another, hoping it will be better, that the proverbial grass is actually greener on the other side. (Hint — it usually isn’t). Many people feel caught in an endless cycle of wishing they didn’t have to resent their jobs so much, but needing to keep putting in their time to have enough money to live.
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​To stem the tide of departures and make it possible to recruit, companies are offering all kinds of different perks; higher wages, signing bonuses, and improved benefits. But it is not really working. Interestingly, many of the things that organizations think really matter to employees are proving not to work so well after all. Having work in the right location (or from home), liking one’s colleagues, and having a belief in the organization’s mission are not enough.​
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There is a labour shortage that you can see playing out every day, all over the place. The domain does not seem to matter; everywhere you look, you’ll notice places are understaffed and struggling to serve customers with reasonable customer service.
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If you pay any attention to people around you, you’ll undoubtedly notice the extent to which their work saps them of energy and joy. After work, people collapse on the couch in front of the television or mindlessly scroll social media, because there is nothing left in their tanks.​
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So many people are giving up on their lives for the sake of work. They are letting their dreams die out of fear of changing things up in their work life.
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It does not have to be that way.
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So what can someone who finds themselves in that situation do?
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The solution is simple. We all intuitively know what we need to do to make it better; it is the implementation that is tricky. But it is achievable if you decide to do what needs to be done and start.
To be happy at work, you need to:
- Have some autonomy over how you achieve results.
- Leverage your strengths.
- Believe your contributions matter.
- Do work you enjoy doing.
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​It really is that simple. If you’re able to maximize each of those four key elements of the way you spend your time at work, you’ll stop resenting having to work, and might even surprise yourself by enjoying it.
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For those of you who lead teams, understand that your primary function as a leader is to ensure each member of your team can do those four things. Because not only is it good for employees, it is remarkably good for employers. Truth bomb: when someone is happy with the work that they are doing, they will produce more, higher quality output. So if you want greater output from your team – making you more effective – let people do the work in a manner that respects those four elements.
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There is one in particular from the article which sums it up nicely:
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​Who doesn’t want to feel that way about their work?
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That said, it is not at all realistic to think that you will love every aspect of your work. That is unlikely, so you’re best to set your expectations accordingly. But according to the research presented in the article, it only takes loving about 20% of your work activities to keep you engaged at work and avoid burnout.
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20%!!! That is so achievable!
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The article talks about how employers can go about creating this type of environment for employees. However, in my experience, most knowledge workers today can take control of this situation themselves.
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You must step up and take control of your work life, or someone will define it for you.
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How do you do this? By job-crafting. Rather than chase some mythical new job that will suddenly “make you happy”, you need to craft a job that suits you. Job-crafting requires understanding the results that you need to produce and then producing those results in a manner that suits your strengths, personality, and desired way of working. It means rather than following your “job description”, you go about delivering the results in your own way. You tweak what you do and how you go about it so that it aligns with who you are.
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I know you likely think that your boss will never allow you to do that, that I don’t understand your boss. But just try it! I have done this many times, and it has always worked for me. As long as you deliver results and make your boss’s job easy, they are almost always willing to let you do your thing. As long as you keep adding a ton of value, no one will care if you “fit the box” of your job description.
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To craft a job that is perfect for you, you need to:
- know what type of work tasks you enjoy doing.
- understand what your strengths are.
- know how you produce your best results
- start changing how you work, with small experiments, based on the above 3 points.
- keep iterating and improving.
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Don’t be afraid to try. Don’t ask for anyone’s permission. Just start. And once you do, you will inevitably start producing better work — because you will be happier. I can guarantee that your boss won’t give you too hard of a time for producing more, better work. And you will be happier. Win-win.
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Work does not have to be a source of stress and leave you feeling depleted and spent. It can actually be a source of energy.
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But it is on you to make the changes required to allow this. The longer you wait to start, the more time you spend in a job you resent. And the deeper the resulting psychological scars will be.
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Quotation that I have been pondering
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Journal Prompt
When we encounter something new, we usually experience a blend of nervousness and excitement. Think about how it felt when you first started the job you’re now in. I bet you feel quite different about the job now.
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By reflecting on how you felt earlier on in your job, you can help reconnect with why you took the job. It can serve to re-invigorate your relationship with your work, one that isn’t tainted by the cynicism that inevitably creeps in.
Your Call To Adventure
Imagine transforming your work life into a source of joy and fulfilment. With my guidance, this can be your reality. A small investment in yourself now will unlock years of satisfaction and success. I’ve reinvented my work life and have guided many others to do the same. Together, we’ll turn your work from a daily grind to a source of pride and joy.
The perfect time to reshape your work life is now. Don’t wait for a crisis to force your hand. Ready to love your work life?
Click the button to book your personal coaching session and start your transformation journey today.
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| YES – I need to fix my work life! |
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