Work is where most people spend the majority of their waking hours. Not with their family. Not with their friends. Not doing their hobbies. But doing what they want or have to do to make a living. Work. Unfortunately most people are not happy with where they work, who they work with or what they do. And some people hate work. There is hope. You can love work. It is not easy but it is better than being miserable day in and day out.
Hours
What are your work hours? 7-7. 9-5. 8-4. Whatever your “scheduled hours” are, unless you are CEO, you are probably putting in more hours than you are paid for. Start by working your “scheduled hours” and only you scheduled hours. If you find that you need to work more hours you need to step back and ask yourself “why?” if you are not being paid for those hours.
How often do you check your e-mail? Once per day? Twice per day? Hourly? On the weekends? In the evening? Again, unless you are the CEO, if you check your e-mail more than twice per day during each “work” day, you need to ask yourself “why?”
Meetings
How many meetings do you attend per day? Are they all mandatory or can you not pass up the opportunity to be at a meeting. Regardless of what is said about “matrix management”, do not attend a meeting unless you boss tells you to attend it. If someone other than your boss asks (or tells) you to attend a meeting – fly it by your boss first before you attend it. The number of meetings that you attend will drop significantly.
Entrepreneur
Whether you are the mail room clerk or the CEO, do you view the company as your business? How would you run it as your business? Well it is your business. View it as such every day. Make decisions as if it was your business and any expense or expenditure of time was coming from your personal account or wallet. It changes your perspective of the workplace and the company.
Leisure Time
When not at work, are you at work? Do you check your e-mail? Do you call in for voice mail? Do you bring work home? Or do you do other things such as jog, garden, white water raft or collect antiques. How you spend your leisure time is very important. It is a break from work. It is an opportunity to relax and stretch you mind – and body – in a different way than at work.
Co-Workers
Do you love or hate the people you work with? Do you socialize with them? Do you talk to them when not at work? Work is work. Outside of work is for you. Beyond those you need to work with, only spend time with those who share interests, likes, dislikes and views similar to yours. Socializing exclusively with co-workers is like extending the work day into your evenings and weekends. Again, unless you are the CEO, you are not paid enough to do that.
Objectives
Do you have specific performance objectives? If not, do not let the day pass without asking your boss or supervisor for them. Once you have reviewed and agreed upon them, post them above your desk or work surface. Look at them every day. Every time you get a project, are asked to go to a meeting or sit on a conference call ask yourself “will this help me achieve one of these objectives?” If not, skip the activity. This includes so called “special projects”. Only spend time each day on what is going to be covered in your performance review. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Training.
How many days and dollars of training are scheduled for you for the current year? This is something that needs to be specific, scheduled and committed to by your boss or supervisor. The training should tie with both your objectives and also you career goals (short or long term). The response that “it is not in this year’s budget” is unacceptable. If you get that response, see your supervisor’s boss.
Boss
Do you love you boss? Hate your boss? Tolerate your boss? Love, hate or tolerate, she is just that – your boss. She is there to insure that you do a portion of what her boss demands of her. It is not unreasonable to ask to see her objectives and understand how your job fits into her objectives for the year. You don’t have to love or hate your boss. View her as someone tasked to accomplish a job and are the means by which that will be achieved. If you see it as more than that, you are setting yourself up to be frustrated, disappointed or worse.
While following each of these points will not insure that you love your job, they will go a long way to putting your job in perspective and make it much more manageable day-to-day.
George F. Franks, III is the President of Franks Consulting Group – a
http://franksconsultinggroup.com
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