So how do we get through the hot summer while working very long hours? Easy! Set your goals for the day of what you want to achieve and make sure you schedule breaks. Yes, actually walk away from your work area to the break room or take a visit outside the office or your home to take in the fresh air and let your eyes relax. If you are open to meditation, sit in a quiet place and time yourself for at least a half hour to be still. I find that a short mediation of 15 minutes does me good. As most of us work in front of a computer, this type of break is the best thing. How often do you get “buggy eyed” when doing marathon sessions in front of your computer, and even missing lunch altogether!
We are working longer hours to keep our current jobs if working for someone else. If we are self employed, we are working longer hours to hustle for the next job in the tight economy. So, for both situations, always think of taking short breaks throughout the day. It will do wonders to help “balance” your mental state…will even prevent “burnout!”
I couldn’t help but add this video from Youtube that inspired me from start to finish. Every now and then you stop and pause and think about what to do now? How do I cope? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? And then a friend sends me this link. Watch and enjoy.
It has come to my attention that no one really knows when the end of the recession will come. In the meantime, we cannot wait any longer for a change that will put us back into the jobs we want or having a small business we want where we have more than enough customers.
In reference to my previous post on pre-eminence, we have to forge our own path into the future. Instead of getting trapped in the day to day “tactics” of our work, try to focus on the “strategy” or future thinking of your work.
We now know that the economic recovery will not happen anytime soon, so let’s rethink how we do work. Workaholics will not even be aware of this, but for the sake of “coming up for air” every now and then, take heed!
Many of our work habits have been engrained in ourselves since we first began working for others. We had steady work, got things done, and made some money. But now is the time to work more efficiently and figure out a way to get more productivity out of our efforts. We must discover more ways of getting more done for less time. One way of doing this is to make a short “to-do” list on a scratch pad and check the items off as completed. Don’t spend too much time on any one project or get distracted with handling many projects simultaneously. That is the most often complaint I hear from workers. They work on one project and get distracted while in the main project and start their attention on another. DON’T DO THIS! Keep focused on the project you are working on at that time and hold other jobs at bay until you complete the current job or have stopped at the point where you scheduled to stop.
Key think to be aware of is focus! Nothing new here that you didn’t know before!
It is no secret, it is very hard to find employment. With the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler here in the USA, we expect another 20,000 people to be unemployed. What is even more of a tragedy, is that many of these employees are going to lose many of the accrued retirement benefits that they were counting on through the promises that the behemoth companies made.
What is interesting, is that people, although having to make drastic changes, are forced to make positive changes. Either the displaced workers are getting support from their extended families, they are making personal sacrifices for their families by getting 2 or 3 jobs, creatively shuffling their current nest egg investments to get them through the recession. I find it very interesting that many people are gong the “self employed” route. More and more people are looking online for money making opportunities or getting more education for methods on how to make money in the down economy.
To the people who are thinking of starting their own businesses, or actually taking steps to start their own business, I say “bravo!” It is time for us to gather inventory of our talents and experiences and apply them to earning money now. It is a fact, with the national unemployment rate at around 10% there is not going to be jobs aplenty for a good long while. Our economy depends on our entrepreneurial spirit to bring ourselves back from income loss. As a matter of fact, I predict we will be prospering more than ever when the time comes that our economy fully recovers. Workaholics….keep on keeping on!
Workaholics know no bounds when it comes to holidays. As long as the workholic is aware that a holiday has arrived, they need to check that they can take off for a day or so. Don’t worry, the work will still be there when they come back! For some of you, this may be a “new” concept of taking some time off of work. What is most important is to make sure you schedule time off at least once a month. It could be one or two separate days per month that you completely take the day off. I know, I know, what are you going to do with yourself when you are so conditioned to be “busy!” Find ways of filling your time with family, friends, a good book, visit a new restaurant, a good movie, etc.
Yes, we have ADD when not working so you have to see what works for you when you are not at your desk and scrounging around in your “inbasket” trying to handle your next assignment. I found that on my rare days off, I can actually enjoy sleeping as a nice “hobby!”
Make a comment telling us what you do you when you “take some time off.”
If you work at any conventional job right now, you need to change your mindset to get through this down economy. It is no secret that the down economy has hit us around the world in one way or another. So what do we focus on now? How do we get the most out of our work? Whether it is working for someone else for a salary or being self employed, the focus must be the same right now. In a word, “pre-eminence.”
Pre-eminence in the dictionary is defined as “to be above or before others, to surpass, to be superior.” What we are going to cover here is that, working methods and goals as you are currently doing is not enough. You have to rise above and think differently. You have to think in terms of, what can I do differently that gives more return for effort put in. When you are in the state of pre-eminence, you think past the end result of your work related project and look at the bigger picture. Ask yourself, “how big of impact can I make if I worked smarter with more productive result.” It is not in achieving the actual goal of what working resulted in now, we have to go further and envision the result many times more than the actual work achieved.
A good example of this would be when starting a business, you do the day to day things needed to start such as setting up the corporate structure, open a bank account, secure insurance, develop a business plan etc. Then you lay out your strategy how you are going to market and get customers and what kind of revenue you predict you will make depending on the size of your market.
Pre-eminence says, you should look even further than all the above in starting the business. Why not think, “how do I make my business number one or number two in my industry?” “What can I do to make my business surpass the competition?”
With pre-eminence, even if you did not achieve all your goals, you will have generated enough energy and direction to be a powerful force in competing in your industry. You will get noticed!
Bill Gates
Rich man Bill Gates literally has a “paperless” office. He has a computer with three screens side by side. He uses is far left screen to check his master email list. His center monitor is used for the current email he is addressing, and the right monitor is used for surfing the internet. For Bill Gates to work efficiently, he has email filters, both digital and human to limit his daily incoming email to 100. He uses his Outlook calendar program to keep track of his “to-dos.” One of the last things that helps him streamline his day is Sharepoint, which is kind of a company intranet to keep up to date with any and all company news and department communications
Richard Branson
Sir Richard is the “rock n roll” king of all successful businessmen! Since he was a teenager, he was immersed in the rock and roll scene and has lived the rock n roll life forever. He is an innovator, first and foremost. He is the ultimate ADD’r. He will think of a great idea, uses his gut to either go with it or drop the idea. I love the book “Screw It, Let’s Do It!” Branson’s second axiom for a wildly successful is business to have fun. “If it is no fun, move on!” he says. During his work day, he sets goals or “challenges” for himself and his organization. The very last thing, that he does not take lightly is to build a great team of people to help run the businesses. He knows his limitations and knows to grow exponentially, he has to “duplicate himself” with the best people to do that job.
So, it is not so hard to imagine yourself doing what the millionaires and billionaires do. It is a matter of vision, hard work and creating massive action towards anything you strive for.
Just when you are at wits end on where to go to apply for a job, we get word on who is hiring now. CNN Money dot com has recently published a short list of which national American companies are hiring now. They range from 150 positions available to thousands. Although we still have a long way to go in filling the gap of hiring against the numbers of millions being laid off, this is definitely a great sign. It shows us hope and a way to be positive about the short and long term future.
Most companies now have a system in place that directs you to their corporate website for applying for a job. They claim that it offers a more efficient way of submitting your resume and therefore getting noticed. This author does not agree with that procedure at all. The fact remains that your resume may immediately be “lost” amoung thousands of resumes and online applications submitted just because of the sheer numbers of people sending in their resumes. With our economic recession and down economy, and over several million people unemployed, we can only imagine how inundated these companies are with the glut of online applications. Answer? Other than “networking” your way by talking to someone who knows someone on the inside, your only other bet is to go pound the pavement. Yes, the “old school” of getting a job years ago. Forget the online classifieds, forget the online submissions, go for the “juggular” and knock the door down at the physical address of the company and submit there. If not, at least get hold of the first and last name of the person who is in charge of hiring along with their extension number. Don’t forget to get the phone number too. When getting hold of the principal person in charge of hiring on the phone, ask them directly where to forward your resume. You have a better chance over all the rest who are submitting over the internet. You will not be sorry!
Although this vid deals with the dangers of personal health from being a workaholic, take it in the light of what to be cautious of. Yes, you can be successful at working hard, but know your limits and take breaks, vacations at least once a year, and keep positive.
Quite often the process of working so hard clouds the issue of actually getting things done! We seem to “dive” into our work sometimes never knowing what our goal to achieve is at the end of the day.
A good way to be productive and working hard at the same time is to plan out the day. Before you start your work day, get out that proverbial scratch pad and paper and write down a short list of the urgent work at hand. It may be no more than two or three items. Then list down the work items of secondary importance. This list should be no more than four of five items.
Your list should be manageable and achieveable within the hours you are setting aside to work. The key here is to plan out the end time of your work day. Yes, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Just make sure you end your work day as planned.
You can be a workaholic without feeling guilty, just make sure you know when to end your “work” day.
Peace and Love,
Bruce
PS: Make a comment – let us know how you deal with your workload!
