This week we’re asking those of you listening to our podcast to stop by and say hi.
Many of you are listening via an iTunes subscription or a feed reader, and we haven’t had a chance to meet.
Leave a comment on this post letting us know who you are and where you’re located.
We’d love to acknowledge you and greet you in return. We appreciate your participation in the Working Matters community.
On your side,
The Working Matters team
– Karl, Claudia and Jorge
Problems don’t disappear.
In fact, they are quite patient. If anything, they compound in your absence.
Consequently, the sooner we can muster the courage to confront them, the sooner they will be resolved.
Problems are a pain. They involve unhappy people, missed deadlines, resource shortages, unreasonable clients, and a myriad of other complexities, inanities, and no-win alternatives.
To avoid the pain, though, we must face the problem.
Not what you wanted to hear? Soak it in. Chew on it. Roll it between your fingers. Kick it around. Do what you need to do in order to comes to terms with this most fundamental reality that seems to mock us all.
Monday is the day we are forced by the rhythm of the week itself to reengage at work. We can dread going back. Or we can view the return as our opportunity to face down any lingering problems.
Right at the beginning of the week we head off, stare down, take to task, sit down with, and/or set about to deal with whatever it is that might sabotage your efforts.
Courage is the gift you can give to yourself this Monday morning. Courage to move toward instead of flee from. Courage to engage instead of ignore. Courage to show up instead of hide.
Excuse me now. I need to go confront a problem that’s been holding me back.
When a problem arises, do you spend more time figuring out who to blame or figuring out what led to such a situation even being possible? Which line of inquiry do you think would be more effective in the long term?
“Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)
Ah life.
Yes, it does come down to making real choices in real time.
In this week’s show, Claudia look at how setting goals can help us structure our choices.
Instead of slowly and painfully suffocating in your current position, try setting one goal for yourself in three simple areas.
Working toward these three goals will give you a meaningful and rewarding reason for staying in your current position.
When it is no longer possible to set a goal in any of these three areas, you then have a basis for making a move to another company or another field.
Listen in.
What if every surface in your office could be a white board?
You’d be in my dream office.
Now we can do it. IdeaPaint is here.
I’m seeing whole new worlds emerge. Creativity unleashed. Random ideas captured. Boundary-less brain maps.
This is emancipation day for the right side of the brain!
I just returned from a networking/learning event in Vegas. Blogworld Expo. A mix of bloggers, podcasters, new media start-ups, advertisers, internet techies, and those who would make their fortune off of us.
Networking as a marketing strategy is, of course, a must. But for the busy and the more introverted of us, it can be a chore.
But what about networking as refreshment?
Here’s what I mean… or rather, here’s what I experienced.
When I travel to an industry event two dynamics take place. One, I get away from my day to day context. And two, I am in the company of those who more easily recognize and appreciate my abilities.
Getting away from my day to day context enables me to take a step back and get some perspective. Unlike a vacation, though, the different perspectives I encounter at an industry event are within my professional context without being my own context. It’s refreshing and invigorating for me to be challenged by the successes and failures of others. I learn. I reflect. I discover new resources, connections and methods.
Being in the company of those with similar skill sets boosts my confidence. I don’t get the blank stares. I don’t have to explain what I do. I don’t have to defend my involvement, in this case, with new media. The conversation is energizing and catalytic. Our relational starting point is one of mutual respect, understanding, and support.
How and when the business benefits of networking manifest themselves will probably always be somewhat of a mystery to me. But the only way to meet the people with whom there may be a valuable business connection, is to meet a lot of people with whom we will never do business.
Meeting those people can be a chore. Better though is when meeting those people can be a source of refreshment.
I come to work today refreshed.
We have a tendency to swing between extremes.
At one extreme, we beat ourselves up. Call ourselves diminishing names. We are unrelenting and unforgiving toward our own failures.
At the other extreme we let ourselves off the hook. We understand and make allowance for every misstep we make or shortcoming we exhibit along the way.
Either way we let ourselves down. Either way we participate in our own lack of progress or stunted growth. At either extreme we refuse to mature and then, ironically enough, pat ourselves on the back for being so harsh or so lenient.
What we need, though, is the capacity (maybe even courage) to 1.) identify what we’re doing that’s not serving us well, 2.) take responsibility for those actions, and then 3.) experiment with alternatives.
To beat ourselves up is self-diminishing. To let ourselves off the hook is dis-empowering.
To accept responsibility and experiment with alternatives, on the other hand, is both edifying and empowering.
Let’s revisit our three tasks:
How self-reflective and/or honest would you consider yourself to be in matters related to your own performance? What outcomes might serve as objective points of self-evaluation?
Which extreme do you tend toward? Beat yourself up or let yourself off the hook? Both are deflections from a simple statement of factual ownership.
I don’t mean, ask others to do things differently. I mean, you choose to do things differently. You change how you show up and do work. Become a lifelong and active learner.
Don’t participate in your own diminishment another day. Life is challenging enough without stepping into the coffin and closing the lid on ourselves.
On your side,
Karl
“It is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed than to repent of those we intend to commit.”
Josh Billings (1818–1885)
After opening up so many possibilities by exploring clues last week, we now need a way to make choices. We need to go somewhere in particular instead of everywhere in general.
What makes work meaningful and rewarding to you?
The answer to that question is different for each of us.
You may be looking for a particular role. You may want to fund a certain lifestyle. You may want to continually expand your responsibilities. You may want to leave work at the office at 5:00 p.m. You may be drawn to a certain industry.
The key is to be able to articulate (to yourself) your criteria for making your next decision.
Join Claudia and I as we discuss the value of knowing your criteria for making career decisions and the risks of not doing so.
Listen in.