Posts Tagged ‘work life balance’

What Is Your “Thing?”

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

We are not good at every ”thing” – but we are good at some “things.”

We create our best lives and work when we build them around what we are good at and love to do; when we build them around our “thing.”

You do your best work when you feel capable and competent. You are more creative, more interested and more focused; you are in your element. You feel confident; you reach for more; you do more – and better. You are at your best when you play to what you are good at.

Now imagine yourself working in an area where you do not feel capable and competent. You second-guess your decisions. You don’t feel very creative nor are ready to take risks for greatness. You feel unsure. You just play it safe. You watch and don’t participate.

What a waste.

Live is too great and too much of a gift to allow it to go by without playing to our talents and passions – our unique gifts. I believe it is part of the plan that we invent our lives around the unique gifts we received in our DNA – our hardwiring. The more we know ourselves, the more we can identify these gifts and include them in our lives. This way we play to our “thing” – and the quality of both work and life is better.

What are you great at? Not sure? Try this:
1. List what you feel you are good at.
2. Ask three others who know you well what they feel you are good at. Compare their comments to yours.
3. Start to see a profile of your talents and strengths – your “thing.” Identify how you can include these in both your work and life.

We are not good at everything. But we are exceptional at some things.

We each are given a very particular set of talents, strengths and passions – many call these our “gifts.” It is our responsibility to know them and to build them into as many aspects of life as we can – because they are our best areas. We are good at them. We love doing them. We make a difference with them. And I believe we each have a different great “thing” so we have the ability to bring something particular and extraordinary to our world. There is space for all of us to have our “thing.”

Please forward this to someone who may benefit from it. Please contact me if you need more information to help you find “your thing.”

Light Their Fire

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Tough times impact the attitudes and emotions of your employees. There are greater demands for those who still have jobs in the workplace; there are significant changes in the home lives of many of your employees. The recession has touched us all.

We can complain about how difficult things are, or we can realize that complaining just reinforces negative feelings. Nothing good is accomplished that way – at work or at home. So imagine if work were a place where employees were fired up! – excited, passionate and interested in what they do. Imagine the change in performance and how energy created in the workplace could then work its way back home.

So if you never felt it was your responsibility to fire up! your employees, it is now. Your employees are still in front of your customers, creating your brand, making an impression and impacting your performance. Energized employees consistently out-perform all others. Energized employees bring their energy home.

Consider the following ways to fire up! your employees:
1. Catch your employees doing something great, and thank them. Don’t focus on the negative; focus on the positive.
2. Add one thing (your employees love to do) to their jobs; employees who are emotionally connected to their work perform better and are happier in the job.
3. Have one “Fired Up!” event each week. It may be coffee and donuts, a copy of a DVD the team can borrow each night, a daily power saying, a daily joke, a personal story from a team member, etc. Give this responsibility to one of the team who would find the role engaging and fun.
4. Share more information and solicit more feedback. Employees are more engaged when they feel included, trusted and respected.

How we feel at work affects home; how we feel at home affects work. For many, home lives are challenging. Make their work life engaging, high energy – fired up! Not only can this improve their work performance but it will likely flow over into their home life. Maybe this is the change they need – and it could all start with you.