Are You Stuck at Work?

Michael Hyatt’s blog has been a part of my daily trawl for a couple of years. When he started podcasting last year, I hesitated adding him because I was already a bit overwhelmed with all of the media I was taking in, and I didn’t think adding one more voice to the pile would gain me much. That might have been the right decision at the time, but when I cleaned house earlier this year, I intentionally made room to start listening to him. This post is inspired by his podcast from April 10 on the 3 components of job satisfaction.

There are three basic components to that must be present to be satisfied with your work. You must be competent at your work. You must have a market for your work. You must have passion for your work. With all three of those, you hit the sweet spot. That can be awesome.

Having only two of those, though, isn’t so awesome. Those zones will only lead to building frustration, and it makes your life a struggle.

There’s a difference, however, between those three zones that we have to recognize. The upper left and upper right zones (hobby and failure respectively) both have fairly short life-spans as a career. Staying in those zones is discouraged by a lack of income.

That bottom middle zone, though. Boredom? You can settle down and live there. Pretty comfortably, too. And most of us do.

And that’s where the trouble starts.

We lie to ourselves and say that work is supposed to be frustrating, and we can pursue our passion when we’re not at work, or after we retire. We medicate our discontent with spending, maybe even driving ourselves into debt while chasing happiness. And it only gets worse from there.

And I know. I live in the bottom middle. I’m very competent at my day job and boy howdy is there a market for my services, but I’ve got almost no passion for it. There’s a bunch of reasons why that is, but needless to say, I’ve topped out on my job growth. I’m stuck.

Most people understand that they enjoy greater success when they feel good about their activities. […] Helping your mind to know and believe that what you do professionally is good, noble, and worthwhile in itself helps to fuel your energies and propel your efforts.

If you feel really good about your profession, you sweep others along with you on the waves of your enthusiasm for what you do. You will become known for telling entertaining accounts of amusing incidents in your professional life. Stories about events in your business day can inspire others, and they will be moved by poignant interactions you relate. These natural and positive aspects of your public persona flow inevitably from feeling pride and passion for your work.

– Rabbi Daniel Lapin

In order for you to have a chance at real success, there has to be passion. And if you don’t have passion, it shows, because boredom isn’t inspiring or engaging. Either become more passionate about the work you’re doing, or begin the process of transitioning to something where you have all three components. It’s either that, or stay stuck.

Quick Hits: On coaching well. Regulating alcohol like marijuana. Crayon sculptures.

• I’m getting ready to launch a financial coaching business. The passion to see more and more people learn how to prosper, so they can invest in the possibility of their future and become more generous, has grown with each year since my family took control of our finances and found freedom. One of my big concerns is that (even though I’ve been trying out my skills for the last year on a sporadic, volunteer basis) I won’t be able to connect well with the people I’m trying to serve. I know that the way I communicate what I know is as important as the knowledge itself. I want to bring out the best in people. I don’t want to rob somebody of their confidence when I’m trying to challenge them to grow.

• Amendment 64 in Colorado was supposed to regulate marijuana like alcohol, but it hasn’t exactly turned out that way thus far. I’m not terribly disappointed or discouraged by that, mind you. Anyone paying attention had to know that undoing the culture surrounding this drug wasn’t going to happen after a single step, despite all the facts and support this kind of change enjoys. Fortunately, a little playful absurdity can lighten the mood, and the Campaign to Regulate Alcohol Like Marijuana is a perfect example of creatively pointing out the insanity of those who resist the change. In their letter to the Colorado governor, they brilliantly encourage the regulations surrounding alcohol consumption be strengthened to match the proposed structure around marijuana legalization. Hopefully, no one in office will take their suggestion seriously. Restricting alcohol like that might be a bad idea.

• Pete Goldlust carves crayons. And he’s not alone. And if my girls got a hold of any of these, they’d be used to make Cinderella look like some sort of royal rainbow clown on a page of one of their overpriced Disney coloring books. Value is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

Quick Hits of the Week

• Michael Hyatt has a great post on the three components you must have to be satisfied with your work. I was able to really quickly identify where I fall on his diagram when it comes to my current job. I’m also able to see where my previous effort at self-employment would have fallen, too. Trust me, missing that third component is a killer, so you need to be aware when one has become absent. Make a change, and seek them out.

• Time is precious. Almost any other resource we have can be renewed, but time, for each of us, is finite. We all want more time to do the things we consider important, but we eventually come to the harsh reality that 168 hours a week just isn’t enough to do it all. So, managing our time becomes crucial, just like we have to budget our money. We have to be ready to make sacrifices. Josh Reich reminds us that when we  say yes to one thing, we must be ready to say no to  something else. Lenore Skenazy reminds us that when we allow ourselves (and our kids) to say no and quit an activity, we’re free to say yes to an opportunity that fits us better later. My wife and I have been practicing saying “no” recently. It’s freeing.

• Check it out. Chandeliers made from bicycle parts. They’re all way more beautiful than that sounds.

• “Because of these special due process privileges, there’s little incentive for police departments to discipline officers. In most cases, it’s more financially prudent to let a District Attorney or outside law enforcement agency do the heavy lifting, and then fire the officer if he’s convicted. This is the only “easy” way, under police bills of rights, for departments to get rid of bad cops–which essentially means the only way to get rid of bad cops is if some other law enforcement agency can make a felony charge stick.” – Read this article in its entirety. Take from it what you will.

• What if Boba had a daughter, but she was only three apples high and blue? …sorry.

Is there something valuable or important or cool or funny or weird or awesome out there I missed this week? I can’t hit it all, but you should let me know about it by dropping me a line or sharing it in the comments below! I’d appreciate the heads up.

Quick Hits of the Week

• So, here’s an interesting development. Due to changes in banking regulations, a lot of the once “free” services offered by your local bank’s checking account are now incurring monthly fees. Consumers are seeking safer and cheaper options, and retailers are more than willing to step up. Walmart is now offering a prepaid American Express card that works a lot like a credit or debit card. They’re accepted the same as a regular AmEx card,  can be used to withdraw cash from a network of ATMs or to “get roadside assistance, bank from their smartphones and, eventually, write checks out of an account linked to the card.” This has the banks worried, and rightfully so. The market might still bring some truth to the lie of being ‘too big to fail.’

• A while back, Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, and NYT best-selling author, released his new book Platform. I’ve thought about picking it up, but I was a bit intimidated by it. I can’t be Hyatt, and I doubt my road to success will look anything like his. In fact, the road to success gets lost in the brambles more often than not. Over at Hyatt’s blog, Lucille Zimmerman has a guest post talking about just these problems, and she offers six ways to stay focused when things get overwhelming. Numbers two and four nailed me. How about you?

• On tattoos: It doesn’t matter what your profession is, or what piece of skin needs a little art on it, it seems like everyone is getting a little (or a lot of) ink these days. Personally, I’m not interested, and my wife doesn’t want me to be interested (10 Marital Harmony Points earned). If I were, though, I would have to get something practical, and my first instinct would be one like this. However, given how often I find myself lost during sports conversations, maybe a tattoo of this would be more helpful.

• I’m getting a little tired of all the discussion of genetically modified food going around in hushed and sinister tones, like the world’s agricultural industry is out to poison all of it’s customers. I’m not saying there aren’t problems, but the benefits of GM crops are being way under-reported.  Remember, when it comes to the news, fear sells more ad space. We live in a better world than we’ve been led to believe.

• Of course, I write that and then I offer up this little slice of nightmare fuel. Enjoy.

Is there something valuable or important or cool or funny or weird or awesome out there I missed this week? I can’t hit it all, but you should let me know about it by dropping me a line or sharing it in the comments below! I’d appreciate the heads up.