I’ve thought a lot about the word “WORK”. What does “work” actually mean? People show up to work. We do work. We live in a culture of finding passion and meaningful work. In Randy J. Paterson’s book “How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use”, he prioritizes what anyone could do to be miserable. For example, the first strategy is “Avoid All Exercise”. The second strategy is “Eat What You’re Told”. And strategy number eight is “Give 100 Percent To Your Work”. There is so much Workaholism in modern society. Life will fill up “just to get stuff done”.
Before we had “9-to-5’s”… before the Industrial Revolution… in a time when you had to go out and kill to eat… you didn’t “work” a lot. You spent a few hours a day going out and hunting and/or gathering. Your whole motivation for surviving was going out to get food. And no one needed to ask anyone, “Hey, how are you coming along with the hunting?” Everyone was SELF-MANAGED. You either found food to eat, or you DIED. This whole notion of “checking up on people” to see how they are coming along with their work has A LOT to do with HOW ENGAGED someone is in the meaning of their work.
It’s fascinating to think that the majority of people hate what they do for a living, in a society where we have so many Options and Opportunities. Yet, having so many Options and Opportunities can disable people. All of this is to say that if your company treated its most important activities like it was “going out and getting food”, the activities would GET DONE. And it would get done really well. And if people aren’t engaged in your most important activities, ask WHY.
If you really care about your Clients at the same level as getting food… if you really care about your “work” at that level… it breeds TRUE VALUE CREATION – and you will start doing amazing work. The more difficult and challenging the work, where it has to be done out of necessity… THAT is when humans perform at their best. When everything is OPTIONAL, people make excuses.
Ask yourself this: “What do I do in my life where I’m SO engaged with it that I don’t need anyone to tell me to do it, I just do it?” After you answer this, determine how you can layer this into your daily activities… and… more importantly, determine what you must ELIMINATE.
If your life is so crowded with stuff that is not that meaningful, you’ll spend all day doing “busy work”. Putting the last nail in a house you spent months building has a level of satisfaction to it. Every day you’re hammering, you know you’re building something. But when you look at something like it’s shuffling paperwork, or if you’re not really connected with what it is you’re building, it doesn’t have the same juice…
The few businesses that have this juice are the businesses everyone aspires to be.
by Joe Polish
Founder of Genius Network
P.S. I've created a resource page as a central guide with access to valuable resources available to you right now. Check it out at www.GeniusNetwork.com/Vision-Insight. Bookmark this page. This is where I will post every new update.
P.P.S. Whenever you're ready... here are 3 more ways I can help you make YOUR business and life more E.L.F. (Easy, Lucrative, and Fun!):
- Discover the 10x Multipliers to grow your business exponentially… Amplify your opportunities and reveal the untapped potential in your business: www.10XTalk.com/Vision
- Trigger these 8 Profit Activators in your business right now: www.ILoveMarketing.com/Vision
- I'm often asked what books I recommend. So, I've put together a collection of books and products in 9 specific categories. These are resources we've shared in Genius Network to help improve life and business... To check them out visit www.JoePolish.com/Books-Vision
P.P.P.S. If You Or Someone You Know Is Struggling With Addiction, visit www.GeniusRecovery.org/Vision-Letter
Also, check these out 🙂
www.JoePolish.com/Vision-FreeBook
www.ILoveMarketing.com/MarketingVision
www.GeniusRecovery.org/RecoveryVision
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