Author Archives: kevin

Do You Like What You Do?

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Such a simple question, but the ramifications of your answer have a lot to do with your enjoyment of life. Whether you are the CEO of a company or the CEO of a home, you spend most of your time “doing” it. So, do you enjoy it?

Well according to the Gallup organization only 20% of people can answer that simple question with a resounding “Yes!”

Here is what is so interesting…built into the DNA of each and every one of us is the need to do something—and in a perfect world, to enjoy doing it. It is great to have something to look forward to every day. Not only that, but what we do often contributes directly to our identity.

When people are first getting to know each other, what is one of the first questions asked: “So, what do you do?” If your answer to that question is something you find fulfilling and meaningful, you feel so much better about yourself than if your answer leaves you flat and uninspired.

Believe it or not, enjoying what you do has a major impact on many of the other areas of your life: relationships, physical health, and financial security for example.

Think about it this way, if you have wonderful relationships, stable financial security, and good physical health—but you don’t like what you do every day…chances are pretty good that much of your social time is spent complaining about your lousy job (not very fun as it pulls everyone else around you down).  You also spend a great deal of your time away from work worrying about having to go back to it (which ruins your time away from it). And all that worry, dread, and anxiety about work can have a negative impact on your health.

Many have fallen into the trap that work is just a necessary evil and it is certainly not something to be enjoyed. But that’s not true. One of the essentials to having fun at work and enjoying what you do is getting the opportunity to use your strengths every day.  According to the Gallup organization people who have the opportunity to use their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life.

What do you enjoy about your job? What are you good at? Figure out how to do more of it. Get creative. Swap tasks with some of your colleagues. Talk to your boss about it. Enjoying what you do is a “win” for everyone.

Talk in Pictures

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Did you know that the mind retains pictures, not words? It’s true.

Did you realize that words can actually get in the way of what we are trying to communicate…even well thought out words? I’m serious. I’ll prove it.

Read the words below very carefully:

DO NOT THINK ABOUT A PINK ELEPHANT

Ok. So tell me what is the image in your mind right now? It’s a pink elephant!

See what I mean?! We need to learn how to use words that are in line with the images we want others to hold on to in the brains. This kind of communication could actually save kids lives. Here’s what I mean…read these words carefully:

DON’T RUN OUT INTO THE STREET

Now, what is the image in the mind of the child? Running out into the street. Instead we should say:

WHEN YOU GET TO THE SIDEWALK STOP

Now the image in the mind is stopping on the sidewalk. Cool huh?

As parents, managers, teachers, and friends we need to learn to speak words that create accurate pictures in the minds of others of what we want them to see…we need to talk in pictures.

Exercise Effort

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This is part 8 of a 12 part series that I call the 12 X’s of Leadership

As the old saying goes, “Men and rivers seldom drift to success.” Achieving dreams. Obtaining goals. Hitting targets. They all require extra effort.

Think of it this way…to truly fulfill your potential you’ve got to be a rubber band. A rubber band never fully serves its purpose until when? When it is stretched around something bigger than itself.

That’s what it is like trying to make progress on purpose in your life. Think of anyone who has “made it” in some endeavor. They almost always had to work for it. Stretch for it. Reach for it.

Whether it is the politician, the professional athlete, the best salesrep, the teacher of the year, the top manager, or the great mom, every one of them had to exercise effort to get there.

Oh, but stinkin’ thinkin’ can sneak in. Ever hear someone say, “The only way to really make money is to own your own business.” Let me tell you the folly in words like that…It’s not what is said but rather what is left unsaid that follows words like that. What’s left unsaid is, “Therefore I’m not gonna work real hard around here.”

Exercising extra effort tends to create extra opportunities.

While this principle is easy to see in your professional life it is also true in your personal life. For example if you want a great family life, it takes extra effort. It takes work. It takes sacrifice.

I have discovered (and I’ll bet you have discovered the same thing) problems at work are patient—they’ll wait for you to come back.

Sometimes at work we need to sacrifice some home time—but this is a two way street—sometimes at home we need to sacrifice some work time.

But here is the good news…there is no traffic jam on the extra mile!