Desire Driven Work

This is the final installment of the Employee Purpose Perspective (EPP). We embarked on this journey together to find relevance between clock punches.


Today we ponder the final step to freedom:
Professional purpose is a willingness to fulfill personal desire



We have talked about engaging your team by making it personal, you have been sequestered to make your work a practice in passion. Yet, fulfilling personal desire through work is a seemingly absurd ideology.

What Does It Mean?

Desire is a drive within you that is of irreplaceable importance: that long term goal, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, your personal 'bucket list' objective. Assume you have made your employer happy, food is on the table, and your career path is secure.

What do you DESIRE?

Maybe it's the opportunity to start your own company, the idea of sailing around the world, or a 1967 cherry red Ford Mustang. You know you don't need any of these things, but when you have given all you can to those who matter, you will need something for yourself. Or will you?

What if every day you received your 'bucket list' rewards. What if right now you could embrace lifetime achievement. What is stopping you from having the life you want? Are you a slave to your lifestyle? Are you drown in expenses? Have you been trained to be afraid to take chances? Have you been following for so long that you forgot how to lead? Are you such a good employee that you have neglected to build your personal irreplaceable talent?

It's never too late to be everything you wish to be in life. It is never too early to start living life in the sunset.

It's not your job that matters, it's how you live your work. It's not your company's duty to inspire you...it is your duty to inspire yourself. Don't wait for instruction, CREATE your future...now.

The Employee Purpose Perspective is an Empowered Mission. I came upon it because I lived a life of misery for far too long. I was always uptight, I had a retort to every instruction, I was entitled, I was selfish, I gave advice without being asked, I offered my assistance only to elevate myself, I bitched and complained and made everyone around me miserable. I was not confident, I was afraid. I blamed my inefficiencies on others because I was too afraid to commit to greatness. I wasted the part of my life I should have most enjoyed...locked up in a self-created prison.

I don't want that to happen to you!

Be aware that we condition ourselves to follow the system. To do our work well in an effort to earn more work. Unfortunately, all roads lead only to a wall. We have been conditioned to turn around when we hit the wall and navigate the maze again.

TEAR DOWN THE WALLS!

The key to the EPP is to find a way over, around or through the wall. Very few will be willing to break out of their routine to help you get over the wall. You need to get creative in your thinking. To find new ways to do things. To realize that a wall...is really a door.

I leave you with 3 ideas to put DESIRE into your work:
Take Action
Find Outside Influence
Debrief

Act Now, Apologize Later
People want to hire people that they don't have to coddle. If your boss is always telling you how to do your job, you are more of a burden than an asset.

You will always be commended for taking initiative. YOU MUST, however, make sure you do not repeat the same mistake twice.

Barkeep...
Bartenders, Baristas and Valets make for great advisers. Don't ever underestimate anyone's advisory ability. Determine your audinece, present your challenges, and chew on it together.

Better to fumble through an idea with your Barber than your boss!

Action without strategy...
...is like swinging at shadows. You have to learn from each and every day. Develop the ability to debrief. Learn from your mistakes, bounce ideas off informal 3rd party advisers...and (most importantly) look deep into YOURSELF to find the answers.

Every day must be capped with a few minutes of silent reflection. Retrace what you have done, why you succeeded, and what you could have done better. Take what you have learned, make it part of tomorrow, and grow from it.

I don't write a blog to improve my resume or enhance my job prospects. This, I do, to help YOU. I don't want you to make the mistakes I have. I want you to recognize your worth and to stick up for yourself. The EPP is designed to help you find meaning in this life, not while you are on vacation, but while you are at work.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

Smile

There seem to be two types of people in the world today:
1. Those who are full of positive energy
2. Those who hate everyone and wear it on their face

I have to admit I am freaked out by the person who talks at high volume, bounces into the coffee shop at 5am and/or laughs uncomfortably at every valid point they might pull from you. Such people, I have often thought, are hiding something. There was a time in my life when I was disgusted to see anyone smiling while they walked the mean streets. "How could they be positive with so much pain and strife in this world", I would ponder beneath my frown. Surprisingly, this time of discontent in my life happened when I had less to be upset about than any other time in my life.

While the overtly optimistic always raise an eyebrow, the publicly negative always furrow the brow. You see the man who criticizes the work of every Barista or Drive Through Attendant that he comes across. That person who looks in discontent at a 3 year old for not knowing his/her manners. They are bitter most likely from a life of short comings and an inability to tolerate their own failures. In order to avoid looking themselves in the mirror they attack everyone in their path provoking confrontation.

Which one would you rather be?

If ignorance is bliss is it better to know nothing and love everything?

Have we considered that those who wear a smile may do so not because they know nothing but rather because they have acknowledged the world's injustice...? Having experienced both sides of the coin, I can tell you that it is much easier to be negative. To deflect all challenges with forgone excuses to their immanent failure. To dismiss those who smile as ignorant. To wake up angry, knowing our inability, and to make an every day mission of tearing down the more capable.

With every achievement comes more responsibility. You cannot endure said responsibility without uncompromising positivity. If you are driven by hate, the drive to prove others wrong or the need to see others fail...you wake up every day and put a bag full of rocks on your back. Negativity is baggage.

You have to accept the challenges before you, assess the path to achievement, and take action. You have to win and from winning learn to elevate your capabilities. You have to be willing to fail and develop the ability to laugh at yourself.

So when the mad man runs into the happy lady at the coffee shop this morning which force will be greater?

Here are a couple simple tips to make today a positive experience:
Wake up earlier
Assess all sides of the argument before taking action
Create an abundance of opportunities
Develop the ability to laugh at yourself

5am
..I wake up every day at 5am. I often leave the coffee shop by 8:30am. As the angry guy is just stumbling into his day, I have already completed 3 hours of quality work.

You can wake up earlier! Stop using the 3 evening hours to watch TV. Late night TV only makes you tired and less original.

He Said/She Said
Do you see an email come through, assume your team member has screwed up, shoot him an angry 'fix it now' email, and cc the COO? Let me tell you how to fix that habit -
Call First
Never Document your discontent (email nor voice mail)
Ask both sides and create a solution instead of looking for someone to blame

The More the Merrier
It is far easier to fail when you have something to fall back on. If you are in sales and you have only one large deal in your pipeline for the year, you better start cold calling (today!). It is far easier to lose a deal when you have 10 large opportunities in your pipeline.

Negotiating one deal a year gives you a sense of desperation in the negotiating process. You are sure to accept all terms and conditions and bring aboard bad business.

Laugh
You are gonna screw up. Things will happen by the actions of others that are beyond your control.

Sometimes you have to accept your fate, laugh it off and move forward. Time spent beating yourself up will only detract from your ultimate progress. Learn to laugh at yourself.

So, if we are choosing sides, I will go with the positive! To convey one's admission of challenge through negativity is the first admission of failure.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave