Working Toward the Right Goals

by Karl W. Palachuk

There's an old joke:  "I'm making progress climbing the ladder of success--I just don't know if it's leaning against the right wall."

 

It may be an old joke, but it's also a serious problem.

 

How many of us work feverishly to "get ahead" without knowing where "ahead" is?  How many of us don't know where we're going?  Sometimes we get sucked into workaholic habits.  For example, we work late every day and sometimes on weekends.  We neglect family with the belief that it will all get better after "this" project or "that" conference.

 

What if all this energy is focused on the wrong goal?  Still worse, what if there is no goal?  Some times we let things attain such importance in our mind that we hurt our families and marriages and our selves.  And what a horrific pity to find out that our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

 

Workaholism is a habit we develop one day at a time - one action at a time - one choice at a time.  We can create new habits the same way.  Small steps.

 

If you're a workaholic, don't try to quit cold turkey.  Like exercise or diet or smoking, you need to make changes in your lifestyle one step at a time.  Work up to "the big change" by setting manageable goals are reaching them.

 

Stephen Covey points out:  "It is possible to be busy -- very busy -- without being very effective."  (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, p. 98).

 

Remember the old song "Cat's in the Cradle?" sung by Harry Chapin (lyrics by Sandra Chapin)?  It's about a Dad who loves his newborn son, "But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay."  He was too busy to spend time with his Kid.  And, as children do, the Kid grew up even though the Dad didn't get time to enjoy the Kid.  Finally, the dad retires and wants to get to know his kid, but the kid's a man with children and he's too busy.  He grew up to be just like his father.

 

We model behavior whether we want to or not.  Children see "the real" parent through actions.  It is far more difficult to model philosophy than action.  You can say, "be kind, be gentle, be forgiving."  But if you yell and scream at other drivers on the road and abuse helpless sales clerks, your children will learn that behavior for dealing with those situations.

 

Employees and co-workers are the same.  You can say you have a philosophy of treating people fairly, but employees (and eventually customers) will see the actions of your business.

 

For example, I once managed a contract with a computer consultant to maintain a small but important Novell network.  I'll call it "A-1 Computers."  I had a problem with the technician who showed up each month.  I disagreed with how he did one of the items listed in his contract.  I called his boss and heard the most rousing customer service speech I've ever heard in my life.  When I hung up the phone I was ready to buy stock in the company!

 

But the next month I had the same problem with the technician.  On top of that, a $2,400 modem wasn't answering properly.  So I called the owner of A-1 Computers, who explained that he couldn't do anything about the brand new modem he'd sold us and that we have to go through the manufacturer.  I complained about this and my dissatisfaction with the technician.  Again, I got a long and impassioned speech about customer service.  They put a higher priority on customer service than anything.  People come to them and refer their friends because of their unparalleled customer service.  And on and on.

 

Well, over a short period of time I had a very long list of problems with A-1 Computers.  So long, in fact, that I engaged a lawyer and threatened to invoke the "exit" clause in our contract for non-fulfillment of work.  At every stage, with every phone call, I had to listen to a new version of the customer service song.

 

And at every stage of the relationship I saw a bigger divide between the "real" behavior and the spoken philosophy.

 

Behavior matters.

 

You have to take responsibility for who you are and what you do.  You might be in a situation you don't like.  And you might not be able to find another job easily, or get a degree right now.  But when five years have passed you have no excuse.  You chose to stay.  Lying to yourself about that is not helping you grow.

 

People do what's important to them.  I am amazed (as a non-boater) to see people with average incomes who own huge boats and spend all their spare time on the water.  Because, from my perspective, it would never be worth going into that much debt.  I make other choices.  When I look at what my wife and I do, I have to admit that we live the choices we've made.

 

I'd like to go on dates with my wife more often.  The way to get that done is one date at a time.  Ask her out.  Then do it again.

 

You can say that something is important, but is it?  Is it in your game plan?  Is it reflected in your goals and actions?  What are you doing about it?

 

"Bad Luck" is a common excuse.  Bad luck lasts a day, a week.  Maybe a month.  At worst, six months.  Bad luck doesn't last five years.  After a certain point, you have chosen to do what you do and be who you are.

 

Good luck doesn't last any longer than bad luck.  Except that you can create your own good luck.  Good luck is highly correlated with working your fingers to the bone.

 

I bought my first personal computer in 1982 (before IBM had entered the field).  I taught myself to program it.  When I went to The University of Michigan I learned CP/M and later MS-DOS.  I taught myself how to use the mainframe computers and how to connect to other universities.  When IBM "invented" their brand of PC, I learned that.

 

I invested time and money and effort.  I joined user groups and I read the fine manuals.  I worked with computers and the thing we now call the Internet.  I helped organizations get connected before companies were allowed to use the Internet for commercial purposes.

 

When the graphical World Wide Web was popularized in 1994, I taught myself to build web sites and won some awards.  In 1995 I went into business for myself doing Internet Consulting.

 

So when someone says to me "you're lucky to be in this business," I think about twenty years work that brought me this luck.  I've had my share of breaks, and I naturally enjoy some of the things involved with the computer business.  But most of my luck is the result of trying very hard to get where I am.

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