Have you
ever heard the statement that “Americans are
lazy”? That statement is patently absurd.
Americans work their tales off. We work
long hours. Sometimes two jobs. We hustle
and bustle and squeeze in work during
lunch.
The problem
is, we’re poorly focused. We’re busy with
busy work. We need to stop sometimes,
Focus every action on the goals,
set Priorities,
and make
time to Relax
Focus
Exercise
Take time for family
Take time for a lunch break
Go home at 5 or 6
Less busy
work and more balance.
Recall the
“HP Way.” Balance life and work.
Psychologists might disagree, but I’ve
always thought that the mind is like a file
drawer that wants to be organized. We
access pieces of our brain all
day--information we have and old
memories--in order to build new thoughts.
All day long
we take files out of the drawer. Problems
and “new things” that come up have to be put
into the drawer, along with all that stuff
we took out.
Rest,
relaxation, contemplative thought: These
are the tools we use to organize the drawer.
We lead
lives filled with deadlines and too much
work, and chaos, and bills, and we’re always
on the go-go-go. We don’t stop, look
around, and change directions. We just go
where the work and the kids and the world
take us.
Our
“schedules” are full of things, full of
details. Most of those things have been put
on our schedule by someone else or by
necessity. So we’re busy-busy-busy with the
everyday chores and we don’t focus on the
longer-term goals. Every once in awhile we
need to poke our heads up above the cubicle
maze and see whether we’re getting closer to
where we want to be.
Many of us
are trapped in the maze because we’re on the
“easy road to success.” The easy road to
success is a lie we tell ourselves. I don’t
know why.
We see
clearly in others what we do not see in
ourselves. For example, my wife always
knows when I need to go to the doctor, but
never thinks she needs to go. “Oh that
punctured lung? It’s just a rib out of
place. There’s nothing the doctor can do
anyway.”
This is
especially true with workaholism. My
pile of work that will never get done must
have my attention. Someone else’s pile of
work will never get done and he should
realize that.
I used to
think the work couldn’t get done without
me. I think that’s the biggest pitfall for
most of us.
We take on a
job and discover that there’s too much work
for a 40-hours week. The boss seems to work
50 or 60 or 70 hours. So we work through
lunch and come in early and stay late. Then
we go in on the weekend. We work more and
more and more.
We fool
ourselves four ways with this behavior:
-
We tell
ourselves this is short-term. Once we
get the work caught up, we’ll go back to
40 hours.
-
We tell
ourselves that we’re indispensable. No
one else can do this. Oh, sure, you can
train people but they won’t be as
diligent and you don’t have the time.
Some knowledge you just can’t pass on.
-
We tell
ourselves (or maybe we’ve been told by
others) that there’s a big reward at the
end of the year (or end of the
project). So we’re working for the
bonus. But then what? Aren’t you going
to want the next bonus too?
-
We tell
ourselves that we’re doing this for the
family. This is for the long-term
benefit of the spouse and kids. But
spouse and kids have to feel alive too.
We fool
ourselves because we want to fool ourselves.
We’re
intoxicated by work. I believe men are more
susceptible to this than women. But anyone
who is raised to measure success in terms of
“work,” and who defines himself by what he
does “for a living” is a potential
workaholic.
And our
culture reinforces this perspective. At a
party you meet someone. The first question
is “What do you do?” If you answer “I’m a
father of two and I collect fountain pens”
there will be a long silence. “Okaaaaaay”
they’ll say, “and what do you do for a
living?” Try this at your next party. It’s
fun.
It’s as if
we can’t discuss the non-work “you” until we
get the work conversation out of the way.
After a long
process of distilling my life and focusing
my energies on where I want to go, I have
developed the habit of defining for myself
three goals every morning. I write down
every day the following.
- What’s the
most important thing I want to do today for
myself personally?
- What’s the
most important thing I want to do today for
my family?
- What’s the
most important thing I want to do today for
my work?
More details
later.
The point
here is that I have defined the three pieces
of my life that make up almost all of who I
am. Work is extremely important. It is
silly to think otherwise. But work has its
place and must fit comfortably in the big
plan with Personal Self and Family Self.
Every
workaholic will eventually have an
experience that shatters the imaginary world
we’ve built. We don’t see it coming because
we’ve fooled ourselves.
The event
that slaps you in the face with reality
might be dramatic or simple. You might get
laid off. Or passed over for a promotion in
favor of a clock-watcher who never comes in
on the weekends. You might take off a week
for vacation and discover that the business
was fine without you.
For me the
eye-opener was a disagreement over a bonus.
I had completely fooled myself into
believing that my hard work and extra hours
and neglecting my family would be justly
rewarded. I took on extra work and made
major contributions to the company in
several areas. I traveled all over the U.S.
for a year, negotiated a major contract, set
up a new office in another state, oversaw
the newest product development for the
company, and much more.
I worked
myself to the point of exhaustion and hit
homeruns all year.
And when it
came time to review my annual performance I
got 80% of my potential bonus for the year.
I was devastated. As a former teacher I
view 80% as a B-. I know my performance
wasn’t perfect--and I’d hung up the phone on
a company lawyer once--but certainly I
deserved something in the “A” range for all
my successes.
In an
instant my eyes were opened. Before I’d
blinked twice my life had changed. For the
price of a few hundred dollars the company
could have bought a repeat performance for
the next year. But it wasn’t worth it to
them.
Before I
spoke a word, I knew that I would put in
40-hour weeks from that point forward. I
knew I would leave my desk at lunch. I knew
I would use up my vacation time. I knew I
would find another job.
What I
didn’t know at the time is that my boss had
already decided to leave the company. She
wanted to keep expenses down in order to
maximize her bonus. She didn’t care
about the future profitability of the
company. And she didn’t care about my
personal loyalty to her.
I had fooled
myself into working like a madman in search
of a reward that was only a pittance.
I guess I
was lucky to learn this lesson over a bonus
rather than over a firing. My experience
changed my attitude toward work forever.
Not that I became a clock-watcher, but that
I try now to have realistic expectations
about how valuable I am to “the company.”
When I took
my next job, I had a very open and honest
discussion about what they expected from
me. They outlined a week that looked like
40-50 hours. I agreed to that. And because
we had this discussion before I started, I
never felt any pressure to work longer
hours.
Sometimes
our lives evolve and we don’t realize what’s
going on until years later. I am now a
computer consultant. I still work 50 or 60
hour weeks. I joke with my clients that I
work half days--and I get to pick the 12
hours. I now have lots of bosses: my
clients. And I have lots of work because
there are clear understandings between my
clients and me.
They agree
to pay a specific price for specific work.
I offer up so many hours at a certain rate.
No one expects to get a bunch of hours for
free. If I work hours for free, it’s my
choice. No bonuses, and I know that.
Because
expectations over hours and pay were a major
issue for me awhile back, it is natural that
I would evolve to create a job in which this
relationship is very clear.
I still have
to fight my workaholic tendencies. But the
issues of pay and hours are now very
low-stress for me.
One of my
great weaknesses is that I want to jump into
a job, get it done, and move on. Sort of a
“surgical strike” to solving computer
problems. This is a weakness because it can
lead to neglecting the people side of the
business. It also means I have a tendency
to be focused on the next job instead of the
present job.
As part of
my business ethic, I am very attentive to
clients’ computer needs. Rather than just
fix the problem at hand, I take a minute and
apply software updates and make sure
“automatic” maintenance is running.
But I don’t
always take time to say “Hello. How are
you?” and make the personal contact.
Having
employees has helped me on this score. As I
train them, I put a lot of emphasis on
focusing on the present job rather than
worrying about the next job. I’ve developed
a formula for a customer visit—the
KPEnterprises way of performing an office
visit.
The goal is
to provide a consistent, positive experience
for the customer. And for me it means I end
up preaching about the one thing I need to
focus on. Take time—a few minutes—and chat
with the customer. This builds a personal
relationship, it keeps the atmosphere
relaxed, and it makes the job enjoyable.
I tell
prospective employees that one of the
benefits to working for me is that you get
to work with nice people. I cultivate
clients who are enjoyable to be around.
But, truth be told, 99% of the population
are nice people if you stop and take a
minute to talk with them.
Taking your
time also means relaxing when you have to do
all those little things we often consider
“necessary” distractions from our “real”
job. This includes filing papers, balancing
the checkbook, driving between appointments,
reading reports, employee evaluations—any
little thing you tend to rush through.
Take your
time. Relax. Do it right. Focus on the
current job. When you’ve finished you can
move on to the next job.
Our society
and our work culture tend to emphasize
working fast—often faster than it really
takes to get the job done. Sometimes we
find ourselves with too few people and too
much work. The go-go-go mentality results
in sloppy work, incomplete work, and no time
to focus on quality.
I once
worked at a place like this. The manager
sometimes joked “We never have time to do it
right but we always have time to do it
over.” We all know (if we take time to
think about it) that slowing down a little
and doing it right will save work in the
long run. Relaxing a bit can also save a
lot of stress.
A great
example of this is in the car. Did you ever
notice one of those people who passes you at
20 miles over the speed limit and you catch
up with him at the next light? Then he
takes off fast and zooms ahead, but you
catch up with him at the next light. After
a few miles this gets to be pretty funny.
One of you is more stressed than the other.
And even if
Mr. Stress gets ahead of you by a light, he
may only save three minutes in his
cross-town travel!
Slow down.
Relax. Focus on the task at hand. Do it
right. You’ll produce a higher quality
product and you won’t have to do it over.
Take your
time and you have more time.
