You rush to get up, fit in a quick work-out before getting dressed, grab the hot drink of choice and put something in your bag to eat when you’re hungry. You go through these same motions with little variation e v e r y d a y.
The Grind
You get to work – which you may really enjoy – and find that you tend to deal with the same problems on a regular basis. The same chores, the same to-do expectations… and it starts to feel old and lacking challenge. Or you face the coworker you really don’t enjoy and you wish they’d go on vacation.
We call this ‘The Grind’. We hate the grind. We loath the grind. Until we don’t have a grind. Then we panic and want it all back. Let’s shift your perspective with a question.
When you hate the grind, how do you love what you do, enough to love the grind again? Enough to not let the grind cloud your appreciation for the job you’re good at and enjoy?
Answer – By figuring out how what you do helps someone else – specifically helps them – and how it’s linked to helping the organization succeed.
Wait. Before you shut your laptop in disgust because you want an immediately useful tip -it’s coming!
I’m Curious – When was the last time you knew how many hands or eyes saw your work, used your work, and exactly how that work helped the results?
Have you ever asked anyone how your work helps them? What they appreciate or depend upon because you were involved? It’s time to connect you to the right perspective of your own grind – and fast.
The next time you look at anything that seems – just – ugh. Take a moment and look at it. Really look at what it is and who it affects. The moment you can put purpose and meaning to what it accomplishes as an outcome – and who it helps – it suddenly becomes a more important part of your job. Why does that matter?
Toilets
If a janitor suddenly stopped cleaning just that one toilet in the first stall of the bathroom you use at work – just that one – out of a building with 400 toilets – it would taint your entire feeling about all the toilets and the care of that facility. It would tarnish your trust in the consistency of their skills and caring about their job. Forbes talks about how inconsistency affects how others perceive you.
Where am I going with this?
What do you do that is the same as skipping that one toilet because you’re just tired of doing it and don’t think anyone cares? Yep, I purposely used the toilet visual here because when you consistently skip anything that someone depends upon – your skill levels may get associated with the same stuff that goes in a toilet. And you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Toilets are vital, and so is what your job requires you to do. That doesn’t mean you HAVE to love it. It does mean you need to find the meaning in what you do that motivates you to care about it. When you find the meaning in what you do, over time, you start to care more – and – even may love how needed you are to others because of what you do.
Because as an executive leadership coach, I don’t coach you to find ways to tolerate it. I coach you to recognize the monsters that are getting in your way, the change you want to see, and how to find what you’re doing right so you understand how to love what you do and go after the career that you love.
Do you need help with the grind? Click here to schedule a FREE discovery session with me.