Monthly Archives: July 2011

Why Stress If It’s Not Your Fault?

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Perhaps harsh survival advice, but It is not worth hurting yourself over the failure of others. If someone else makes a mistake, why give yourself a heart attack? It is not your fault, so do not pretend like it. And it’s not your responsibility to clean up another person’s mess, whether you know how to or not. So relax; offer a helping hand, and take comfort in the knowledge that you are doing everything that you can to help. Do not stress.

If his or her failure effects you or makes your job harder, it does not resolve the issue to get upset. Anger, frustration, yelling, pouting, and blaming do not smooth things out at all. Stress is almost as unhealthy and contagious as the flu. Your stress will snowball into other people’s stress, which will only come back to hurt you more and make the situation worse. Objectify the problem, take new obstacles at face value, forgive the mistake, and move forward. Do not stress.

If the mistake was made under your leadership, then it is your responsibility. That is one of the risks of leadership, and you need to be prepared to handle the failures of your staff. That said, it is also your responsibility to facilitate recovery from said mistakes. Losing your cool will lose you the upper ground over your problems. Stay focused, think through the situation objectively, realign resources as needed, and act. Decision making is math, not drama. Do not stress.

Cold > Hot

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Up for debate, I suppose, but cold beats hot any day. Why? You can always add more layers to get warm, but you cannot always shed layers or blast air conditioning to get cool. Carrying a pile of clothes through winter may be a nuisance, but sweating is far more unfortunate in my opinion.

Trust me, I’d be happy to run around naked to keep cool if I could (those who have celebrated with me know I’m not a big fan of wearing pants). Even without clothes, hot summer days can be unbearable and impossible to escape. No thank you. I’ll take a blizzard & parka over a heat wave & tube sock any day.

Skip Non-Sequential Problems

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Most people enjoy a good challenge, and few people like leaving problems unsolved. The vast majority of driven people are perfectionists and cannot accept failure in any form. Face a problem, big or small, and it must be solved.

Okay, I can appreciate that. Problems should be solved. But the key question few people ask when facing a problem is: When? If a solution is prerequisite to the next task or nearing an impending deadline, then you should face the problem immediately. Without question.

If the problem is independent from other tasks, has no deadline before any other task, and plays no role in a task sequence, then seriously consider putting it off until later. Perfectionists get far too preoccupied with solving problems that are often insignificant compared to the other tasks that could be accomplished through the same energy invested in finding a solution. It makes no sense to spend ten hours solving one problem when you could tackle a dozen other tasks in the same timeframe.

I am not saying you should avoid the problem altogether; I’m merely suggesting that you mitigate risk by moving on and tackling the lion’s share of tasks first before re-approaching the single problem task that could possibly suck your time dry.

Ambiguous Job Titles

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The point of a job title is to communicate clearly where you fit and what you do to others inside and out of the company. Clear job titles really help co-workers and clients navigate information and inquiries. Without question, the efficient trafficking of information is necessary to a company’s success. So why, then, is it so common to a) have no idea what your co-workers do and b) have difficulty finding the person responsible for certain categories of business? Well, because we fail to assign each other effective titles.

 Perhaps stemming from a conservative military hesitation from awarding rank, few business leaders give out new titles to employees – except on grounds for promotion. Corporate titles are status symbols and need to be earned. God help you if you try to pick your own. While I appreciate promotions, I do not understand the reservations business leaders have with re-titling employees to better-fit their position. “Well, if I change their titles, then they’ll think they should earn more money.” Just tell them no. It’s your responsibility as a boss to orchestrate and label your resources in a way that optimizes the efficiency of your enterprise. Employees can deal with it.

Give It Your All?

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I respect people who devote themselves completely to a project or job. Without question, giving it your all usually awards you a competitive edge. But I worry about the limited investment driven people are able to make in other parts of their lives. If you invest 100% of your energy (and time) into a project, what is left for family, friends, or your own health? What about your personal life goals?

On this planet, we only have 23 hours, 57 minutes, and 4.1 seconds in a day. If you spend 18 hours working on your project, when will you see your children? When will you sleep or exercise? And when will you have time to chisel away at your hobby? For those of you who are working for the money, do you have time to spend or even manage the money you do make? If not, what’s the point? What’s the point of working that hard anyway? To do better? If your job is the most important thing in your life, then why let family or anyone else distract you? What’s the point?

I am all for investing yourself in your work. I work very hard myself. But I draw lines and live by rules. I will not let my job, or any project for that matter, take time away from my dreams. And I am actively optimizing my life to make more time with friends, family, travel, and personal projects.

Inventory your “all” and decide where best to map your energy and time.

Daily Dose of Peace

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Dr. Craig Ormiston recommends one dose of peace everyday. Ten minutes where you can sit back and breathe. Lay down. Close your eyes. Silence your phone. Clear your mind. Remember that you are alive. I suggest resting in the grass, staring into the sky. Take a break when you’re overwhelmed, when you need it the most. Work can wait. Chores can wait. People can wait.

Re-center your energy. It’s important.

The Life of a Voice-Over Artist [Film Friday]

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Have a great voice? Want to work from home everyday? Want to have a lot of time on your hands? Then consider being a voice-over artist!

There is a large army of people out there who have recording setups at home and read scripts into a mic for a living. As a voice-over artist, you can make between $5 and $200 per word you read (the pay varies depending on where your voice will be heard – television, web, theater, radio, etc.). Reading just one paragraph a month for average-priced spots can earn you a livable annual salary. Because audio files can be sent back and forth digitally, you can live anywhere you want. Most VO artists have their workflow optimized online so that they never need to speak to another human being again (except through email).

Want to get started? Buy yourself a decent microphone, hide in a closet or sound-proof room to record, and post a demo reel to a site like voices.com. Most projects solicit and cast from web networks like this one. More legitimate voice talents hire an agent to represent them and drive higher-profile, lucrative projects. You can graduate from infomercials and web spots, to theatrical movie trailers and documentaries, to animated feature film characters.

With enough unique character and range in your voice, you can make decent bank for as little as three hours of work per week.

Stay in Touch

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Life is rich when filled with people you care about. Send a note. Pick up the phone. Stop by for a visit. Do not wait to be reached. Maintaining a relationship is much easier and far more fulfilling than building a new one from scratch.

Infostructure

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Problem numero uno for companies of any size: communication. Far more important than expensive tech IT, companies need to optimize precedents for the exchange of ideas and information between employees and the outside world. Far too often, people who need access to information fall out of the loop. This negligence results in stress, delays, and broken product.

It’s worth time and money to sort out and establish systems for internal communication: who talks to who, where ideas go, who listens to what, who ignores what, where certain types of exchanges occur, when certain types of exchanges occur, and how it all flows together. Create small rules that guide efficient exchange. Paste them around the office and fall into a company-wide routine.

With enough strategy and planning, all employees will know everything they need to know and be on the same page all the time. Utopian? Not at all. All it takes is a little thought and organization.

Pretend to Have a Good Day

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If you’re having a bad day, lie to people and tell them you’re having a great one. Make a joke about it. Pretend like you are having the best day of your life. Frame a smile on your face. Laugh. Make fun.

Before you know it, you’ll be having a great day.

It’s all about attitude.