Category Archives: Work

Life In Thirds

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With the traditional 40-hour work week, most people’s lives are roughly split into thirds – work, sleep, and personal time. Work provides for your human needs, sleep keeps you healthy, and personal time enriches the soul. Without question, these thirds must stay in balance to keep you sane.

Each third must not infringe on the others to keep you healthy. Work must not take over and instead provide the means to make the most out of your personal time. Neither work nor personal time should threaten the time you spend taking care of yourself. Moreover, work is necessary to sustain your life and activities. Keep the three in equilibrium and life will be good.

No, you do not have to spend an equal amount of time on each to keep the three in balance. If anything, you should maximize personal, soul-enriching time as much as possible (it often takes a lot more than you realize to truly balance out your work). But you can definitely add up the hours in a week to determine whether your work/life balance is out of whack or not.

Keep your time in check. Keep your life in balance. Juggle the three balls well and you may yet find happiness.

Blame Miscommunication

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Do not be so hasty to blame the other person. Nine out of ten times, the fault lies in mutual misunderstanding. Always blame miscommunication first. Point fingers only after both sides agree on the facts. By then, the guilty party (if any) will know enough to point the finger at him or herself. Dispute solved.

Why Before the How

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Contemporary business culture moves faster than light. Every day, we’re bombarded with tasks and decisions. We are often forced to dive into problems and projects without context. Managers ask us to do things without explaining why. To protect our job, we do not ask questions. But we really should.

If you believe in what you do, you will perform better. To believe in what you do, you need to understand what you are supposed to believe first. Arbitrary assignments without context make it near impossible to connect with the material. Leaders are responsible for setting the stage, helping you understand why, and inspiring you to deliver.

If your boss fails to inspire you, take a moment to reflect on the tasks you’ve been asked to do. Avoid complacency at all costs. Know the “why” before approaching the “how.” If you cannot figure it out, ask for an explanation. You will do yourself and your company a favor.

Angry? Don’t Send That Email

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I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it. You’re really upset with somebody and write them a note. Maybe you think you have more control over the written word than you would a conversation. Or perhaps you think a note would sound less harsh.

The truth? You have far less control over the recipient’s interpretation of and reaction to your message. A letter leaves room between the lines for misunderstanding. Worse, it leaves a permanent record of your anger – a record that can be saved, shared, or distributed for the world to see.

If you are really that angry, go talk to the person. If you can’t do so face to face, at least pick up the phone. You will reach an understanding much quicker if you hash out your opinions in dialogue.

By all means, write the letter. It will make you feel better. But never send it. Abraham Lincoln died with a desk drawer full of nasty letters. Be the better man or woman. Be brave. Do not hide behind a letter.

Hire the Job, Don’t Let It Hire You

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I pity you if every little task, responsibility, or minute of your day has been laid out by a job description. If you do not have the freedom to explore, discover, or experiment through your job, then you are little better than a slave.

Forcing a person to fit the itemized mold of a job description is unrealistic and myopic. Every employee has so much to offer; failure to encourage peripheral skills and passion will drive him or her out unfulfilled. On the other side of the table, applying for and interviewing to fit a job description may be equally naïve. Why sign up to do what you are told and nothing more?

Great organizations understand that human beings are not simple tools. They judge character and accomplishments over trade skills. Why do you think more than 70% of Americans secured their job through someone they knew in the company? Relationships bare the fruit and culture of success.

The dream hiring situation? First, the company acknowledges a need for talent in a certain area. They screen fresh talent and possibly give them a trial run. When a comfortable cultural fit is found, the company throws him or her into the wild. No guiding hands or operations checklists, only a dish full of puzzles to solve. Before long, the new hire will find his or her own place. Effectively, he or she will write his or her own job description.

Find a job you can make your own. If by the end of every day you have satisfied the thirst of all your talents and interests, you will know you have found the right fit.

Sincere Creation

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What’s the motivation behind your project? Capital gain? Attention? A greater noble effort? What do you have to prove? And to whom?

I know from my experiences in Hollywood that projects produced through a climate of unrestrained and unadulterated love for the material have a far better chance at sweeping audiences. With pure and simple love of filmmaking at the helm, a movie’s voice can be authentic, formalistic craft more cohesive, and overall execution more successful than, say, a franchise picture riddled by ambitions for ancillary market spin-offs and merchandising. Too many cooks in the kitchen, too many goals, and too many interests can shred a project into a million pieces.

How do you create great products? Simple. Make things because you love making things, not because you love the idea of making things.

Most people hear an idea and let their minds run wild. Before long, the fantasy overshadows the outstanding work that needs to be done. If you are busy thinking about the idea, rather than feeling or experiencing the idea, you’re on the wrong track.

Success will come when affection for your project is sincere.

Do not love your work. Love doing your work.

Finish Strong

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People remember you by the manner through which you leave them. Want to preserve a good reputation long term? Do everything in your power to walk away on a good note. No matter the circumstances, bring closure to the meeting or relationship. Leave nothing unsaid, unfinished, or unfriendly. Get your job done, do it better than ever, and walk out with your head held high. Leave with a positive, lasting impression.

Sergeant Major Eats Sugar Cookies

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A handful of military leaders, notably in the United States Army, embrace a fairly standard five-paragraph memo to outline, strategize, and communicate unique action plans. I feel the following memo structure, identified by the acronym SMESC (or “Sergeant Major Eats Sugar Cookies”), will serve most civilian leaders well. I have every intention of practicing it into my business in the future:

  1. Situation: What is the problem?
  2. Mission: What is the principle task at hand and purpose behind it?
  3. Execution: What strategy are we going to use to accomplish the task?
  4. Support: What are the logistics? How many troops and resources will we need?
  5. Command: What other groups should be involved and how will they communicate?

Passive Aggressive

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Confront the issue directly. Blow steam to someone else first if you need to, but don’t wait to deal with the tension at hand. It will only blow up in your face later. Like water boiling on a stove, you may get burned if you wait too long. Definitely do not ignore the situation and let the water to boil out entirely because you will be left with a charred and unusable pan.

Feed Your Team

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An army marches on its stomach. Food boosts morale, energizes the mind, and rewards your team. Food is more magical than money. I am convinced through my experience that feeding your team is one of the keys to success. I calculate catering and craft service into my film budgets before any other line item. Not only is your team happier on a full stomach, they tend to stick around the office and get more work done. The traditional hour lunch break sends everyone off into the world and away from each other, making it difficult to get back into the gear of tasks at hand.

Afraid that feeding your team may be too expensive? Think instead about the productivity costs associated with sending your team outside for an hour lunch break. It will take an individual between 10 and 20 minutes to reach a destination for lunch, between 20 and 35 to eat, 10 to 20 to return, and as much as 30 minutes to get motivated again. On average, the hour lunch break could cost you as much as one and a half man-hours per employee per day. For a ten-person team with $60,000 salaries each, that’s $430 a day – over $2,000 per week! You could more than cover the costs of a caterer for the same price.

Find a way to pay for it. Feeding your team may be an added expense unaccounted for in your overhead and payroll costs, but the work output benefits are tenfold. Yum.