Category Archives: Work

Cooks and Trees

Posted on by

Too many cooks in the kitchen. I hear that phrase a lot. Companies or groups with many people putting their hands on it, diluting it, confusing it, and sending it off course run the risk of destroying or burying beautiful things. Understandably, too many people pissing on the same tree does not help the tree grow. Be wary of committee projects, even democratic projects. Too many people with too many opinions can result in too many compromises. And if I’ve learned anything, compromised products are seldom successful.

That said, be careful blaming the opinions or the people involved. It’s not necessarily the cooks’ faults for having opinions; it may very well be the kitchen’s fault for having room enough for too many cooks. If you open the door to that level of collaboration, it must be organized. Fortunately, there are such things as hyper-collaborative companies and organized brain trusts (Pixar is my favorite). With strategy and structure, an over-staffed kitchen could be a very great thing. Do not blame the people; blame structure.

The Collaboration Engine

Posted on by

Very few people can get anything done alone. Do not think for a second that you can get away with sitting in a room by yourself all day and end up building an empire. The odds are not great because you will lose inspiration and steam. It has nothing to do with what you are capable of. It has everything to do with keeping your dream fresh. If your dream sits inside of you and never escapes, it will get stale and die.

How do you keep your dream alive? Share and build it with others. Other people can act as bouncing boards. You send an idea out into the world, and it comes back to you in a different form. As an artist, it’s exciting because you can better-understand how others will react to your vision. As a businessman, it’s imperative to get outside feedback. More often than not, you are too close to your dream to see the flaws or incongruities. Find a friend and get outside of your head.

But getting feedback on your dream is not enough. You need to keep pumping the piston by passing the idea back and forth. Strong bouncing boards will shape your idea and make it stronger. Find a collaborator with whom you can pass ideas back and forth consistently. Find a collaborator who is accessible, trustworthy, and near the same wavelength. Try to avoid skipping a beat. Don’t drop the ball, or the idea may shatter.

Keep collaboration alive. It may very well be the key to achieving your dream.

Drive + Joy = Productivity

Posted on by

Sure, hard work gets things done. It takes drive, inspiration, and commitment to fuel hard work. But hard work alone cannot generate continuous, sustainable results. It takes a magic ingredient and one far too many large corporations fail to mix into the recipe: joy. Employees need to be happy, and you need to be happy to succeed. If a job is a constant influx of hell and bad tempers, people will burn out and crash.

It is not the employee’s responsibility to find or build that joy. In fact, most workers are too afraid to have fun in the office – like children kicking a ball around indoors, they are afraid they’ll get in trouble. It is the responsibility of the boss and the managers to enable an environment of fun and happiness. Not scheduled, forced happiness like luncheons or copy-room birthday parties. I’m talking arbitrary, unrestrained fun. Random field trips, marshmallow fights, grill days, action figure theft, whatever.

We purchased nerf guns for the office. Random shootouts happen daily now. I see endorphins flowing and smiles forming again. You’ll never know when you’ll get four inches of cold styrofoam to the skull. And I’ve gotten more done on one war day this week than all of the truce days combined.

Shape a culture in your office that enables and promotes joy. You can measure the results.

Meaningful Work

Posted on by

A quarter of the average American’s week is spent on the clock and a third is spent asleep at night. Many work even longer hours than that. With so much time and energy devoted to one thing, it’s worth it for our health and sanity to make sure our jobs are fulfilling.

Everyone wants a job he or she can be excited to wake up for in the morning. For me, I need a job that I can believe in. A company building things I believe in. Leadership with strategy I believe in. But that’s just me. Most people can find joy in their work without being tied to the higher context of their employment.

So what constitutes “meaningful work?” I think it’s simple. A job where you’d rather do nothing else with that valuable time. Perhaps a job that satisfies your need to create or relate with the world. Perhaps a job working to solve an important problem. Or perhaps a job that’s plain and simple fun.

In any case, you choose to do the work over anything else. Do what you want to do for a living. Find a job like that, and life will be good.

Quitting Is Not Always Quitting

Posted on by

Do not be afraid to opt out of something if you’ve done everything you can to improve the situation. Marriages, jobs, partnerships, friends with bad habits, group projects, hobbies, gatherings, etc. If it’s not working out for you and you’ve taken reasonable measures to fix things, there’s no point in suffocating yourself anymore. It’s not cowardice; it’s logic. Sometimes quitting is the best way to improve your life, the lives of your partners, and the lives of others who care about you. Imagine all the possibilities of what you can do without that burden, time drain, and commitment. Do not be afraid to quit and go do those things.

Decide What You’re Worth

Posted on by

Want to make more money? First, you need to believe that you’re worth more. If you believe it and exude confidence on the subject, everyone else will believe you’re worth more, too. Believe it deeply enough and you may not even need to ask for a raise.

It’s very helpful to know what you’re worth. To the dollar. Not some random number, no abstract figure counts – the exact amount to cover the cost of living the life you think you deserve. Add up your expenses, your lifestyle costs, your health costs, your travel costs. Cover your responsibilities. Price out your dreams and your hobbies. Set a structured savings plan and contingency for accidents. Add them all together over a year period. With simple math, you can conclude your annual salary. That’s what you’re worth. No less.

Be open to quoting that number to others, and do not be afraid to itemize the costs for them. If you can justify every price point and sell your needs, it will be difficult for anyone to argue. Make sure your employer understands this number. If it’s not possible for your company to match, find alternative means to cover the difference (freelancing, for example) – or find a different job.

Know what you’re worth. Believe you’re worth that much. Fight for it if you need to. Do not sell yourself short.

Overtime Pay Is Unhealthy

Posted on by

Time and a half or double pay was designed to compensate you for working unreasonable hours. Depending on the rate, it can even make extra hours appealing. That’s a problem. Why?

Money does not actually compensate you for the added stress and sacrifices. Money does not buy you your time back. Money does not keep your health in check or award you sleep at night. Overtime pay does not give you your life back. So what’s the point? Just call it a day and go home.

Only work as many hours as you need to get the job done well enough. Do not be seduced by the extra cash to compromise your well-being. You’ll burn out, and it will not be worth it long-term. Cut yourself off, quit for the night, and come in fresh the next day. It is the only sustainable course of action.

Persistence

Posted on by

Persistence does not take a break, does not take a nap, does not quit until the job is done.

Persistence is blogging every day for 150 days straight without a day off, even if you’re a little intoxicated and lack insightful wisdom once in a while. Sober or not, I am running 34,000 words strong with 11,481 unique visitors to date. And I am damn proud of it.

Persistence. Give it a shot. It’ll be good for you, I promise.

Skip Non-Sequential Problems

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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.