Bristol, TN Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, To Be or Not to Be, quoted on the cover page of this website, really opens doors we never thought might be opened, doesn’t it? It asks a question that we must consider. Consider, just for a moment, your personal and professional life as a part of all of the different lives you live.
All of us live multiple lives. We live a professional life. We live a familial life. We may live a team life. We may live an education life. We may live a social organization life. We may live a religious life. We may live an online life. Consider whether or not you’re succesful in the confluence of only two–personal and professional– of so many different lives that you live. Now, apply Hamlet’s question. Do you want to be successful, to be considered by others as successful, and maintain that level of success in those lives, or do you want to live lives where you merely “get by?” That’s a great question, framed by cultural acceptance of the late 20th and early 21st Century.
The Belgian band K’s Choice has a great line in one of their songs, Come Live the Life : “Live the Life You’re Given.”
Each time I think that I am a lost passenger on the dock of life and the great ship of success is sailing away— with me either waving a flag or lighting a signal fire to let them know I’m being left behind— I think about that line…”Live the Life You’re Given.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm2CGbtWf94
(Commercial disclaimer: I am not representing the band, nor do I know them, nor do I have any financial interest in their success. That meets the requirements of Counsel. I think. )
Often, we’re focused simply on gaining more than doing with less. Here are five ways you can do with less and realize more.
1. Decide what you really need to achieve in your life, and set your sights on that, not some esoteric goal that may or may not ever be achieveable. How many years were we told that it was normal to think otherwise? “Reach for the stars.” Why not be happy with the moon? Or, in terms we can accept, why not be pleased with what we do achieve as opposed to what we think we should achieve? Isn’t that what life, career, and satisfaction is all about? Not necessarily finding a way to achieve more, but achievement of what’s available.
2. Set some distinct and measurable goals for yourself. Mark Royal and Tom Agnew have written a book called The Enemy of Engagement in which they tell us that significant frustration in your job can be caused by organizational barriers within your job and your inability to bring the bulk of your talents, skills, and abilities to your job. Yep, you bet. If you’re frustrated, you’re not alone. Next time you’re feeling frustrated by the “system” just tell your boss to get out of the way and let you do your thing, and see how well that works for ‘ya.
3. Are you doing everything you can with what you have? Don’t tell me–as a Consultant– that you don’t have skills or knowledge which couldn’t be shared or utilized in different ways. I’ll find them for you. If you and I don’t explore that pathway, we’ll never know what we could have achieved, will we? Hear me out on this.
I believe that each of us is endowed with some unique human element of dissatisfaction if we feel we don’t use all of our abilities…read: everything we have. I remember my Mom telling me that she didn’t care what I did with my life–she always used what I’ve come to appreciate as ‘the ditchdigger comparison’ (“I don’t care if you’re a ditchdigger, as long as you’re the best ditchdigger” was one of her favorite lines) to hard wire my tiny brain to always do the best I could at anything I attempted. After all, if I didn’t, she wouldn’t be proud of me, and a parent’s pride is absolutely essential to a child. It worked.
4. Don’t fall prey to the “we’re doing better than “he” or “she” is, or “they” are, comparison. Redefined, that’s making a critically incorrect assumption that you started at exactly the same point in the beginning of any defined effort than “he” or “she” or “they” did, and that’s simply not a correct assumption. There are very few comparisons that can be drawn in life where two competing elements start from the same place. Football teams don’t. Politicians don’t. Cities and states don’t. Automobiles and airplanes don’t.
Here’s a radical idea to consider: You’re the best at something. Yes, you. So, what is it that you’re good at? And how can you leverage that superiority to gain the feeling of success, day in and day out? Moreover, how do you tell others that you’re the best at what you’re good at? (Several of my former English instructors are cringing at that misuse of the English language–but you know exactly what I mean).
5. Back in 2009 (I know, that was a long time ago for many of us…) an author named Marc Lesser wrote a book entitled Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less. He also has a blog you can access at http://doingless.net/ His premise? Sometimes, doing less gets more accomplished. As I get older, and view the world through bifocals, I happen to concur with that. We’ve been so focused on what he classifies as our “busyness” that we miss the joy of a sunset, the wonder of a moonless, crisp clear night when it looks as though we could reach up and touch the stars in the sky. We miss the love of someone or something important in our lives.
Most importantly, we don’t think about that initial question: To Be, or Not to Be. Where do you want your life to go? Call us. We’re here to discuss your business and how to improve the operation of the business, as well as how to be able to reach up and touch those stars. 800-335-9269. Smile when you call.
