"I love to go to work.
I love to get things done.
I love the work I do.
I really enjoy the challenges at work and who I get to work with."
Is this your 'mind chant' as you walk into your role each day with a great big smile on your face?
Are co-workers suspect of you and thinking it is time for a drug test because you are waaaay too happy and effective?
You've heard it many, many times...attitude determines altitude.
Have you run into a lot of "high on life" human beings to surround yourself with?
No? Why not?
Two reasons are most likely:
1.
I am afraid of heights!
With all the change going on in organizations and the current economic environment, people are holdiing on to their jobs for dear life. Instead of doing their job, they are furiously trying to keep it. They no longer focus on building their skills and abilities for the future. They don't focus on 'creating not being needed' in the role they are in so others can come from behind and take a role they are outgrowing. Too bad. They are ripe in their role and now getting rotten. They see taking the risk to step up and out leaving them exposed and vulnerable. They become inert, dread going to work, get sucked into all the negativity and fear and feed at the low self-esteem trough every day.
What to do:
Honor and validate a fear of heights. It's ok. You don't have to cliimb past what is comfortable for you but you do have to move. So it's time to calibrate where you are. Just as you would move if you knew an arch over your head was about to crumble, you'd want to know so you can step out from under to avoid getting killed. Are you standing under a crumbling arch? Take a look. Complete a Professional Definition of Success for yourself (page 90 of
The 85% Solution, How Personal Accountability Guarantees Success. No Nonsense. No Excuses.) or email me linda@lindagalindo.com and ask for 'Definition of Success Worksheet' in the subject line. A mindset of total personal accountability for where you are and where you want to be starts with defining success given how much has changed. Get a coach or mentor and go over your Definition of Success with them. Mind you, this is not goal setting. Everyone does that, and too often, they get stuck. Defining success will blow through that motivation constipation and shift your mindset chant to one like I started out with above. No kidding.
2.
Misery loves company.
Watch the movie BIG with Tom Hanks. There is this wonderful scene where in his sudden adult world, Josh finds he can do a job in a corporate office and enthusiastically attacks the work load. Then the guy next to him leans over and says "Slow down, you are making the rest of us look bad."
I want to belong, I want to be liked, I want to fit in, I want to get a good performance evaluation from my boss, peers and customers. Rocking the boat by being enthusiastic, competent, and accountable and pointing out where we have settled, played favorites and rescue, fix, and save under performers will get me tossed onto the equivalent of the Island Of Misfit Toys. No thanks.
What to do:
Decide that you are totally personally accountable for your success in life (which you have defined in step one above). Stop abdicating a single aspect of the 100% personal accountability you have to anyone and don't let others use you as their excuse not to grow and develop. Make a clear agreement to be accountable, first and foremost to yourself.
Find out where your blindspot is and target it. (People you live with can usually tell you what your blindspot is...for free.) Targeting your blind spot to overcome it will be akin to giving up sugar, but now that we know sugar is, for the most part toxic and addictive, we can at least scale back and stop doing so much damage to ourselves. Find a buddy who will stick by you no matter what and not settle. Some pay executive or professional life coaches for this, but if you know someone who will kick your "feel sorry for yourself" a... attitude up a notch, ask them. You know the saying ...when the student is ready...someone obnoxious that you love to hate is right there waiting to help you. It's a different kind of misery, but hey, it's company.
Everyone I talk to agrees we can definitely use more accountability in this world. That's good for me. I teach accountability. But enough already. "They" are not going to get more accountable.
You are. Then watch what happens. All I can say is, be careful what you ask for.
Till next time...
"I love to go to work.
I love to get things done.
I love the work I do.
I really enjoy the challenges at work and who I get to work with."
Looking for accountability education for leaders? I do
that.
</br>
