In your lifetime, work will take up at least 50% of your time. It’s like our second home (unless you’re lucky enough to work from home doing something you enjoy).
I realize this blog has been based around home improvement, metalworking and woodworking; I want to take a step back this week and talk about something that has an effect on our lives through the jobs or careers we have.
What am I talking about here?
Leadership
An employee or team is limited by the leaders above them.
Are your bosses lifting you up every chance they get, or breaking you down?
It’s important to realize the difference, because being challenged and being tormented are very different (there is no “fine line” here).
Good leaders will communicate on the employee level, never being above any task that needs to be done. A leader should build up their team to develop their people to become confident and independent.
Bad leaders will delegate all tasks (particularly those that are undesirable). They’ll pick and belittle their workers, and never let them live down a mistake no matter how insignificant it is. This type of personality will micro-manage everyone as if they are a master puppeteer. But the workers know better.
Every person ranked below their manager/supervisor speaks about them in one of two ways: with great respect, or with great disgust.
What type of leadership does your job/career have?
Ownership
An often undervalued characteristic in people (especially those with the power to make decisions that influence your financial future) is their ability to own mistakes.
If you have read the book “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, you’ll know what I’m getting at here.
Good leaders will own everything that happens under their control (even some things outside of their control, but within their department).
When things go wrong at work, poor supervisors and managers will leave their people “out to dry”; while great leaders and respectable managers will take responsibility for their people.
This not only allows the manager to fit the role they agreed to, but it gives their workers a reason to respect them, learn from their mistake and never repeat it as a way to show their superior that they’ll work FOR them, not just for the money.
Hard Work!
Nothing comes to those who think they feel entitled to something they haven’t earned.
What built this country (and the world for that matter) is a strong work ethic, strong backs and can-do attitudes.
The list of things we are entitled to as human beings, simply for being born, is a short list. That list does not include a new house, car, tons of money or success. Those things have to be earned through dedication, repetition, and hard work.
In our jobs, we all see the employees who would rather not bother to put in the effort because “they’re not being paid enough”, but with an attitude like that, they’ll never be paid enough.
It’s the workers who are willing to put their head down and grind out their days, putting in 110% that impress the boss. Impressing the boss is a good thing; especially in smaller companies… Owners of a business will take notice when you’re there early every day and don’t slow down until you leave the job site.
Goals
Everyone has to have goals, or why would we get up and go to work every day?
If your goals are to make $40,000 a year and take 2 vacations per year, that’s great!
As long as your goals are fulfilling, to make you happy, that’s what matters!
I can’t even estimate how many people are making millions of dollars, but they’re dying inside. Money doesn’t make you happy, YOU make you happy through the goals you set and by following through on those goals with ACTION.
Action
The quickest way to win in life is by repetitive action.
Doing the things you know have to be done, day in and day out. Even when you’re not “feeling it”. It’s what keeps this blog going; nobody is feeling motivated 100% of the time, there are days when we just want to hit snooze and not get out of bed, but our lives are defined by what we do when we don’t “feel it”.
A great entrepreneur named Andy Frisella is all about the message of putting in the work and doing what you have to do. It’s called mental toughness, and it will lead you to success. All we have to do is follow through and take the action every single day to keep pushing our lives forward in the direction we want.
Without a doubt, every single successful person has not been successful every single day of their lives, but they’ve managed to push past those days by following their routine and moving forward.
Repetition
Ever been naturally great at something?
The more you practice what you’re great at, the more unbeatable you get!
Repetition is one of the most important pillars of success.
Creating a formula that works, and continually practicing and improving that formula is the way we get ahead.
Every time I sit down to write a post for this blog, I’m practicing repetition. To keep the mind sharp by writing down my thoughts and personal opinions, mixed in with research and factual information to provide content for my website.
It’s a great feeling to see the posts add up and to see my library of content filling in with valuable information.
Each post has been an improvement on the last; throwing in a personal writing flare of my own, writing as if I am speaking to the reader (or myself).
Always take a step back to evaluate how far you’ve come
While it’s unhealthy to live in the past and wish things were different, it’s extremely useful to look back simply to see how far you’ve come.
We are all on a journey, and taking a second to see how we’ve all improved is one of the simplest ways to measure your progress.
The Handy Writer 