Hard Work is Overrated. All You Have to Do is Focus!

By Merrilee Kittelstad

Some days we come to work and simply don’t feel like working. Sound familiar? And then there are those other days when we feel on top of the world. Maybe we’ve landed a big sale, solved a difficult problem, saved the company some money or even saved a life. No matter what business you’re in, there will always be good days and bad. What I find interesting is how our moods can change with the weather, so to speak—how we can go from ‘hero’ to ‘zero’ and back again on any given day at the office.

But while feelings may seem fickle, it helps to remember that the laws of the universe apply in the workplace too. There is perhaps nothing truer than the phrase, “We always get what we deserve.” If we show up at our job, give our respective tasks our full attention and work with focus, we accomplish amazing things. Working with focus is completely different from working hard, however. Working hard involves expending a lot of energy, while working with focus means harnessing that energy to a particular outcome.

So how do you stay focused in today’s work environment? How do you filter out everyday distractions and interruptions? Here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Ignore Distractions. Distractions are not things that happen around us; distractions are things we choose to focus on instead of the task at hand. It really is as simple as choosing what is worth our time and attention.
• Set Achievable Goals! This can be as simple as “I am going to accomplish task #1, task #2, and task #3, and then I’m going to take a break.” Be realistic about what you can accomplish, and you’re likely to be less stressed and more productive.
• Reward Success. Always reward yourself for accomplishing even the smallest task.
• Remember to Visualize. What we focus on, we draw to us. As we take baby steps and successfully focus, accomplishing tasks gets easier and easier. It’s like any other skill—the more we use it, the better we get.

Don’t misunderstand—I’m all for hard work, if that’s what you’re into. But if you want results, if you want to finish tasks quickly and efficiently, if you want to excel, try working half as hard with twice the focus. You’ll be amazed at the results!

Not all Change is Progress, but all Progress is Change

by Merrilee Kittelstad

Businesses are living organisms and evolve like any other living thing. That evolution is change, and it affects the employees of a business as much as it affects the business itself. How we, as employees, adapt to the change or resist it is all part of the evolution.

In order for a business to thrive and meet the needs of its employees, the needs of the organization must come first. Then, everything else falls into place. Naturally everyone resists change; it takes an educated and open mind to embrace change and not resist it—especially when it is imposed upon us rather than us choosing it ourselves.

I recently found myself in that very situation. Change was inevitable within my job. My role had to change, my duties had to change, my supervision had to change, and as much as it was needed I resisted it, nonetheless. The change was difficult to embrace.

The words of the sales manager rang in my ears: “The company’s needs come first. We take care of the company and everything else falls into place.” I firmly believe that the universe does not orchestrate events to benefit one to the detriment of another. Better put, what is good for one is good for all concerned, even though we as individuals don’t always see it that way. After time and in retrospect, typically we can see the brilliance of how things unfold, change and evolve—even though looking back before the change we couldn’t see or even imagine it.

As employees we have to understand that the company that employs us—if it is to survive in any economic climate—must change to grow. And that change will affect us. Sometimes it will appear to be to our benefit, sometimes to our detriment; sometimes it will not affect us at all. But, in order to be an integral part of our company’s future, we need to embrace the change as progress.

This change can be anything from moving your desk across the room, to being promoted or demoted, to even being fired. If we can see things from a larger perspective, if we can understand that nothing stays the same and change is inevitable, we can thrive—the alternative being that we resist the inevitable and make ourselves and everyone else miserable in the process.

No one is immune to the change of the organization that employs him or her. But, with a shift in perspective we can all change, all evolve, all thrive.