“I can help you turn this around, but you’re going to have to commit to thinking differently.”
“How can you possibly help?” she asked. “You can’t control our boss or how he treats us.”
“It isn’t about trying to control, or even change him,” I replied, “it’s about making a difference with the things we control… our minds and how they receive and process what he dishes out.”
Her blank stare gave me more than a hint that she didn’t understand what I was saying. That stare told me that no matter how hard I worked to explain my point, her mindset was not allowing her to be anything other than a victim.
My poor, former co-worker had just gotten another condescending ear-full from our boss. She was lamenting about how much she wanted to get another job and was surfing the job sites while at work. (I know no one else has ever done that…right?)
I venture to say that we’ve all been there. Hating our job, wishing we were doing something (anything) else. Maybe there are a few freaks of nature that haven’t had that moment (if that’s you, let me introduce you to a novel concept).
The pattern is predictable …
- Frustrated with a job.
- Desire to do something else.
- Daydream about doing something else while we are supposed to be doing our job.
- We know we aren’t giving it our best, but we justify the poor effort by hating the job more.
- Performance continues to drop and we make ourselves a bigger target for frustration.
- Rinse and repeat.
There’s another choice of course.
- Hate your job.
- Complain continually about it.
- Do nothing to change your situation.
- Continue to hate your job and let it poison the other parts of your life.
- Die miserable.
If you’ve found yourself in either of these mindsets, you can begin to turn things around by understanding what Napoleon Hill has to say…
While your time and your labor may be subject to the demands of your employer and others, your mind is the one thing that cannot be controlled by anyone but you. The thoughts you think, your attitude toward your job, and what you are willing to give in exchange for the compensation you are paid are entirely up to you. It is up to you to determine whether you will be a slave to a negative attitude or the master of a positive one. Your attitude, your only master in life, is entirely within your control. When you control your attitude toward events, you control the eventual implication of those events.
Did you get what he said over and over?
“…cannot be controlled by anyone but you.”
“…are entirely up to you.”
“It is up to you to determine…”
“…entirely within your control.”
“…you control the eventual implication…”
This is your show! Your life is not about letting someone else control your level of misery.
Life is designed for you to dial-in as much reward as you can stand!
If you hate your job and find yourself yearning for greener pastures, I have bad news for you. Another job is not the answer.
A different job, just for the sake of having a different job, is an external element. External elements are full of one thing and one thing only…stuff you don’t control.
If you have to make a change, start with yourself. I know that sounds hackneyed and overplayed, but hang with me a minute. Taking the same you, with the same mindset that made you miserable in your last job, to a new environment will not change the long-term prospects. To make a massive, meaningful change in your professional life (or any other part for that matter) requires an adjustment in our approach.
We’ll walk through the full process in the next several posts, but for now, consider this…
If we approach everyday with a clear understanding of what we want our professional life to be, and then perform every task laid in front of us that day as efficiently as possible, the achievement of that ideal life is guaranteed.
Don’t believe it? I’ve lived it and personally seen hundreds of others do the same. Get yourself started by writing the answers to these questions.
- What would you like your ideal professional life to look like?
- Why is that important?
- Describe what having that ideal life feels like.
This is worth it, I promise.
Be your best, and remember…
Mindset is everything!
PJ
{ 0 comments… add one now }