The Overlooked Secret for Work Satisfaction

November 27, 2023Leave a comment

What drives people to do their best work every day? Is it a big paycheck? How about impressive benefits? Perhaps it is awards and other types of recognition? While all that is nice, none of these factors is the most important to a sense of meaningful work.

In fact, the secret to workplace satisfaction costs nothing.

It is simply a sense of progress.

There is an ancient Greek myth about a cruel king named Sisyphus, a mortal cursed by Hades to roll a boulder up a hill for all eternity. The catch was that just before he reached the top, the boulder would slip from his grasp and roll back to the bottom, forcing him to start over. For too many people their workday is Sisyphean in that they put in hours of effort with no sense of progress to claim for it.

According to Teresa M. Amabile, and Steven J. Kramer, authors of The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, the best way to find satisfaction at work is to have a sense of daily, meaningful progress. In their surveys of workers, they found that 76% of people’s best days involved progress, while only 13% involved setbacks. As they summed up:

“Of all the positive events that influence inner work life, the single most important is progress in meaningful work.”

What was more surprising to them was how little management understood and appreciated this fact. According to their surveys, a sense of progress was dead last in a list of possible motivating factors. This demonstrates a strong disconnect between perceived and actual reality. On the positive side, it means that managers who pay attention to workflow, clear barriers and set out clear goals will help their employees feel more successful and fulfilled.

A sense of progress is important to authors. There is an old adage that authors succeed by writing something every day. Even if the work they produce is ultimately not used, the dynamic of forward progress in the task of writing is essential to eventually finishing that novel or long essay.

To learn more about how a sense of progress can improve your everyday work, read The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work.

How to Tell What Kind of Procrastinator You Are

October 29, 2023Leave a comment

You do it. Your work colleagues do it. I did it before starting this post. What is it?

Procrastination!

Throughout the day, we all experience that lack of desire to move forward on projects or tasks. Yet, the question is why does this happen? According to journalist Lindsey Ellefson, writing in Life Hacker, procrastination comes in at least six different flavors. In her recent article, she highlights each one, starting with perfectionism:

The perfectionist. You’re worried that your work might not meet a high expectation, so you don’t finish your work or, in some cases, don’t even start it at all.

For each of the six types of procrastination, Ellefson offers a possible solution. For example, with perfectionism:

If you’re the perfectionist, remind yourself that it’s your own personal standards that are stressing you, not necessarily the work itself, and you can do the work by setting realistic, incremental goals before getting started. I struggle with this one, and a tactic that helps me is working out what the absolute worst possible outcome might be if I don’t do well on a task. Even if I get a zero on a test, what will it do to my overall grade? When I think realistically about how I’m almost certainly going to get way higher than a zero—but even if I didn’t I’d be okay—I feel better, and get to work.

To discover the other five types of procrastination, please read the rest of the article. Of course, you could always put off doing this for later …

Thoughts on Management: Improving Meetings and Communication

October 24, 20231 Comment

Adapted from my presentation to the Library Journal Management Training group on Oct. 24, 2023.

No organization can succeed without effective management. Grand strategic plans and lofty visions mean nothing without dedicated middle managers mobilizing the boots on the ground to turn these dreams into reality.

For six years I was a branch manager in the Palm Beach County Library System. Those years were some of the most enjoyable, challenging, and growth inducing I have faced as a professional. During that time, I honed skills and sought understanding of how to make my role more effective not only carry out the library’s mission, but also to support my branch staff in the process. During this time, I discovered that there are many factors that impact managers. Some of the most important ones are running productive meetings, handling change, and practicing effective communication.

While middle managers are often derided, such as famously on the TV show The Office, for many people they are wonderful positions. A middle manager in libraries is often in a sweet spot where they are close enough to the front lines to see the direct impact of the service, while also far enough back to get perspective and be part of broader system-wide projects. The key tension for managers is handling the responsibilities that flow to them from both above and below. Managers need to ensure that the front-line work is done effectively by offering support and guidance to their staff. At the same time, they must interpret policy and directives coming from administration and communicate those effectively to their team.

Read the rest of the article on the Efficient Librarian web site.

Marie Kondo’s Top Five Productivity Tips

October 9, 2023Leave a comment

It is easy to find top 10 lists online with suggestions about productivity. Most of them offer similar advice, such as to tune out distractions or focus on one th i ng at a time. Marie Kondo, founder of the Konmari Method, recently shared her top five productivity tips. However, they featured items not normally found on the common lists.

For instance, her first tip focuses on the power of morning rituals.

I usually wake up around 6am with my children. When I get up, I open all the windows to let fresh air in and then burn incense. I strive to keep my home comfortable and filled with clear energy throughout the day, so starting my morning with these rituals keeps me on track.

Another tip that I found useful was about the importance of coordinating with your partner.

Sharing and discussing to-do lists is a productive habit for partners. When we got married, my husband and I wrote out every household chore in a shared spreadsheet. When I finished a task, I would put a check next to it – and when my husband noticed it, he would send a simple thank you note (and vice versa). This process helped us realize the number of tasks necessary to live comfortably together, and what kinds of tasks are best suited for each person.

Read the other three tips on the Konmari website.

Six Things That Drive a Sense of Purpose

October 2, 2023Leave a comment

For any organization to be successful, solid leadership is a key component. There are many factors that create a great leader, but one vital piece is a sense of purpose. That alone can be the difference between an average leader and a leader who truly inspires.

In an article titled, Purpose in L e adership: Why & How, on the Center for Creative Leadership web site, authors Stephanie Wormington and Paige Graham describe what they mean by purpose-based leadership:

Purpose-driven leadership means helping employees find personal meaning in their work and fostering a deeply committed workforce that thrives on shared goals and aspirations. Purpose-driven leaders model value-based decision-making, take time to learn what truly matters to their employees, connect work to a greater objective, and help employees understand their organization’s mission and find ways to personally connect to it.

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

The authors proceed to identify six specific items that drive the sense of purpose. Purposeful leaders help their followers experience the following in their work:

Utility: Work is practically relevant to our goals and aspirations, either now or in the future.
Personal Development: Work facilitates opportunities for self-growth, developing either skillsets or mindsets in personally meaningful ways.
Impact: Work empowers us to make a tangible and positive difference in the world, contributing to the greater good of society, our communities, or those close to us.
Identity Reinforcement: Work reinforces our sense of self, aligning with the core elements of who we are.
Intrinsic Interest: Work is inherently fun and energizing, offering enjoyable experiences that naturally appeal to our interests.
External Rewards: Work leads to a desirable payoff, from a paycheck to a promotion.

Read the rest of the article to learn the two specific ways to cultivate greater purpose in your leadership.

The Three C’s of Courage

September 17, 2023Leave a comment

In order to accomplish great things, one must be able to withstand adversity. While some problems are overcome through ingenuity or knowledge or training, oftentimes what will get someone to the goal is a strong dose of courage. The question is, how does one develop courage?

Speaker and author Kris McGuigan believes that courage is created through a combination of three “C’s”, Clarity, Conviction, and Consistency. In her book, The Requisite Courage, she describes each of the three “C’s” in depth.

The path to courage starts with clarity. As Kris shares in Chapter 3 of her book:

The source of courage comes from within. This is well known. But the lesser-known detail is that it literally comes from who you are. Inner strength comes from having clarity around who you are and what you want. Encourage a new path to your why to crystalize and focus your energy on that which feeds your mission. You have to gain clarity in order to gain momentum towards your next objective – even when that goal is to simply identify what the next goal post should be.

McGuigan goes on to describe conviction and consistency and how when they are combined together leads to fearless execution. Learn more about Kris and her book by visiting her website.

The Last-Minute Mindset

September 10, 2023Leave a comment

Do you only work when a deadline is right in your face? For example, if there is two weeks until the work needs to be completed, do you wait until the final 24 hours to start. For the determined procrastinator it often takes an outside factor to get work done. It begs the question, why do they let this happen?

In an article from Stylist magazine, Katie Rosseinsky explores the procrastinator’s mindset to learn why they behave the way they do and how they can improve. The question is important as it relates to her own experience.

My last-minute mindset is something I’m well aware of, and yet whenever I’m presented with a deadline, I follow the same pattern: put the work off for as long as humanly possible, then cram it all into a condensed, chaotic period of ’productivity’, which often involves working late into the evening. Even if I make time, say, in the week coming up to the cut-off point to focus on getting this task done, I inevitably waste it.

Proving she is not alone; she then points out the wide-spread reality of the procrastinator mindset.

A 2007 study published in Psychological Bulletin found that 15-20% of people chronically procrastinate, with 25% describing this as their dominant personality trait. And it doesn’t have to be confined to a work context; as Christmas approaches, many of us will once again come face to face with our last-minute tendencies when we end up doing all of our present shopping in a panicked 24th December dash.

For the rest of the article, Rosseinsky proceeds to explore why how this mindset works before sharing a few ways to avoid the temptation to wait until the last minute, such as:

So, how can hardened last-minute scramblers find a way to break out of this cycle, and is there any way of turning these tendencies into a positive? In the short term, Dignan suggests trying out the ‘two-minute strategy’. “If you can do something in two minutes, you’ve got to do it now.” Another tactic she often recommends to clients involves the humble egg-timer.

To learn more, please read the rest of Rosseinsky’s article.

Getting Stuff Out of Your Head

September 4, 2023Leave a comment

Think for a moment – right now, is there something important that needs to be done for which the only reminder is in your head?

For most people relying on memory is the default way to keep track of all the things they need to do. This includes remembering deadlines, commitments, obligations, or simply keeping track of fun stuff to do someday. The problem is that our minds are a poor tool for this job. In fact, David Allen, founder of GTD, often says that our heads are “crappy office spaces.”

Consider how easy it is to forget something. In the morning you open the refrigerator and discover there are no eggs. After making a mental note to drop by the store on the way home you head off to work. After a busy day on the job, hitting the grocery store is long forgotten. The next morning you are once more reminded of the lack of eggs at breakfast and are forced to make yet another sketchy promise to hit the store on the way home.

According to GTD, the best way to remember something is to place it in a trusted system outside of the head. On a practical level, that means as soon as something comes to mind it is immediately written down on paper or placed into electronic storage. So long as the reminders are kept in a place that you frequently return to, these items will never be lost.

What are the best ways to get stuff out of your head quickly? Below are common options:

Use your phone’s reminder app
Have a note pad on your desk or counter top along with fresh pens
Enable a digital voice assistant, like Alexa, to capture voice reminders
Use sticky notes to post reminders in prominent places

For electronic reminder systems, consider setting a day/time reminder that pops up at the right time. For example, a reminder set for arrival at the office can be helpful to knock out an item right away. Or a reminder that pops up before leaving work will ensure eggs are picked up on the way home. By offloading memorization, stress levels will drop as efficiency increases.

No matter the method, constantly get stuff out of your head and into a trusted system. You will be glad you did.

Systems vs Flexibility

August 13, 2023Leave a comment

One of the keys to productivity is to create efficient systems. Whenever you run a process automatically it will be faster and more reliable, especially if a human does not have to be involved. However, are there times when reliance on systems can be to our detriment?

Darious Foroux explored this problem in a piece called Systems vs Flexibility: Why Rigidity is the Enemy of Modern Success. In the post, he first acknowledges the usefulness of systems. Then he points out that it is problematic to rely too much on them.

The problem with systems is that you risk binding yourself to your system. After all, it’s what you control. And if you’re a control freak, you can go nuts about your system.

You’ll try to optimize every single aspect. So maybe you started off trying to get a raise; created a system and started executing.

But maybe your life changes or the economy changes and you shouldn’t be executing that system. You might need a new goal in your life. Or a new system. Probably both.

Later on, Foroux explores the notion of flexibility and how it can overcome the problems inherent in systems.

The more rigid you are, the more you risk breaking things. That’s true for your career, relationships, body, and mental health.

I’ve always been a flexible thinker. I have zero attachment to ideas and beliefs. That’s because I’m a pragmatist at heart. I wrote about my personal philosophy in my book, Think Straight.

This strategy has generally made me flexible. I’m never afraid to make a change.

But I still get stuck inside my systems, whether it’s for work or in my personal life. If you can relate to this, I recommend taking a step back from your existing systems, routines, or habits occasionally.

See it as a way to improve your flexibility and lower your rigidity.

Read the entire piece on Foroux’s web site.

Efficient Librarian

Exploring the Intersection of Efficiency and Librarianship

Category: Success Thinking