Have you ever been at work uninspired, disengaged, and bored? Time creeps by one agonizing second at a time. Many years ago before I was a keynote speaker, I was in my cubicle at work and started to yawn. Thinking it was almost lunch and lacking any motivation, I glanced at my watch. 9:17 AM. What?! It felt like I had been sitting in my little felt box for at least five hours. Ugh.
A recent Gallup poll found that only about 30% of U.S. workers and 13% worldwide are engaged in their jobs. What are the rest of the 70 to 87 percent of workers doing — staring at their laptops searching for the next disengaging job?
So here is what to do if you find yourself in this situation — whether you “manage” yourself, lead a team of two to 200, or run a multi-million/billion dollar company:
Step 1. Stop feeling sorry for yourself: If you look for 10 ways to NOT be successful, you’ll find 1,000. Want to blame others for your poor salary, overwhelming workload, and incredibly difficult clients/spouse/kids? Ok, but it still won’t transform your business leadership or personal situation. Instead, make a great decision to embrace the second agreement from Don Miguel Ruiz's bestselling book, The Four Agreements: “Don’t take anything personally.” Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.”
Step 2. Start taking responsibility for what you want personally & professionally: Once you DECIDE to stop being a victim and to start looking for ways to succeed, you’ll find them. Lots of them. Want a higher salary and/or better communication with your boss/staff/clients/colleagues/spouse/kids? Want to have more time to spend with your newborn or toddler? (I have a 3.5 year old by the way. And I also want to spend every moment with her while growing my business and enjoying my professional life.) For this, I am reminded of Mr. Ruiz’s third agreement from his bestseller, “Don’t make assumptions.” Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.”
Step 3. Get into RELEVANT action. Immediately: Done is better than perfect. Don’t worry about “how” you’re going to achieve your goal — just make a powerful DECISION about what you want and by when. Then — and I don’t care where you are, what time it is, or who you’re with — take the next 30 minutes to complete one relevant task that will move you closer to achieving your goal. For example, say you decide you want to increase your salary by 20% in six-months. One relevant action step is to immediately schedule a meeting with your boss for the next day to discuss how the benefits YOU are going to create for the company will easily pay for your 20% raise in six-months. (Don’t expect to march into your boss’s office demanding a 20% raise. You must go in armed with ideas on how you can be responsible for creating your own raise.)
If you need ideas on how to re-engage your team, corporate culture, or simply re-engage yourself at work, post a comment below or hit me up on Twitter @mpveltri and I’ll be sure to get back to you. And for more ideas on how to make better decisions in business and life, stay motivated and engaged at work, and reach a level of peak performance with balance, not burnout, please visit my website at https://michaelveltri.com/keynote-speaker.