Four easy tips to excel at work

Most of you reading this might be part of a formal organization, and there are times when you feel like the proverbial 'cog-in-the-wheel'. And for good reason, most organizations have thousands of employees and it is fairly easy to get swallowed up by the mass of people and just be one more employee. 

But there is a lot you can do to change that and get noticed for the right reasons. I have counseled and coached a lot of mid-level managers who were frustrated with their bosses not recognizing their hard work or the organization just not acknowledging their value. 

All of us might have experiences getting entangled in the day-to-day controversies and politics of our team and really missing out on the big picture. It's easy to make daily irritants at office your life. This is not just a bad strategy at work, but also personally self-defeating. Instead, ignore people who annoy you and invest time in studying your department/function and seeing things from 30,000 feet - like your super boss might. Try looking at the big picture of what are the key roles of your department and its place in the larger organization. For example, I am an HR/OB person, so how does my work assist the learning capability of the organization is a good question for me to think about. You will be amazed that you can recognize value-adding work, get noticed by the bosses, help the most important goals of your department, and really help your customer. 

Second, focus on your self-development. No matter what the nature of your job might be, there is always a certification you can earn, do a short-term course, or join a distance learning program. No study is ever wasted, or so is my belief. Learning can become a powerful weapon in your career progress if you target it on your current career path. In essence, make strategic learning decisions. What that means is, if you wish to become the next general manager or vice president at work, then learn about things that will help you get to that position faster or make you the ideal candidate for the next promotion. Learn things that will help you make your job description richer and more rewarding.

Third, participate in the world outside your organization. A lot of us are so involved and exhausted in our current jobs that all effort goes in going to office and coming back home. Has it ever occurred to you that your exhaustion is not just physical, it is primarily - mental exhaustion. Nothing is more tiring than a routine life that begins and ends in office. So, make the time to step outside the office. Join a management group or an association that talks about your kind of work. Another great way to participate in the outside world it so attend training seminars and conferences both as a participant or a speaker. You will be surprised how easy it to take these steps once you make the first move. So try it. 

Fourth and last, don't lose touch with your hobbies. It took me years to get back to my hobbies once I got lost in my world of work. But now that I am back into doing what I love to do in my free time, I find more energy and time to do my real job well. So go back to your hobbies, even if for fifteen minutes in a day. But let those fifteen minutes be just for yourself - indulging in what makes you happy and energetic. 

I hope some of these tips will help your excel at work and rise above the ordinary.

Five Success Rules Reinvented - 4. Be more than your job

BE MORE THAN YOUR JOB: Honestly, it is a bit boring to go to office every single day and 'just do your job'. One of the biggest reasons for work frustration and exhaustion is - just doing your job! I know this might surprise you because a lot of us are proud of doing our jobs. Nothing wrong with it, but it's a sure way to stagnate sooner than later. You see, a job description is merely a guiding document. Our real success and value is when we go beyond the obvious responsibilities of our work, and do the unexpected, the unasked, and the unthinkable.

Some might consider this overstepping the line, or treading on other people's toes. Well, we can all use our common sense and differentiate between being inventive and interfering. In fact, I speak from personal experience on this - no organization in its right mind will stop you from being creative, passionate, and unique about what you do. And when we enter that zone of heightened awareness around our basic role, we go much beyond our job and become a supremely valuable part of our team, of our organization, and our customers.

Here are five tips to go beyond your job, I hope will help you:

1. Scan your work/ team environment for new opportunities. At times, you will be surprised that just asking for work you are passionate about might take you to the next level. Many of us don't ask for the fear of being refused. Ask this time.

2. Make a document with three sub-heads. Your biggest strengths, your core competence, and a new responsibility you want to take up. Ponder on this document, talk to someone you trust, until a spark ignites about how you can go beyond your job.

3. Take your focus away from the traditional - I am here to do my job - and shift it to the new - I am here to add value to my team and my customers, I am part of the future of this organization. You will be amazed at how you will begin looking at your work differently.

4. Ask for guidance and help. At times, all we need is a nudge in the right direction. Prepare some good questions and have a discussion with your boss or mentor at work about how you can use your potential better at work.

5. It helps to remember that we are leaders at work. Don't wait for a designation or announcement to make you feel like one. You lead your life either to your aspirations or your frustrations. You are in-charge of your value at work. Get valuable.

When I went beyond my job: Many years ago, I stumbled on this bit of wisdom by accident. I had co-founded a training agency in 2000, and went looking for clients. As I had meetings with my potential customers, I offered value-added services like a newsletter, free follow-up training sessions, and customization of programs for each client. This also meant more ground work for me, but this spirit of going beyond my job is what made my business a success, and got me respect as a trainer. That was one of my biggest learnings. So, I suggest, let's be more than our job, before we expect to get more than our salary.

The secret to being successful

It's confounding, confusing, and complicated to succeed. If we watch too much reality TV, that is.

Success is not just exciting and enriching - it is surprisingly within reach and logical. In fact, you might be hard-pressed to fail if you realized the secrets of it. In my experience with failing miserably and succeeding spectacularly by turns, I have reached some enlightening secrets to success. Here goes.

Some years ago, after falling into the rut of my work, and doing things that even I found uninspiring, it dawned on me. I had been focusing on the wrong things. My job could never make me successful. Nor could the best organization or boss in the world. I had to make me successful.

‘Job description’ sounds like a boring thing. It is boring. Think about this. Succeeding on goals decided for us by others is self-defeating and contradictory. And what’s on paper, generally fails the reality test. Real success is driven from the inside. Here's the first success fact. We need to align our strengths and talents to our broader role at work.  Once you’ve done that mapping, coming up with creative and brand new ways to expand your usefulness within the role is much faster and easier. Just think up of something no one around you is doing or might even be capable of, but that is the need of the customers and the organization. Everyone will sit up and listen. Trust me.

The other fact about success. Let’s quit blaming our job, organization, and boss. These can contribute to our failure, but are generally not responsible for our success. Success is internal and inside-out. Those on the outside can’t make you succeed even if they wanted to. They can inspire, but only you can crack the final piece. You absolutely need to know what you want to succeed with, when, how, and to what extent – these are fundamental to success. Awareness leads to grand success.

The next fact about success is this. Don’t sign up for someone else’s idea of what will make you successful. It is never wise to repose too much faith in others to rise above our limitations. If we are lucky, we find that one great person to support us. But even that wise person does not know the secrets of our soul. Our inner voice speaks only to us - by design. Superbly successful people listen to everyone’s content, but listen to themselves with absolute intent.

And the last fact about success. Success requires intelligence, but not the kind that is measured by IQ tests. It needs a twist! No matter how experienced, talented, intelligent, or educated you might be – above all - you need to be original. Honestly, succeeding is not hard. There is very little to mess up unless we are unaware of our unique strengths, and that which we do with an individual flair. No one can duplicate that. And that kind of uniqueness brings heaps of success. Remember the law of scarcity - what people can't do or have is what they value and want.

I strongly believe that the road to success is quite clear and easy to spot. You only get lost when your path is leading to goals not suited to you.

The brilliance of doing nothing...

Nothingness taught me to trust my deepest instincts. And this is how it all began. The year was 2009 and I decided to resign from my job. I don't know how sky diving or bungee jumping feels because I haven't done either. But when I quit my job, the free fall felt similar - only it seemed to last for some months. Surprisingly, in a good way. More like.....the thrill of doing something forbidden and enjoying every moment.

But quit I did. And how.

My husband and I spent a longish time living up in the mountains in India, doing things that appealed to us. I had no job, no plan for my career, and no remorse for being utterly unemployed. The results were nothing short of dramatic. Amazingly....I never missed my workplace (though they were fantastic to me), and neither did I have any withdrawal pangs of not buzzing along with a busy city. And I am a city girl.

Of course, it helped that I didn't wake up to go anywhere, the doorbell rang rarely, I stopped checking my mails compulsively, ate on time and ate healthy, and talked for long hours with those who really mattered in my life.

Being a free floating, unemployed soul went straight to my heart and gave it new life. Thoughts and ideas and bursts of creativity hit like never before. I wondered what part of me was happy with my daily grind all those years? Not that I waited for an answer...there was so much else to think and talk about.

To my absolute surprise my first book, Corporate Nirvana, flowed out of me after my brush with absolute freedom in that phase. It wasn't my plan to write or become an author. Ever. But I did begin writing, and it took shape one day at a time. 

The deliciousness of doing nothing is a gift. Being terribly busy is not necessarily the mark of a successful person. Success is a deeper idea. When we meaningfully and happily suspend ourselves to flow with the current of life - tremendous things happen. We find some part of our true selves, detect our destinies, discover our motivations, ponder on our purpose, master our impulses, and realize what truly matters.

The mind and spirit have all the answers. Only.....it takes doing nothing to listen to their voice.

How not to get frustrated at work...

Our boss is not the worst person we ever worked for and neither is our client as cut-throat as we imagine. Most of all we are responsible for our bad health and unhappiness at work.We deceive ourselves when we say things like, 'that's how my industry works, I can't help it' or 'everyone around me is going through the same thing', or better still, 'I guess that's the price one pays to earn big bucks in tough competition.' WRONG.

Just a few days back, one of my good friends vented about their bad work schedules. The person was disillusioned, disappointed, and tired of their work life though they loved their job content.Here are a few things that might prove useful. Do take some time out to think about your own work situation.

What makes us frustrated? 

- Unable to get proper rest
- Eating quick meals or junk food
- Not able to spend time with family
- Killing ones hobbies
- Not able to socialize with friends
- Coming home too tired to even think

After getting burnt much more than once, I devised my own plan for what I call....'Healthy Work Ethic'.

Healthy Work Ethic

1. Understand the limits of your own body and health status. Knowing what you are capable of and your own physical limits seriously helps in deciding  your work priorities. You will be at peace refusing some kinds of work even if it means you might miss out on a few rewards.

2. It is all very well to say work and life should be the same, and yet when one spills over into the other it causes such disruption. Why not make a list of things that you really value in your personal life outside your work. Keep this list where you can see it everyday.

3. Make an effort to pursue your hobbies that made you happy in the past. I used to paint before I got into a job. Then I forgot about it for years. Suddenly, I realized what a joy it was to paint, and I began again. It helped me greatly in restoring my balance.

4. Balance out need and greed. If we get greedy instead of being ambitious we lose our way in the maze of the professional world. How much is too much? I discovered that being contented is good, it gives me perspective.

5. Create a social circle away from your office folks. Don't let your friend circle begin and end at work. Instead, find a club or a social cause or a professional group like Rotary that gives you an out when it comes to socializing. It can make a huge difference to our happiness.

6. Don't wait for someone to say how hard you work and they appreciate it. It is seriously frustrating for anyone to not hear that for long periods. Draw the line yourself. Know that you are doing your best and you need to look out for your health as well.

7. Know your non-negotiables. What are those top few things that you will not give up on no matter what. Think hard about this list. It makes all the difference. In fact, saying no becomes less tough once you know your reasons for declining work or opportunities.

Hope this helps, and do let me know if any of this works for you. :-)

Don't sell yourself short...

I am especially inspired to write this one because it's not often that anyone tells us to do otherwise. That is, sit us down and warn us about the danger of selling ourselves short.

On the contrary, most people settle for less thinking that things will get better once they buy into the initial idea. No, things don't get better, they get worse (and if you don't do something today, they might stay that way). Maureen Dowd put it brilliantly, "The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for!"

Look around in your life - your workplace - your friends - your bank balance - your health - and ask yourself.....have you settled for less than what you deserve?

When I graduated from my MBA in the late nineties, I didn't come out with a job in hand - it was a downturn of major proportions. I finally found one with a tiny co. that offered me a pittance to work as an HR fresher in their utterly uninspiring work place. I know why I got a sorry job - because I had convinced myself that it was a bad market and all great jobs were taken and no one would pay me what I deserved anyway.

But somewhere....deep down in my heart, a spark of common sense said - why am I doing this to myself? My parents didn't get me this far for nothing. Believe me, but the very next day, I saw an ad in the papers ( my blind eyes finally began seeing opportunities that were worth my while). The new Indian Institute of Management, Indore, needed an Academic Associate in the area of Organizational Behavior. And they were paying a good amount, too. I sat dumbstruck! This was perfect for me. In a matter of weeks, I had got my dream job! I got the job amongst many other candidates because I was so determined to get it. In fact, I worked harder than I can recall for a 15 minute interview. I still have pages full of preparation notes from there.

I think the person offering us something they know we don't deserve can be easily blamed, but we are to be blamed equally if we accept that offer. If you want to be treated fairly or get what you deserve then set the tone, so others know what you expect. There is nothing noble about being silent or hesitate to talk about what's good for you. And we are not just talking about material things here!

All spiritual literature of the world tells us we have an indisputable divine spark within us. And when we settle for less, that spark dies slowly but surely until we do become like everyone else.

Instead, learn to value yourself. We ARE unique in what we are capable of doing. Even if we feel just like others on the surface or the competition seems immense, or the market is bad. There is a special spark if you choose to ignite it and let it be seen by others.

So, start today and find that something exciting and special about you. If you won't -who else will?