Over-doing it...Again

I know, far too well, what it is to "overdo it."

I have known for a while. No, I don't over-eat. I don't over-drink. I'm not an exercise fanatic or a health food nut. I am not OCD (at least, not by all accounts), so I am not necessarily a control freak (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!).

Let me qualify what I stated earlier: Around Thanksgiving, I always over-eat. Sometimes when I'm doing my eyebrows, I do over-pluck them (that really is something that is such a "bad" thing to do...). But, on a more serious note, from time to time, I must admit to being a bit of a workaholic. Only at certain points, though. And this can be one of the deadliest vices a person can have: A situation where he or she fails to pace one's self, and create a kind of balance in one's life whereby he or she can go to sleep without having literal "jitters" from being so "wired" and tired. I know this feeling. And I know the onset of this trend (as I originally stated, I have been a repeat offender).

It starts with the long hours at work for more than one week, even though you still take the work home with the intention of doing still more work there. It's just "one more thing" that needs to be done. But it is never just one more thing. The To Do list never gets completed, and you begin to recognize this, much to your chagrin. And, here's where it gets evident that you're not disengaging from the day's task: even when you take the work home, you don't touch it until you get back at the job the next day. Ladies and gentlemen, that is a sign - a "saving grace," if you will - that you need to re-evaluate what you're doing and how you're viewing yourself and your role.

You MUST build recreation time into your busy schedule. You MUST be able to take time to eat lunch, sometimes all by yourself, if your job requires you to do the obligatory "face time" thing, more times than not. You MUST be able to leave the work on the desk sometimes -- even when there are "too many people depending on you" because you are in a "you-just-don't-know-the responsibilities-I-hold" kind of position. Stress kills and maims far too many for this not to be true. But it doesn't have to claim you. And you know I'm right.

One of the difficult things about being really good about what you do is knowing when to turn off the gift, so to speak. You hear about CEOs of extremely successful corporations suffering from being workaholics all of the time. As well as really good teachers (overworked and underpaid), and those that work behind the scenes making things happen (makeup artists, movie directors, detectives, political activists, etc). Because we understand that we make the world go round. If we were not in place, where, in the world, would all of us be?

The answer: Exactly where we will be when you and I are no longer on this earth (i.e., we go the way of the earth, as we all must). I think that at some point one can become tied up in a web of creating a kind of competition with one's own reputation (when they know they occupy a position in a certain class of few elite), often setting up our own expectations against near-impossible standards: of our own making. Don't let this happen to you.

Keep your career in perspective: it is only one portion of who you are. It represents only a part of what you do. Your character, how you impact the people you know, like family, friends, neighbors, church family, etc, is far more important. The process (Life) is more important than the product (any individual tasks and activities you can come up with) - a variation on the mantra that "the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts." Let this precept guide you in how you approach your work, and life, in general, and you will find the time you've been looking for to relax. Because you will appreciate that you are no good to anyone "dead." And that you do "need to get a life" -- and you can.

In the end, what makes you "good" is your set of experiences. But some of the best training, the sources of the best ideas, happen outside of the work environment. We hear about finding a niche and working it, but embrace diversity in your life. In academia, a liberal arts education is still considered valuable in helping to prepare (academically) the well-rounded citizen, not because it is necessarily an overly-specialized or "superior" education. But because it provides a global view, of all aspects of life. You, too, must embrace opportunities to do something different. Something fun, even. Even as diversity of activity will help you do your job better, it will also enhance how you relate to your loved ones, family and friends better. Most importantly, it will help you learn to not take yourself (as narrowly-defined by your job) too seriously. The job will be there when you get back in the office.

So take some time for you: because you can't afford not to. And: You will be glad that you did. 
 

The Hardest Part About Being 'Good'

Hi, again!

Today's topic is one of my all time favorites: How to be really 'good' at what you do. Now, I know what you're thinking: Well, this is a stupid topic. I mean, everyone knows you have to prepare yourself, be it educationally, or else by obtaining the proper professional training, or by aligning yourself with a really great mentor who will at least tolerate your presence as you glean from him or her as they go about their glorious careers, making others' efforts appear to be nothing more than ant-like activity in comparison.

But that's not what I mean. I happen to believe that more people have the capability to be 'good' at things than most people even know of themselves. The key here is that laziness can nullify capacity. You may be brilliant: but if you don't do anything that demonstrates that brilliance, then you really don't know whether or not that suspicion of greatness was correct. Likewise, many who have thought themselves to be lacking of any real talent (take Albert Einstein, for instance), have gone on to change the world through their raw tenacity.

And this is where I come to a very important point about how one can be really 'good' at what one dones (career-wise): Even if you do something relatively well, the challenge is not to do it the first time, or even the second time. The challenge that presents itself to the doer is the follow-through. Often one will find that the most difficult part, the most tenuous aspect of doing anything that one aspires to set themselves apart by doing well, is sustaining that same level of performance, even as the challenges become greater and more frequent, and as temptation to slack off or relax the level of attention increases.

A word of caution is in order, here: Do not give in to it. What makes one 'good' at something is just that: the ability to do a thing with a consistency about their work, and an ability to adapt to a variety of external stimuli without compromising the quality of your product. To the extent that you are able to do this relatively well, you have succeeded. If not, maybe what you think is your strong suit is nothing more than something that you are, simply, 'proficient' at doing...Not my intention to burst anyone's bubble but one cannot ignore the fact that there may be some things that you do that are "forgettable" while other things may prove to become signature moments for you - no matter how much more time you spent doing that "forgettable" (but important) task! Using this as a rough and dirty assessment tool (or rather, measuring stick), one could call this a person's natural talent. One thing is certain: It is obviously an activity that distinguishes one person's from another's efforts. If it's worth doing, you will find yourself compelled to do 'good' at what you're doing even when you're tired. Something in you will know how to detecting the errors - even through red, blood-shot eyes that are so glossed over from fatigue they are barely open. And the end result, my friend, the end result -- whether it is a masterpiece painting, or an architectural drawing that truly pushes design limits, or a meal or pastry that is simply incredible -- it speaks for itself. Because you, as the conduit for its being, have given it Life. That's when you know you are 'good' at doing something. You don't need to brag about it (first off, because you know the story behind it would be utterly embarassing, most of the time!); you just master the task, and, as the saying goes, "walk in your gift..."  It will open doors for you -- if you dare to follow the path it leads you by...

Who knows: Perhaps your greatness beckons. Check yourself, and see what you are truly 'good' at.