Work Happier Not Harder

How many hours do you expect to work over the course of your lifetime? On average, Americans will spend more than 90,000 hours at work! The question is, what will be the quality of those hours? Will they be spent in frustration, disappointment and regret? Or will they be spent in making meaningful contributions, forging close relationships and achieving goals? Smart people know that learning to work happier, not harder, not only decreases the pressure and stress they feel today, but also increases their productivity and satisfaction at work, both now and in the future. Smart people know that at the heart of working happier is striking a work-life balance that reflects their goals, values and gifts.

Aim for the future

Earl Nightingale, founder of Nightingale Conant Audio Company and a pioneer in the personal development industry, once said, “People with goals succeed because they know where they are going…. It’s as simple as that.” It’s hard to find a business, self-help or spiritual book today that doesn’t discuss the importance and power of setting goals. But as effective as goal-setting is, in reality we still spend more time planning a dinner party than we do planning our work and life goals. Smart people know that while achieving goals has its own challenges, setting effective goals is the place to start.

Write your goals down

According to Lee Iacocca, the former chairman of GM, “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” For many people, the simple act of putting pen to paper and articulating goals is enough to spur action. Writing your goals down provides you with a point of reference for the future, gives your subconscious mind a project to work on and increases the odds you’ll actually reach your goal. Goals that you don’t write down may be good ideas, but they often fail to move from your mind to the real world. Unfortunately, a poll by ehappylife.com in 2003 found that only 25 percent of people put their goals in writing.

Accentuate the positive

Goals that are stated as a positive step in the direction of something you want are more effective than those that focus on what you want to avoid or remove. For example, Beth Tabakin, a therapist specializing in weight management, asks her clients to set a goal for what they want to weigh (“I want to weigh 125 pounds by January 1”), rather than a goal for the weight they want to lose (“I want to lose 20 pounds by January 1”). By focusing on the constructive aspect of the goal, you provide your subconscious mind with a positive pathway to follow. Dr. Tabakin also encourages her clients to change the way they talk about their progress. Instead of saying, “I lost a pound this week,” which suggests you might find the pound again sometime in the future, Dr. Tabakin suggests rephrasing this into: “I got rid of a pound this week.” These changes in language are deceptively simple but can have a powerful impact on achieving goals.

Go for goals that stretch you

There’s an old proverb that goes something like this: You don’t teach a six-foot man to swim by putting him in water 10-feet deep because he’ll just drown. If you put the same man in seven feet of water, he’ll become a better swimmer. Goals that are achievable but just a little bit bigger than those we’ve achieved previously stretch us to go beyond our comfort zone.

Steve and the black t-shirt

One of our friends is a chiropractor and an avid runner. For the past 21 years, he’s competed in an annual cross-country foot race in Northern California. In all the years he’d run the race, his best finish was 65th when he was 36 years old. At age 54, Steve set a goal to run the race and win a coveted black t-shirt, awarded to the first 35 runners to reach the finish line. “This race has really captured my heart. I love the ups and downs of the course, and I have no fear of falling,” says Steve. “I always wanted to be among the winners, and it’s a race that favors my body type and my willingness to take risks. I thought the goal of coming in 35th or better was a stretch—but doable.”

To achieve his goal, Steve trained for a year, running about 50 miles a week—33 percent more miles than his usual running practice. On the day of the race, many of Steve’s friends and family were stationed along the course to cheer him on and provide moral support.

Fifteen hundred people started out at the beginning of the race. At the finish line, Steve came in 40th—five shy of his goal but 25 better than his best previous race. He came in only 20 seconds behind the 35th person. After the race, he wrote a letter to all of his friends and family. “I want you to know,” wrote Steve, “that I suffered no disappointment whatsoever. It may be difficult to believe, but it’s true. I chased one of my demons for almost a year, an unfulfilled childhood dream of athletic brilliance and heroic effort. Sunday’s performance was heroic. On that day I could not have done more. It was my greatest athletic moment ever, and its effect plays on all the levels of my being. It will be with me forever.”

Make your goals specific

What you can measure, you can manage. When setting goals, it’s important to identify both a clearly defined outcome and a specific timeline so you know both when you’ve achieved the goal and how you’re doing along the way. For example, let’s say your goal is to improve your time management skills at work. Not a bad idea but how will you know you’ve achieved it if you haven’t attached any specific criteria to the goal? And when are you planning to do this? Now, next week or next year? Compare this with the goal to improve your time management skills by practicing time-planning every day and doing a daily to-do and priority list. See the difference? The first goal is general, undefined and passive. The second goal is stated in a way that shouts out for action.  

Many people resist specific goals because they fear being stuck with what they created. Keep in mind you can change or adjust your goals—and that doing so doesn’t represent a failure. Goals should be organic, living creations rather than stagnant entities. As you progress toward a particular goal, the circumstances surrounding it may change. Making appropriate adjustments to its timeline and specific aspects can be a critical factor in its successful accomplishment.

Create goals for all areas of life

Whether short-term or long-term, unusual or mundane, easy or challenging, smart people know that setting goals in different areas of life helps to ensure a healthy balance of interests and achievements. To get your goal-setting muscles in motion, use the following categories for inspiration. Brainstorm some goals you would like to create by writing down anything that comes to mind. Don’t edit yourself when writing—often you can discover important yet hidden dreams by giving your mind full creative reign. After you’ve finished writing, you can then edit out anything that isn’t realistic.

• Health and Fitness
• Nutrition, exercise, weight, medical
• Family and Relationships
• Marriage, dating, family, friendships
• Financial
• Personal finances, income, investment, paying off debts,budgeting, charity, real estate
• Creativity
• Art, music, writing, dance, acting, singing, performing
• Career
• Job promotion, getting hired, entrepreneurial activities
• Sports and Recreation
• Boating, golfing, tennis, hiking biking, running, vacations
• Personal Development
• Education, spirituality, therapy, self-awareness, time management, organization
• Home Improvement
• Remodeling, refinancing, garden

A poll conducted in 2004 by The Center for a New American Dream revealed that a staggering 93 percent of those surveyed felt Americans focus too much on working and making money and not enough on family and community. In this same survey, when asked what phrase best describes the American Dream, 86 percent chose the phrase “getting more of what matters in life” over “more is better.”
Your goals reflect the things that matter most in your life. Regularly reviewing and renewing your commitment to them throughout the year can both help you withstand the day-to-day pressures of life and help you create meaningful contexts for whatever is going on around you.

This article was excerpted from the book Watercooler Wisdom: How Smart People Prosper in the Face of Conflict, Pressure and Change.  
You can contact Karen Leland and Keith Bailey at www.scgtraining.com.