Death by Overwork: Motivationally Speaking Its a Zero
The Japanese have a word for death by overwork:
Karoshi. A recent survey said 40 percent of all Japanese
workers fear that they will actually work themselves to
death. Karoshi is not my idea of success. Sure, I talk about
"Never Settling for Success," but that's not a prescription
for becoming an obsessive or a workaholic. That type of
single-mindedness is more likely to lead to burnout than peak
performance. Never settling for success simply means that you
commit to maximum effort within the hours of your life that
you've allotted for pursuing a particular pursuit. And you do
that in spite of the 1001 excruciatingly attractive reasons,
excuses, distractions and temptations that you can find for
doing less. Tip: Focus is a good buzzword. Multi-tasking is a bad
one. Computers multi-task, and usually lose efficiency when
they do. When people do it, it's usually not multi-tasking at
all; it's usually that older cliché, spreading yourself too
thin. Tip: During working hours, consider working. Tip: During non-working hours, consider doing something
else. Now obviously given the realities of life today, there
are likely to be times when you're going to have to work
during what you would like to be non-working hours.
Sometimes. But you'll never fill the glass unless you can
find a way to be comfortable with the amount of your life
you're devoting to the job. Then you make those hours as
productive as possible. "If I worked as much as others," Stephen Wright said,
"I would do as little as they." There's more than a grain of
truth to that statement. Fortunately, as a society we're finally beginning to
realize that chronic overwork is not a badge of honor, it's a
sign that somewhere, something is wrong. Tip: If you find yourself proudly bragging about your
hours or your workload, you're probably putting in more time
than you should. Tip: Intelligent people don't brag about being
overworked. They complain about being overworked. Tip: If you don't have something in your life more
worthy of bragging about, find something. "Working hard has always been a measure of success in
the office," says Alie Hochchild author of The Time Bind.
"Now we've internalized it. So instead of the boss harassing
you to work more, we do it to ourselves." The better the manager, the less time it takes him to
do his job. A good worker takes care of his health and his
sanity, and is as productive as possible during the hours he
is working. An astute company values its people and doesn't
abuse them or any other asset. Yet on consulting assignments, I keep hearing remarks
like, "Around here, if you don't show your face early
mornings, late nights and weekends you're not considered
committed." I've seen low level managers cowering in their
cubicles, pretending to be busy, afraid to leave the office
before their boss leaves: no matter how late it gets, no
matter how little they're accomplishing. If they do leave
first, it's commented on the next day, either by the boss or
by their peers. I remember an executive who made a great show of
carrying home armloads of work every night. Sometimes he had
so much he had to make two trips to the car. After I got to
know him, he admitted he never worked on any of it. He just
lugged it home at night, then lugged it back the next day. "Don't laugh," he said, patting the pile he was
gathering for that night. "I'm considered one of the hardest
workers in the office. And it's always a lot easier to
influence the guy I'm working for with reputation than with
achievement, believe me." Activity vs Productivity The idea (for those of us who sometimes forget) is to
get the job done as well and as efficiently as possible. I'm
always in favor of letting your results do the talking. And
of measuring subordinates by the results they achieve. When I
was an employee I wanted to be so good at what I did that I
didn't have to worry about trying to impress anybody any
other way. That saved me a lot of wasted energy: energy that
probably helped improve my productivity. We should never confuse activity with productivity. No
matter how many hours someone puts in, no matter how much
they appear to be working, the only measurement that really
matters is the results. The refreshing news is that, nowadays, among all the
people bragging about their long hours, we're also beginning
to hear a few executives boasting that they're good enough at
what they do to be able to leave at a decent hour, to get
more done, and have time to get home and refresh themselves
so they can put in another efficient day's work the next day. Tip: Never let your company, your clients, your boss,
your boss' boss or anyone else make you feel guilty that
you're not a workaholic. Workaholics are people with problems. Do you feel
guilty that you're not obsessed by sex (okay, would you feel
guilty if you weren't)? Or by chocolate? Do you feel guilty
that you don't want to spend your entire life playing golf or
loafing, or reading or watching TV? Or that you're not
addicted to alcohol or narcotics? Why should you feel guilty
that you're too well rounded an individual to want to spend
your entire life working? Barry Maher speaks on management, motivation, communication, leadership and sales. His book, Filling the Glass has been honored as "[One of] The Seven Essential Popular Business Books" by Today's Librarian magazine. And when it comes to sales training, Selling Power magazine says, "to his powerful and famous clients, Barry Maher is simply the best sales trainer in the business." Sign up for his free newsletter and contact Barry Maher on his website at http://www.barrymaher.com. For an inspiring keynote speaker, a great workshop or seminar leader, an expert trainer and a first rate motivator for your next meeting, conference or convention.
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