Life is not about avoiding problems, for the simple reason that problems, challenges, difficulties are an intrinsic part of life itself.
Life is more about identifying problems and finding the courage to stand right in front of them saying: “I will get past you”. And it is true both for the problems that surround us and for those who are within ourselves.
By the way, the better we are at dealing with the latter, the stronger and more effective we are when we tackle the former.
Just because something is easy, it does not mean it should not matter.
Easy has a tendency to go unnoticed, to not be motivating enough, to be left out of curricula, cover letters and history, to be frowned upon, to be looked at with skepticism, to be considered as something anyone can do, to be the last task on the list, to be left behind.
The truth is, regardless of how easy something is, it still needs to get done.
And doing does matter. Always.
When you look at success narrowly, you are pretty much stuck on a single, straight line.
It might be that achieving prestige, power, wealth is indeed your definition of success. That making as much money as possible is what drives you, what makes you feel good, your purpose in life.
But it might as well be that this version does not work for you. Actually, that is most likely. And so, what is the measure of a successful life? When you will look back at an older age, what will you see? What will you remember? What will move you to tears? Is that the next deal you are putting so much effort on? Is that the next 1,000 MQLs? Is that the role you crave to be promoted to?
Again, it might.
The problem though is that most of us are in the game just because somebody else told them that is what matters. And so we walk on the line, so desperately focused that when we stumble, we do not realize there are other lines close by to hang on to.
Life should not be miserable.
There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?
Warren Buffett
Should employees work 30, 34, 36, 37.5, 40 or more hours a week?
It is a good thing that governments discuss this (and it is not a new discussion they are having). But companies honestly should not care. Sure, there are still some jobs for which output is correlated to the amount of hours people put in. For the vast majority of the workforce though, this kind of reasoning is outdated and demotivating.
Mainly for two reasons.
First, personal and professional are nowadays as blurry as they can be. Do you get great ideas as you take your kids to daycare? Or have you ever read an email and fell into a train of work-related thoughts just before your free evening started? How do you account for that time?
Second, most jobs are about challenges and problems (or at least, they should be). Thinking that by investing on them – on paper – 2 or 3 hours more per week actually does have an impact is silly.
It probably is the case that your organisation being involved in preserving a longer working week is just an easier way to hide inefficiency and fear of change.
It is the most difficult thing to understand, and perhaps the single biggest differentiator between a good leader and a mere manager.
The moment you start leading a team of people, your main responsibility shifts to them.
It is not to your boss, it is not to the management team, it is not to the executives, to other departments, to the board or to the company. Of course you also have responsibilities to these individuals and groups. But the main one, the one that defines your role, the one for which you will be measured in your leadership skills is to the people you lead.
Do you know them? Do you know their fears, motivators, ambitions, strengths? Do you know how they feel? Are you ready to have difficult conversations with them? Do you have an idea of where they have been professionally and have a plan for their future development? Do they come to you with ideas? Do you challenge them with problems? How do you discuss with them about their mistakes?
It is an extremely important relationship to build. And you have to allocate time for that before anything else.
You've got this 