Do What You Love – Have Fun!
In this post I would like to continue the conversation with more good advice for long-term job satisfaction. I shared this recommendation in my last post: “Love what you do!” You may have run across the same career success principle in this phrase: “Follow your bliss.”
Are you still having fun?
I heard yet another version from a very savvy CEO I worked for, who asked me an important question about a year into my new job with the organization. He knew how hard I was working… how many hours I was putting into my job. He also knew how much I was accomplishing, and how enthusiastic I was about my work. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t headed toward burnout, and so he got right to the point and asked me directly, “Are you having fun?” I think I was grinning when I confessed, “Oh yeah!” He added, “Good… because when you stop having fun… it’s time to get out!”
I never forgot that advice. It still applies today (maybe it applies even more today!) Author Jeffrey J. Fox agrees. In his insightful book, How to Become CEO, he writes, “Business is tough enough not to have fun. If your job isn’t fun, you have to change jobs or find ways to add some fun.”
In Smash the Pyramid, the 35-year-old Senior Vice President of a Global Mining and Minerals Company gives similar advice. He counsels up-and-coming executives, “The more in love you are with your job the more successful you’ll be. If you don’t love it, don’t be afraid to leave it and find one you will love.” And this added caution… “Don’t let anybody else tell you what you will love to do.”
Sometimes…the love just isn’t there!
Sometimes… the love just isn’t there at all, and you simply have to leave. A lot of things can take the fun and love out of your work:
1. A bad boss. Over 70% of people who resign a position, cite this as the cause. Bad bosses come in all different shapes and sizes, but if you are in particular danger of becoming entangled in your boss’s unethical or illegal practices, it’s definitely time to go!
2. A bad organization. Companies can suffer from a variety of maladies: incompetent or unethical leadership; a toxic culture with destructive values and practices; a staff infected with infighting and back-stabbing. In those cases, it’s impossible for one person to affect a cure. Pack your bags and move on! Otherwise it will be an exercise in futility.
3. A bad job. This can sometimes be a simple case of a bad “fit” – between a worker’s strengths, personality style, or interests and the demands of their job. Sometimes it’s a matter of overwhelming workload and sheer overwork—the primary cause of burnout. If you are in a situation like this, take a break and ask yourself if you face a realistic possibility of making measurable progress in your work and having a noticeable impact through your job. If the honest answer is “no,” then it’s time to get out. You are going to crash and burn if you don’t, and the toll will be physical as well as emotional.
Are YOU still having fun?
If your work has lost its luster and you feel like your job is no longer the fun it used to be…call us—our executive coaching can help you get refocused; acquire new ways of approaching your work and workload; and help you discover a more strategic approach to what you do and how you do it.
In the meantime, stay tuned for future posts, filled with down-to-earth practical advice, tips, tools, and resources.
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
