If you are “living the dream” or “thanking God it is Friday” or “waiting for the weekend,” you are expressing some belief about your work that reinforces that very belief. It’s a downward spiral, a vicious cycle leading to adverse outcomes.
Maybe you believe your work doesn’t matter. Perhaps you think that it doesn’t create meaning or provide you with purpose. Or maybe you are bored, even though you might describe it as being burned out (a state that first requires you to catch yourself on fire and burn brightly long enough to exhaust the fuel necessary to continue burning).
If you want to enjoy what you do, you can transform your state from the cynical “living the dream” to a more positive state, one that is capable of reversing the vicious circle, converting it into a virtuous circle. That question is: “How can I make this better?”
Take a Task and Make It Better
Whatever the task, whatever the desired outcome, it can be improved by one who is willing to pour themselves into it.
You need to plan a sales call. You follow the form provided, which is perfectly fine. Or you could review all of your notes, all of your email correspondence, and write a plan that demonstrates that you are on top of all the details and all buttoned-up.
You need to draft a proposal for a big prospect. You have a template, and you could very easily cut and paste from the work you have done for past proposals. Or, you could try to make it better, writing a client-specific executive summary that knocks your contact’s socks off with how well you captured and understood their goals, needs and challenges.
Maybe you hate your CRM. You don’t like to enter your contacts (your most important assets, your relationships) or the notes from your sales calls (the record of your conversations). What if you made your relationships better by keeping better track of them and keeping better notes (as some very successful people have done in the past)?
The very act of endeavoring to make things better makes things better, including how you feel about your work.
