A post for passionate employees:
Don’t worry gorgeous Limitless Community, these are not the words someone said to me (ha… that would not have gone down well!) but are in fact the words that as a passionate employee, I have needed to say to myself this week. It took a while to come to the conclusion that these were the right words to restore my balance but when I found them… man did I exhale! Truly, I exhaled and continue to exhale. My shoulders dropped (from a tense position to a more relaxed one) and I was ready to crack on with my day.
I wonder if you can relate. Are you passionate about your work? I mean super passionate. About the work you do as an individual… how you fit in to a bigger team and how it all fits into the company? Whether you work in finance or education, the arts or healthcare – you’re hopefully passionate about what you do. This post is inspired by a professional, career related experience but can perhaps even be related to a family… and how you all fit together… the same questions about passion apply.
You see… in my career, from working in the media to working in education, I’ve always had a fierce pride in what I do. In what I can positively contribute to a team. I love to listen, learn and develop and I love to contribute, be heard and help to develop others. Working within education and career development (in my employed work) and career coaching (in my own business initiative) – this fierce pride has magnified as you don’t have to look far to see how you are potentially impacting someone’s life on a daily basis. There’s no way you can doubt the importance of the work you do when you are looking into someone’s eyes and talking about how what they do today will affect the future they have tomorrow.
On the whole, I’d say passion and caring about what you do and what you are part of is important. No one really wants to go through the motions, day after day for something that isn’t significant to give a hoot about… do they?
No… but here’s the thing. With passion… perspective must follow in order to have any kind of necessary peace of mind. . Yes, perspective… it’s a pleasure to meet you again. (Why don’t you hang around a bit longer this time?!)
You see… it turns out… that when you are passionate, when you care and when you really want what’s best for something – you may allow yourself to get entirely entwined in it. Because you believe in it. Because you think it’s right. But you know what… the thing to remember is if the core fundamentals are there… if the core fundamentals are right – if the core fundamentals are in place that you need in order to hold your head high and sleep well at night then if the delivery isn’t to your exact preference, that’s probably okay.
Yup – I said it – even if the delivery isn’t exactly as you’d want it… it’s probably okay.
Because y’know what? When you’re an employee… even a well-respected employee… you are not the CEO. That’s right, the buck does not stop with you.
I’m the head honcho of Limitless Coaching but not head honcho in my employed work and I don’t need or want to be! I have oodles of respect for the senior management team and am here to do the best I can. So, if you’re a passionate employed person who cares a lot about the work you do – but has moments of passion-related loss of perspective like what I described then I hope this 3 step summary helps you too.
- Develop your own mantras which help you keep balance, perspective and peace of mind when needed. My “Chill out… you’re not the CEO” helped me. Another one may be something like “I am giving the best of me”. Come up with yours. Repeat it a few times. Exhale.
- Be grateful – be grateful to be working in an environment where you get so invested that you sometimes work yourself up. Just make sure you stay aligned to your values and pick your battles.
- Respectfully and genuinely agree to disagree: Recognise that you’re not always right. Lol – you may feel like you are in this instance but you’re not always right. You may have a different view point but in the working environment, different views with a common mission can lead to some of our best work. Together. Muck in. Do you. Bring your passion to the table… then go home at the end of the day and focus on the rest of your world knowing that you have done another good day’s work and continue to make your contribution.
So what do you think? Are you passionate about the work you do? Does this passion help or hinder you? As ever… feel free to share your experiences and get involved in the discussion by commenting below.
