EmployeeNext: Creating success and joy at work

So much has been happening in my workday world lately that my blog has been getting little of my time. And candidly, since I’m a pretty new blogger, I’ve been frustrated by my slow progress on the finer points of creating a really well laid out, professional looking blog. I’ve been in the corporate world a long time and I am used to competency! (And help desks to just tell me the solution fast, please, thank you!)

I saw my good friend Dick Richards today, who is a wonderful blogger. Check out his blog at www.ongenius.com. I was complaining (whining actually, but let’s put some lipstick on the pig) about my frustration with not knowing how to do hot links and photos and having to actually read the online manual. After letting me run on a while, he said “why didn’t you call me?” I explained that I didn’t want to bother him, I should be able to figure this out on my own. He looked at me and said “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that? Call me, and if you are bothering me, I will tell you that.”

What a blessing it is to have 1. a true and honest friend who will speak the truth to you without judgment, 2. the ability to hear him and not perceive it as judgment, 3. friendships with mutual respect and healthy boundaries, and 4. willing friends who are great bloggers!

How often do we assume we know what people will say, what they will think, how they will react? How often do we do the mental math of “If I do this, then they will do that, then this will happen ……” and as a result, create a reality that doesn’t exist and then make decisions based on that perceived reality? Doesn’t that sound just a little irrational?

This is a pattern we can easily fall into at work too. it’s fear based. Self-centered. Self-serving. And we then can find ourselves, to our detriment, altering our behaviour to prevent something that hasn’t happened yet! (I can hear the theme from the Twilight Zone playing now ……)

This is not authentic behaviour. It can’t possibly produce good results. And it’s guaranteed to make us just a little nuts.

So I think I’ll pay attention. Ask for help. Follow the suggestions of my friends, like Dick and Ann Torrence (www.anntorrence.com) - one of these days I’ll get those hot links working - who are great mentors and helpers for me. They’ve given me suggestions and shared their valuable time and experience with me.

Time to get my ego out of the way and stop projecting. And remember the true definition of assume.