Archive for June, 2008

The Problem Is You

2 comments Written on June 24th, 2008 by Brick
Categories: Articles, Personal Development
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I was doing a little reading on job satisfaction, and this caught my eye:

Misery spans all income levels, ages, and geography. A recent Gallup poll found that 77 percent of people hate their jobs.

Source: Management Consulting News.

Perhaps we expect this kind of figure, so we are not really surprised, but we should be: almost 8 out of every 10 people hate their job! Not dislike: hate! Conceivably, some of the remaining 2 may merely tolerate or be indifferent to their job without actually hating it. It would seem a very small percentage of people may love their job. I find this disturbing. How can this not cause a general sense of misery in our society? And how can that not cause further misery and negative feelings? Let's face it, dealing with miserable people helps make us miserable too.

What are some basic conclusions we can draw from this? How about the following theories:

  1. Most Jobs Suck. Maybe it is simply a fact that most jobs are crap no matter what we do, and since someone has to do them, most people will end up hating these job no matter what. I'm not saying I believe this theory, but it's a possibility!
  2. Job Placement Is Poorly Done. With this theory, we assume that most jobs are actually ok for a specific set of people. However, we have a huge set of type "A" people employed in type "B" jobs, while an equally huge set of type "B" people are employed in type "A" jobs. All we need to do is engineer a giant scheme to transfer certain jobs to the right kind of people and we will all live happily ever after. When you consider that a lot of people are forever upgrading their skills, retraining, and/or changing jobs, this theory does not really hold up.
  3. People Want To Hate Their Jobs. Perhaps the job itself is neither here nor there, maybe people actually want to hate their job.

Theory number 1 is somewhat cool because it leads to a need for acceptance if there is to be any chance of work related happiness. But that seems a little too Zen for me. I like theory number 3. By wanting to hate our jobs, we allow ourselves to be victimized by them, and this opens up a whole bunch of benefits (yes, you heard me - benefits!), such as:

  • Not being responsible for what happens with our careers, and by extension, with our lives.
  • Always being morally right about our career choices or lack thereof.
  • Not having to be accountable. If you hate your job, then anything done poorly is a result of this distaste, not your abilities!
  • Being forever entitled to sympathy.
  • Being justified in feeling moral indignation for not being fulfilled at work.

(adapted from Psychology of Victimhood).

What do you think? Theory 1, 2 or 3? Perhaps you have another theory of your own. Do share!

Here's a theory: you want to subscribe to the Life Sutra.

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7 Lessons from Kitchen Nightmares

2 comments Written on June 17th, 2008 by Brick
Categories: Articles, Productivity
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I really enjoy the television show Kitchen Nightmares. The show features acclaimed chef Gordon Ramsay:

In each episode, Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improve the establishment in just one week. Ramsay revisits the restaurant a few months later to see how business has fared in his absence.

Source: Wikipedia.

I have suggested that I would love to see a show developed called Productivity Nightmares. In such a show, a productivity guru would visit failing businesses, or managers at a larger company, and help them make a dramatic impact in productivity and effectiveness. In the meantime, it occurred to me that there are recurring themes (lessons, best practices, or whatever you want to call them) that keep recurring in Kitchen Nightmares. I figure these lessons could be applied to almost any type of business or work:

1. It's a Business

First and foremost, what you are doing represents a business, whether you own your company, or are an employee (in which case you are actually in the business of selling your time/effort, albeit to a single client at a time, namely your employer). You cannot afford to get too emotionally attached to the work itself, a specific product, or way of doing things. The bottom line rules: you have to make money to keep the whole thing viable.

2. Simple, Honest

"Simple, honest food, made from locally grown ingredients." I think Gordon Ramsay says this at some point in every episode. outside of the restaurant, I think this means keeping the basics in mind and getting them right. Perhaps at times we try to be too fancy, or provide a product or level of service that is not consistent with our means or resources. Providing simple and honest work (or a simple and honest product) often works remarkably well.

3. Customers

It's all about getting customers in the door, coming back, and saying good things about what you do or produce.

4. Balls

You have to have balls. Everything at work is not going to be easy. You have to say what you want and stand up to anything or anyone that gets in the way. This isn't about being mean or ruthless, but to have a clear vision of what needs to be done, no matter what, to move the enterprise forward, for the ultimate betterment of all. Which leads to the next lesson:

5. Confront and Eliminate Problems

How many times are we afraid to confront problems or a problem person? It can be extremely uncomfortable, and as a result, we often tend to avoid dealing with these things, somehow wishing they will fix themselves or just go away. When you are treading water, you cannot afford not to confront problems, and if necessary, eliminate them (yes, sometimes that means firing people).

6. Simple, Thoughtful Marketing

If you've ever watched the show, chef Ramsay usually goes out into the neighborhood to draw new customers into the restaurant. The approach is usually extremely straightforward, and thoughtful - maybe with an interesting twist - but always very simple. He'll take a tray of sample food to the local train station, or parade through the town with a big banner proclaiming "Where's the gravy?". We need to market ourselves and/or our businesses to get the word out that we exist and get customers in the door. Sometimes you simply need to parade yourself in front of your target market more than you need to spend time and money on things like fancy SEO strategies and glossy brochures.

7. Mentor

There is no denying that the simple fact of Gordon Ramsey being present may be the catalyst to turning a restaurant around. In the same way, we can find a mentor to help us turn our own businesses around. Don't be afraid to seek out an expert and ask for help.

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What Happened To The Newly Rich?

2 comments Written on June 10th, 2008 by Brick
Categories: Articles, Productivity
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palmThe New Rick are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rick: time and mobility.

Source: 4-Hour Workweek.

I just read a post by Hilary Catherall over at her personal blog. She writes about her discouragement with the 4-Hour Workweek. Besides having written a guest post for The Life Sutra, Hillary was one of a handful of 4-Hour Workweek bloggers I started to follow early on when I first initiated this blog. Hilary is not the only 4-Hour Workweek blogger that seems to have had some frustration. I think she shares the same frustration that others have, in particular with respect to "muses" which Timothy Ferris, the author of the 4-Hour Workweek describes as:

...an automated vehicle for generating cash without consuming time.

Source: 4-Hour Workweek.

I have always thought that the "muse" component of the book was the weakest part, and came across like an infomercial. If it was that easy to create these cash generation machines, everyone would have them! Wanting something doesn't make it so.

Of Chickens & Eggs

I think we should all appreciate something about Timothy Ferriss and muses: Tim had the basis of his main muse before he had his breakthrough regarding what it means to be one of the newly rich. It seems that he was conventionally rich before he was newly rich. Regardless of the financial metric and definitions of the term "rich", his supplement business pre-existed the 4-Hour Workweek. It's easy to talk about muses when you already have one! How many people have developed products and services that have not become muses??? Those people might have the exact same philosophy as Tim. Hopefully you get the point - the 4-Hour Workweek philosophy and the ability to create "muses" are not necessarily correlated at all.

Mutual Funds

I want to talk briefly about mutual funds. You may think I am digressing here, but I promise I am not! There is no question that mutual funds could be used as part of a personal investment strategy and could provide value to the purchasers of these funds. However, you should always keep something in mind: mutual funds are products not investments. While, as a product, they may provide value for investors, they are, as a product, meant to provide the greatest value to the shareholders of the mutual fund company! And so it is with the 4-Hour Workweek.

First and foremost, it is a book that is designed to provide revenue and profits for its author, its publisher and those that sell the book. The book is a "muse" for the author! Does this mean it is somehow not as valuable? Hardly. Just like mutual funds, this product can provide value for the purchasers. I am also quite sure that the stakeholders intend to provide that value. Most businesses truly wish to provide value to their customers as such value is what will ultimately ensure ongoing revenues and profits.

The Hype Cycle & The 5 Stages of Grief

I have written previously about the 4-Hour Workweek's hype cycle. After reading Hilary's post, I started to wonder if any disillusionment (the Trough of Disillusionment in the hype cycle) with the 4-Hour Workweek could somehow be equated with the 5 stages of grief:

  • Denial: This is probably what is occurring on the downside of the peak of inflated expectations. You loved the book and you don't want to admit that maybe creating these muses to fund the lifestyle of the newly rich is perhaps not so easy.
  • Anger: This is when you realize that the whole muse concept is cheesy.
  • Bargaining: This is when you figure you can work 50 hours a week instead of 60 and call it a victory. The book was at least somewhat helpful.
  • Depression: This is when you realize you are still working 50 hours a week. Has anything really changed?
  • Acceptance: This is when you turn to Buddhism.

The Ugly, The Bad, And The Good

So yes, the muse idea could be labeled as cheesy. There are no free lunches - ask an economist or even a physicist. But there is a lot of good ideas in the 4-Hour workweek. Hilary even reminds us of the main attributes of the truly rich:

  • You do the least possible amount of work for money.
  • You control your own time & location as if you were independently wealthy.
  • You use stuff & money as means to having exciting, fulfilling experiences.

Source: Hilary Catherall

In a way, Ferriss is only trying to show how these are possible. Put another way, how many of us do so much work, only not to be compensated fairly, or for others to be compensated more for the same amount of work? How many of us are slaves to someone else's clock? How many of us are slaves to our possessions instead of having fulfilling experiences?

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Credits

Thanks to Rhett Maxwell for the photo of the palm tree and rainbow.

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