Make More of Your Job

Exercise to Improve Your Performance at Work

Scientists have long spoken about the importance of diet and exercise for those of us that want to live a long and happy life. It even seems like as time goes on, science is proving more and more that good diet and exercise have almost limitless positive affects on our lives. Last week, a Duke researcher even proved that regular exercise is just as effective on depression as medication is! While it goes without saying that eating right and staying fit should have a direct impact on our health, I’ve been shocked at what a considerable impact a little bit of exercise has on my ability to maintain a high energy level on the job.

When I hit my mid twenties, I noticed for the first time that my physical world was starting to change. It’s the same old story that most of us go through at some point: I would eat less and still gain weight. I wasn’t bouncing back as fast from illness or a night out as easily. My body was telling me that I wasn’t a kid anymore. It was even beginning to affect my work.

I’ve never required a great amount of sleep, but as I've gotten older, the more prone I've become to  listlessness at work at some point during the day. I tried sleeping more, to no avail. I even wondered if that was just the way I’d feel forever, if life really was just a slow downhill slide to the grave. Then I started to exercise.

It actually started out as a weight loss program, but long after I ended the diet, the regular workouts have remained a part of my weekly life. Within days of starting to exercise, I could feel a difference during my working hours. Not only was I back to my old energy levels, but I generally exceeded them. The amazing part to me was that I wasn’t participating in a comprehensive personal fitness program. I was just running a handful of miles per week and spending some time on the elliptical machine.

Over the years, I’ve figured out a bit more about what kind of activity level I personally need to keep energized throughout the day and even a few tricks to stay energized when time is limited. I can’t say I look forward to working out, but falling off the wagon every once in a while (often when I’m traveling a lot) is more than enough to remind me of the importance of exercise to my productivity. If I miss out on even a week of exercise, I lose about 30% of my steam during the day. When I finish up in the evening, all I want to do is relax and not work on other projects or even my hobbies. I don’t like feeling that way, so I inevitably head back to the gym to get back on track.

If you aren’t a regular exerciser, it may sound intimidating to think about making this change for your life, but it’s one you owe it to yourself to try. You don’t have to join a gym or even buy any expensive equipment. Just get moving. Walk the dogs, take a bike ride or even try 15 minutes of yoga in the morning before you head to the office. Whatever you choose, commit to 30 days of exercise and then compare your energy level throughout the day to what it was before. Not only will you be happier and healthier, you’ll get more done at your job and still have energy left over for your friends and family. All of that for just a few minutes a day of work. Now that’s a great return on investment!

Readers: what do you do to keep yourself physically primed for work?

Get More Done by Going Public

I love public transportation. I know, I’m probably the only person living in a major American city that would say that out loud, but it’s true. I’m not a big fan of dirt, stench or public drunkenness. What I am is a huge fan of making the most of my time, and in my life, public transportation is one of the greatest tools I’ve got.

I don’t live too far from my office, but in big city traffic, it can easily take me an hour to get to work when I drive. Public transportation takes me only about 40 minutes. You may be thinking that 20 minutes isn’t enough of a personal savings to make it worth while, but let’s take a look at some “lifestyle math” to see how much taking the train contributes to my life on an annual basis.

• Commuting 20 minutes each way is 40 minutes a day. With 5 work days a week, and about 50 working weeks a year, that boils down to 166 hours and 40 minutes (almost exactly one full week of waking hours) that I can spend with my friends and family, or doing things I love, instead of in a car white-knuckling it through traffic.
• My train ticket costs me $6.20 per day. Driving, I use 2.5 gallons of gas (at a $3 average that’s $7.50), plus between $15-20 a day for parking. That’s an average daily difference of $19. Again, multiply that by 5 work days, 50 weeks a year, and I end up with $4750 a year! If I invested that much money every year directly in the S&P 500 (using the last 30 years average growth rate), over a 40 year career I’d end up with an extra $2.3 million dollars at retirement. You read that right: $2.3 million!
• On top of just saving the 20 minutes a day in travel time, the 40 minutes I do spend on the train, I can spend reading - something you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) do in a car. It takes me an average of 4 hours to read a book (assuming about 350 pages), so with 80 minutes a day freed up for reading, I can read an extra 84 books a year or an extra 3,320 books over a 40 year working career. I know I read quickly, but even at a pace of a page every 2 or 3 minutes, the extra reading time freed up is amazing.
• Last, but not least: the difference it makes to the environment. By taking the train, instead of driving alone in a car I can help save about 2.8 tons of carbon emissions a year. It may not change the world, but it’s a simple way I can do my part to protect our environment.

Now do you see why I like public transportation so much? When I get on a train in the morning, even if it’s dirty or crowded, I’m not thinking about the downsides. I’m thinking about all the ways that taking that train contributes to my life. The goal of this post isn’t to make everyone rush out and start using public transportation (though that would be great), but to illustrate how a little flexibility in your life can create great value. We may not be able to wave a wand in our lives and create piles of money, or more hours in the day. But with a little agility and some creative thought you can make a huge difference in the quality of the live you live, and the world you live it in.

Balance Analysis and Reward

One of the greatest influences of my life was Coach Baker, a baseball coach that I had at summer camp for several years.  After every single game, as we walked off of the field, Coach Baker would say something to me like, “Great slide into second during the fifth inning! Tomorrow at practice, let’s work on some short hops. Good game.” 

Simple as that - in a few short sentences, he had both praised my successes and helped me identify areas that were still holding me back.  It contained both negative and positive feedback, but most importantly, it was productive feedback.

When I think about those quick assessments Coach Baker gave me long ago, I start thinking about what all of the the mentors from my youth have in common. The truth was shockingly simple: they all helped teach me how to balance analysis and reward.

Looking back, it hasn’t been the teachers who praised me the most that I remember, nor has it been the coaches that yelled the most when I failed.  The most influential forces in my life have always been the people that have helped me to find strategies for continual self improvement while being honest about both my strengths and weaknesses.  It is those people to whom I owe credit for all of the great things I’ve got in life.  The lesson of analysis and reward, for me, really has been the gift that keeps on giving.

As an adult I’ve found that I can apply analysis and reward to any task, no matter how big or small.  It guarantees that I’m not too self-congratulating or too self-critical. Instead, I am constantly focused on getting better.  After all, life really is a competition, but not always with others. Most of the time, the competition is about waking up every day with the desire to realize more of your potential, to always be moving towards your goals.  Every day, I compete with myself to be a better version of me, and the tactic of analysis and reward helps me to do that.

It’s such a basic concept, and yet one that has become the most powerful tool I have to drive my life.  When I go through any process, whether it be a project at work, a conversation with a client, or a weekend workout, I always spend at least a few minutes thinking about the highs and lows of the experience.  I don’t just beat myself up for the areas where I underperformed and I don’t simply pat myself on the back for the things well done. I try to balance both the analysis and the reward.

Patience is Virtue

I'll admit it, I'm not the most patient person in the world. But recently I've been getting a lot of opportunities to practice. About a week ago, I brought a new dog, Naya, home from a local animal shelter. And though every day has been wonderful, each one so far has been an ongoing exercise in patience.

The two most important things in my life are my career and my family, so I can't help but draw parallels between the patience required to integrate a new member into the family and the patience required to face the constant changes and developments of a great career. In both cases, you can plan for every contingency you can think up and you'll still inevitably be faced with challenges, frustrations, and puzzles that seem unsolvable. Though planning is important, it's really what you do when unexpected circumstances arise that really separates you from the pack. To have a great career, or a great home life, you need both preparation and improvisation. Only those of us that find a way to balance both sides of the equation will be able to maintain lasting results.

Here are a couple of lessons that I've learned since bringing Naya home that might help you stay balanced when trying to balance your life and career.

• Prepare for the worst-case scenario - I'm a complete optimist, but I always try to have a worst-case scenario in mind so I'm pleasantly surprised when things go better than planned. Naya is a rescue, which meant the shelter didn't even know her exact age (they think she's 10 months old) or whether or not she was housebroken. In order to prepare myself, I thought back to what our other dog, Narin, had been like as a pup. I remembered that a few "accidents" a day was the norm until he learned the rules. The good news is, it appears that did have some house training. but on the flip side, she's still a baby and we've had 1 or two slip ups a day. By being prepared for these, I don't lose my temper when the completely expected happens. When she has a good day, instead of assuming it's the norm, I'm thrilled.

Try the same tactic at the office. By preparing yourself for the worst-case scenario in any of your projects, you can really emotionally insulate yourself from overreacting when things go wrong.

• Stop living in the past - Things change every day, and focusing on how things used to be is totally unproductive. Narin, our first dog, who has always been quite calm, has grown more rambunctious and loves play-fighting and wrestling with his new sister since she came home. At first this was disconcerting, because it was behavior we were unfamiliar with, we worried that it might have been unhealthy or too aggressive, or one dog might get hurt. After a while I realized that were over-analyzing, they are dogs after all, and dogs like to play. It doesn't mean I'll stop watching to play it safe, but the equation has changed some, so the outcomes have changed as well.

This lesson is the same at the office when new people or responsibilities come into the picture. Be prepared that the introduction of something or someone new always has positive and negative on you and your coworkers. Don't spend your time trying to recapture what you had, because you can't. Start enjoying the good things and tackling the new challenges brought about from the new setup.

• Be understanding - Upon bringing Naya home, we had no idea what kind of life experiences have formed her thus far. Unfortunately, we suspect she was abused, but she's in decent health and mind. Over the first few days, she displayed some excessive shyness and aggressive protection of her food. Rather than push her to behave totally differently, we're adapting our game plan to bring her slowly around to our home's way of doing things. I'm well aware that the way we do it around here is probably strange to her, and quite frankly a result of the life experiences we have had.

I use this same strategy at work all the time. When I catch myself trying to make someone more like me, I take a step back and instead ask myself how and why they got to be like they are. You'll be amazed how much tolerance and patience you will gain from the process, you might even start to believe there are methods more productive than yours.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this process has been how much less daunting bringing a new dog home has been this time around. When Narin first came home, I had no idea what I was doing and everything seemed like a battle. This time, there are little hiccups, but most of the process has become old hat. With careful preparation, reasonable expectations, patience and adaptability, we'll manage to acclimatize to our new family dynamic pretty easily. That's another great benefit of staying patient and open to change - every time you work through a challenge, it's much easier to face, and conquer the next time around.

How Much Do Dreams Cost?

When I was a little kid, I wanted to grow up to be a superhero. I probably don’t need to tell you that that dream didn’t happen for me.  It’s true, the dreams we have as children are often unrealistic and unattainable.  As we grow up, we realize that things aren’t so easy and many of us even get to the point where we believe that dreams, as a category, are unattainable and not worth our time.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, I’ve always found that dreams are the biggest motivating factor in my professional life.   But unlike the pie-in-the-sky dreaming of our childhoods, being motivated by our dreams as adults takes deep understanding about what it will take to get us there.

I have a good friend (let’s call him "David") who often says that he dreams about being able to retire while his kids are still in high school. He remembers that, by the time he was that age, he rarely saw his father at all.  When he talks about this dream, it’s said wistfully, as if that dream is totally unrealistic. But the truth is, it’s not!

The last time he brought it up, I asked, “So what would it take to do that?”

“A lot," he said. "I’d have to be able to retire in 12 years.” I started peppering him with questions.  Here are some of the details I got as he answered my queries:

• He makes about 90K a year, and is unwilling to lower that number, even in retirement. It’s the lifestyle his family is accustomed to.
• In his late 30s, he has about 175K saved towards retirement.
• He puts 10% of his income away each year and his employer matches 3% of his income through his 401(k) plan.  That’s $11,700 a year he’s putting away.
• Over the past 5 years, his retirement accounts have averaged about 6.5% growth.

As we talked, I pulled out my laptop and plugged some numbers into a quick spreadsheet. With these numbers, he would end up with just under $600K as his first son entered high school.  At 6.5% returns, that would only generate about $39K in income a year, far less than his goal of $90K. 

“See,” David told me, “It’s just not going to happen.  Besides, I’d need way more than $90k, because if I was retired I’d have to pay for benefits out of pocket, not to mention college savings.  I’ll probably never get to retire.”

Not so fast, buddy. Click through to read how within reach his dreams really were.

Quit Playing Games

Do you really want to move up in the corporate world?  If so you’re going to have to make the commitment to literally quit playing games.

As a manager, I like a good video game, or stock price, or forwarded email as much as the next guy. But chances are most workers letting these digital distractions sap their productivity.  I am often surprised by the brazen openness with which people sit at their well-paid corporate gigs and openly waste the company’s time on Instant Messenger or MySpace.

Your company pays you to act in ways that advance the bottom line, and with very few exceptions, futzing around on the internet probably isn’t one of them.  I get it, if you want to read a funny email or two or play a quick round of an online game during a quick break, it’s probably not the end of the world.  But for many of the workers in today’s offices, these digital distractions are not a mere diversion attended to for a handful of moments each day. They are chronic time-wasters that add up to hours of wasted potential.

You know which category you fall into.  Do you watch that latest YouTube video every once in a while, or are you the guy who has IM open all day long?  If it’s the latter, don’t be shocked if you’re sitting in the same dead end job 15 years from now (if you even have a job at all).

Wasting time on the internet isn’t just about wasting time, it’s about respect.  When you are sitting at your desk, most likely within view of coworkers, clicking away at your iTunes, you’re sending a strong message that your work is unimportant or boring to you.  Again, if you’re the type who only logs on to chat when you’re really out of work for the moment it’s probably not a huge problem (though, if I were your manager, I'd love it if you asked me for more work). But if you’re wasting time entertaining yourself and you have work that isn’t done, you might as well be screaming “Screw you!” to the entire company.

If you’re one of those people who is wasting a lot of time on digital distractions, and you know who you are, be warned that you're probably not as fast at minimizing those distractions when your coworkers walk by as you think you are. In my experience, trying to minimize your digital distractions before you are seen is the biggest career limiter of all.  As an employer, when you quickly minimize your screen as I walk by it tells me one of two things:

• You were wasting time, not taking a break from work that you've completed.
• You might have been doing something inappropriate or offensive.

By trying to minimize the screen you are showing that you know what you were doing was wrong, but you did it anyway. If you're that willing to demonstrate to others that you're doing things that might be damaging to your company's bottom line, and that easily caught by your coworkers, you're probably wasting more time and money than any manager would like to know.

So think about it, if you’re distracting yourself more than you’re actually working you need to ask yourself some tough questions.

• Am I bored by my job?
• Do I have poor work ethic? 
• Can I reduce the distractions that keep me from being productive? If so, how can I reduce those distractions?

At the end of the day, admitting you have a problem might be just what you need to improve, or if you even want to improve. For me, the bottom line is simple: if you expect me to increase your compensation or give you a promotion, quit playing games.

Declare Independence at Work

In honor of this Independence Day week, I decided to focus this entry on creating ways to become more independent at work.  If you’re looking for a raise or promotion, it’s important that your employer sees you as someone who can add value on your own at all times.  In order to do this you need to display independent thinking and proactive behavior.  All employees should be able to get their basic job done, but great employees should be able to address deeper problems and optimize their ROI (return on investments) to the company at all times.  Here are some ideas for adding that kind of independence to your resume:

• Never ask a question without a proposed solution – A common complaint from managers is that their employees ask them too many questions that have readily available answers.  Falling into this category will guarantee that you appear dependant and unmotivated to your boss.  Every time a question comes up, or a problem needs solving, research the issues before you bring it to your manager.  Come up with the best solution you can and then speak with your manager.  When you’re able to say “Here’s the problem and I think what I should do is _____. Is that what you’d do?", it shows that you’ve put in the time and thought even if you’re solution isn’t perfect.  This will help your employer see you as proactive and interested in growth.
• Always stay active – Just because your boss hasn’t given you an assignment doesn’t mean you should be sitting at your desk twiddling your thumbs or surfing the internet.  Keep a checklist of all of the activities you perform for the company and when you have down time look over the list to find something to do.  As a manager, when an employee comes into my office and says “I was finished with my other work early, so I went ahead and prepared ______,” it always makes me smile.  It’s a great way to prove you’re committed to delivering value for the firm.  If all else fails and you can’t come up with anything to do, just ask.  Chances are your employer will be pleasantly surprised by the extra help.
• Provide suggestions for improving the business – Once or twice a quarter, hand your boss a written sheet with a couple of suggestions for how to improve the productivity of the business.  These ideas should not be about how to improve your life, but how to drive profits, save time or reduce expense.  Don’t limit your observations to your role, but make suggestions about any area you think the company could get better.  This will prove that you care about the company’s best interests and are constantly thinking about ways to make it a better organization.  Make sure you stay humble with your suggestions, since you may be commenting on other departments. However, you're well within your bounds as an employee and steward of the company if you make an informed suggestion that could improve the business in the long run.

Change Your Office Hours

I speak to a lot of people who are confused about why they haven’t been noticed by the higher-ups, or have even been passed up for a promotion or raise.  Every time I’m engaged in this conversation I ask the same question -- “What are your hours?"

Back in the day, the concept of 9 to 5 was the norm, where people punched in, worked their 8 hours and went home. However, that concept hasn’t been the norm for a while. The 80’s and 90’s ushered in the concept that if you weren’t working 60+ hours, you didn’t care about your job. But that idea too seems to be passé.  Today, technological innovation has swung the pendulum back the other way by creating an era of “out of office” working that is as ludicrous as it sounds.

It’s no surprise that rush hour commutes have become 3 hours long when you take a look at how much time people actually spend at the office.  So many modern workers are “telecommuting” or “working from home” that these days that it seems like no one shows up to the office at all.  If working at home worked was as productive as coming to the office and helped me avoid traffic, I’d be the first one to jump on the band wagon. But the problem is, there isn’t much evidence  that “working from home” or “virtual officing” is even close to as effective as showing up at the office.

I’m a pretty driven person - I run several businesses, both corporate and private, and over 600 people count on me to provide them employment and guidance. Despite my determination and drive, I’m the first to admit that if I’m working from my kitchen, I’m probably not as productive as I am in the office.  When I’m in the office, I’m more likely to be focused and committed. There’s no doorbell or TV or pantry to distract me.  More importantly, I’m surrounded by my contemporaries, who stimulate and challenge me to give my work my all.  So why is working at home so popular?  Because it’s a major excuse not to work at all.

If you don’t love your job, working at home may sound like a godsend.  You can seem connected with email, but don’t have to actually do much of anything.  While that might sound fine for a while, it can only lead to a dead end.

If you’re really serious about moving your career up the food chain, quit working from home.  In order to grow and develop as an individual you will need constant access to and input from your co-workers.  The old saying “out of sight, out of mind” is also a powerful truth when it comes to upward corporate mobility.  Even if you’re one of the extremely rare individuals who can work remotely and be productive, you still aren’t around to be seen and heard by your superiors. 

If you’re a skilled and inspirational employee, working from home mitigates your ability to be a positive influence on the office environment (and thereby on the company as a whole) as your co-workers aren’t near you to feed off of your energy.  Just because you have access to email doesn’t mean you’re delivering all of the value you have to offer.

If you really want to do what’s best for your company, and your career, take of your slippers and head into the office!

Workplace Myths: "Don't Take Your Work Home."

There’s a lot of advice out there today about maintaining the clichéd “work-life balance” concept. Many of the sages shilling this concept will warn you against the dangers of taking your work home with you.  In reality, though, being passionate about what you do for a living is a prerequisite for true success. That same passion will guarantee that, at some point, you will be taking your work home with you.

I understand the logic behind the advice to not take your work home; unfortunately, it’s based on the ideal that all of us hate our jobs or only see it as a means to a financial end. True, we all have responsibilities to take on outside of the office, whether they be to our families, significant others, or even our own non-work duties and interests. But I'm not talking about simply lugging your laptop and a stack of papers back to your home office so you can burn the midnight oil.

When I talk about work at the dinner table or think about it on the treadmill or in the shower, I’m not complaining about how boring it is or how unappreciated I am.  Instead, I’m sharing stories that inspire and drive me or brainstorming solutions to challenges that I want nothing more than to conquer. Because my company’s goals and my own merge into an indistinguishable unit, bringing work home is not a burden. Life outside of work takes a lot of prioritizing and planning; however, being in a job that you are passionate about makes prioritizing your life much easier.

The advice to not take your work home with you really only passes muster if your job isn’t pivotal in fulfilling your life.  People who achieve great things at work see what they do for a living as a calling, not as a job, and it becomes an inextricable part of who they are, whether at work or at home. Trust me on this -- the people who tell you not to take your work home probably don’t love their jobs, which explains why they're selling snake oil pessimism for a living.  You’d be well-advised to spend more of your time trying to find the job or career of your dreams, something that could inspire you and fill you up, rather than finding a way to leave your work at the office when the clock strikes 5 PM.

Having a vocation you care about, even if it causes you to take your work home at the end of the day, is a blessing. Don’t let the pop culture gurus tell you how to feel.  Being fulfilled and inspired by your job doesn’t make you pathetic or one-dimensional, what it makes you is incredibly lucky.  I take my work home every day, not because I’m overworked or unable to get my job done in 40 hours a week, but because I find what I do inspiring and important in developing my world view.

If being a part of your company fills you with pride and a desire to do more, it is a great sign that you are in exactly the right place. Everyone should be so lucky to cherish their job and be filled up by it -- if that were the case, the world would be a happier and more productive place.  It would also mean that every one of us would take our work home with us, not because we had to but because we chose to, because it was an elemental part of who were.

Working Smart, Working Hard

In the past few years, there has been a lot of attention paid to the concept of working smarter rather than working harder.  Unfortunately, as with many workplace trends, the pendulum seems to have swung a bit too far towards "smarter" and we’ve started to miss the forest for the trees.  I think it’s time to remind ourselves that we can work smart and still work hard.

Let’s say you have a job where you need to stack ten piles of wood a day in order to get paid.  The "work smart" strategy would tell you that it was worth your time to carefully stack your wood, make sure the piles each met your employment criteria and to do the work at a pace you could sustain.  In this example, running back and forth from pile to pile quickly might get the job done, but you could just as easily become worn out or injured.  By taking the time to create a system, you might be able to work out a system that would allow you to stack all ten piles in half the time. That would be working smarter; the question is, however, would that be working harder?

In our all-consuming quest to work smart we seem to have forgotten that if we can find a way to stack that wood in half the time, a good, committed employee would end the day with 20 piles, not 10.  Working smart doesn’t mean we should do less than we’re capable of, working smart should be a key to open up the lock on our full potential.

Today’s business world is highly competitive. With globalization and emerging technology putting all of us in a position where we need to prove our effectiveness daily,  each of us should strive to eliminate extra steps or low-return tasks in our working lives. That’s working smart. But we will also have to commit ourselves to working as hard as we can once we’ve streamlined our job.

It takes working both smart and working hard to raise your productivity higher than anyone might have thought possible.  That’s how people get raises and promotions - by helping to take the business to the next level.  Too many people today have committed themselves to working smart in an effort to avoid working hard.  That might let you get the bare minimum accomplished with less effort and stress, but it will hardly help you drive your career in the long term.

I am as strong a believer as anyone in the idea of finding intelligent and innovative ways to get the job done, but only to allow us to do more. If you’ve found a way to get your job done in less time or with less effort but you’re still doing the same amount as before, quit congratulating yourself.  The truth is, you aren’t “working smart," you’re just being lazy.