Pick a day of the work week and someone will have something negative to say about it.
There are a lot of groans heard at job sites everywhere on Mondays, Hump Days gets us half way to the weekend, and Fridays seem to never end.
We often act as if the work week is something that is to be tolerated because the only worthwhile days of the week are Saturday and Sunday. Why do we do this to ourselves?
I’m not immune to lapsing into this type of thinking from time to time, but generally, I have a positive attitude about work and working. I’m fortunate to have an interesting job and I work with good people, so the experience, for me, is often engaging and stimulating.
There are many measures of success and the ways in which we can contribute to those measures are just as varied. Some measures are easy to recognize, while others are much less apparent. Often, it is how we view our efforts in the workplace that can add texture to routine tasks and give us a sense of the positive effects that we can have on the broader enterprise.
Compiling data, modeling scenarios, management reporting, and interpreting results are all part of contributing to the making of business decisions. Having worked at many levels of accounting, from billing clerk through management during the last three decades, I’ve always found accounting to be interesting work.
Many businesses have seen declines in revenue during the current economic downturn. When these declines are coupled with rising expenses the job becomes more relevant. Accounting is usually considered to be an austere profession that is devoid of emotion, because the numbers tell us what we should do. But in reality, particularly for a small business, it’s difficult to maintain a detached view of the consequences of decisions because of the effects that those decisions have on people.
Even during good times, management decisions have consequences. The annual review of benefit packages, the construction of the appraisal process, the location of the business, the level of investment in technology, and many other decisions determine not only the profitability of the business but also the environment in which its employees spend a good portion of their lives.
When working for large corporations in similar circumstances, but at lower levels of accountability, the decompartmentalized structure of responsibilities made it seem much more like a numbers game. The ability to offer alternatives was limited and the response to those suggestions, when offered, was disappointing at best.
Long hours, constant churning of ideas – even during off hours – and the near maniacal focus on the well being of the business tends to be exhausting, but oddly the experience is also exhilarating.
Striving to find a way to “work it out” so that the business and the people who work there can both continue to thrive can be a bit daunting, but doing this type of work is also very satisfying when the result of one’s efforts can be measured both on and off of the Balance Sheet.
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- How do you view your job?
- What are the aspects of your job that get you energized?
- How do you measure success?
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Ray } – 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Learning to work is important on so many levels. Doing a job you love is a huge bonus. I love to hear of all the different professions people have gone into. It’s fascinating. I’m most impressed with people, like you, who enjoy their jobs. That is key. Why do something you hate? Even if it’s not a dream job, hopefully one can find something valuable in the experience and take pride in doing one’s best.
I’ve had different jobs in my life, most of which were difficult to enjoy. But I challenged myself to find things about those jobs that got me energized to go and do my best. I worked retail in high school. It was better than fast food or a grocery store in my opinion. Plus, I made a lot of friends that I laughed with every night when we closed. I took pride in organizing my area and keeping it clean. I felt successful when managers and coworkers (including kids my age) complimented the changes I had made in softlines.
In college I worked at the Total Lack of Comfort Inn. Well, I learned how to clean rooms really fast. That job was awful and I don’t regret for a second quitting. Then I was a telemarketer. For a job I didn’t believe in I worked hard. I viewed that job as selling my soul to the devil to pay the bills. But again, I made amazing friends. I pushed myself hard to exceed goal every night. I found people who were willing to compete with me which pushed us all to do our job the best we possibly could. The telemarketing I did gave me skills my uncle could not find in any other employee he hired. I didn’t realize I was kicking butt and taking names when I worked for him for a month. It feels good to know I got his product out there faster than he could have done without me.
Being a teacher was my dream job. There are several students that hold a special place in my heart from when I was a teacher. Seeing them overcome learning disabilities or social problems or whatever it was that was challenging to them is what makes me believe my efforts to teach were worthwhile.
Now I’m a full time mother. This job is the most challenging and the most rewarding thing I have ever done. It is nothing and everything like any other job out there. The way I view this job changes a lot, usually with my mood. For the most part my view of it and the job I am doing are positive. What gets me energized is the job itself. The creative challenge of it all. The seemingly insignificant successes that I know are monumental at the time. How I measure success differs with each child and each day. Some days I feel successful for having kept them all alive with basic needs taken care of. Other days I measure success in hugs or I hate yous. Both show I am doing my job right! If I can teach my kids to work and to take pride in a job well done, then I will count myself very successful indeed.
I’m glad you enjoy your job. It shows in everything you say. That’s awesome.
Hi Tristan,
Thanks for the leaving such a great comment. I can’t believe that it’s taken me so long to reply, but the delay is a testament to the continuing focus that I’ve had at the job.
As a young person, I also preferred taking jobs in retail, although I did have a stint in the local grocery store as well. Working in a clothing store was okay. It helped that the store had a liberal return policy, so I was able to avoid unpleasant run ins with dissatisfied customers.
Since I’ve never enjoyed being on the phone much (14 minutes last month on my cell phone bill) I would be a horrible telemarketer. I’m sure that I would stink at sales too. Even when unemployed, I did not apply for sales positions because I’m convinced that it would be an utter failure. Sales is definitely not one of my talents. Good sales people can be very successful, and it seems that you did very well in that arena. I wish that I was more outgoing in that way because that skill can translate well into many situations.
Teaching is something that I’ve always enjoyed doing. At one point, I applied for a teaching program in NYC and was accepted. It was a good deal — teach in inner city schools and they would finance my Master’s degree. This occurred a little later in life, so I already had a family. In the end, I declined the offer because I just could not make ends meet on what they were paying as a starting salary. That’s a shame.
Parenting: the most underrated and undervalued profession. There are many ways to measure the success of raising children, but there are even more ways of measuring failure.
“I measure success in hugs or I hate yous.” I love this line!
There are so many choices to make and the impact of those choices may not be known for many years. There is so much uncertainty that it’s a wonder that parents are able to maintain their sanity.
I vote for more hugs!
Ray
I used to feel positive about my former job in journalism. I loved what I was doing. I also knew it was not a charity and that the bottom line did count. Unfortunately, after the second corporation bought the newspaper, it became ALL about the bottom line. Moral sank so low, it was pitiful. People were fired left and right for using their health insurance too much, making too much money and being too old. I was forced out because of the last two reasons. The new corporation wiped out the newsroom as I knew it and brought in all their new people at the pay rates they deemed acceptable.
Since then I’ve worked in two jobs completely out of my field. I am marking time. I try to find something to energize myself, trying to see how I can put a positive note into everything I do. I am demoralized. I can’t stand the situation I’m in. There is the lead person who is a conflict avoider and expects never to be bothered with the trivial, like the well-being of his employees. His associates care about their own well-being, but the rest of the support staff just have to grin and bear any conditions that they hand out.
In the meantime, I search and search and search for a job that I could feel great going to, making a positive contribution.
For me, Monday through Saturdays are just days to get through. Sunday is the day to go to church. It goes on week after week, month after month, year after year.
Why do I do it? To help put food on the table and educate my children. It’s truly work because I can’t stand going there anymore. I can’t remember what it’s like to go to work and truly enjoy what you’re doing.
I’m glad you enjoy your job. I envy you.
Thanks for your heartfelt comment, SurprisedMom. As I mentioned to Tristan, the theme of this post has continued for weeks with little time for anything but work. Besides, I didn’t want to reply with just a quick blurb. Many weeks later, I look up, and here we are.
I think that I would enjoy being a columnist more so that a journalist. I say this from the perspective of an outsider looking in, since I have no experience in either of these fields. But journalism does seem to be an exciting profession. Deadlines, fact-checking, interviews, and the drafting and editing of the story seems like plenty to do. It’s easy to spot good journalism and very distasteful to read stories that are investigated and written badly. My small town local paper is the worst! Each story leaves the reader with more questions than answers.
Were you a journalist for a long time? The single-purposed focus on the bottom line has hurt many a business. Who did you write for and what types of stories did you cover? Was it as exciting a profession as I have made it out to be?
Your present work situation sounds anything but ideal. I know that we can easily find ourselves in positions where we feel that we are “marking time”, and that easily translates into a feeling of demoralization. Prior to finding my present position, I spent 4 1/2 years at a job where I felt totally undervalued. It changed me, as a person. On the surface, I was the same optimistic, goal oriented person that I profess to be, but on the inside I was bitter, unappreciated, and yes, demoralized as well. I can’t believe that I subjected myself to that experience, just to make a buck. When I think about it, it’s like a bad dream, and I regret having wasted so much time in that organization.
I do hope that you can find that dream job. It makes such a difference.
I ended my 4 1/2 year ordeal in an unconventional way — quit without having another job. It was both a stupid and life-changing decision. After eight months without a job, I finally landed the one that I am in. Times got really hard during those eight months, and it took a very long time to recover financially from that gap in my resume. It’s not a strategy that I would recommend, but I had reached a point where I either quit or went Postal. That’s an outcome that I could no longer risk happening.
Good luck on your search for the dream job. Please don’t give up. Ray