Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Posted: 15 Dec 2008 01:56 AM CST

Today's message is for anyone who is not completely happy with their work. For anyone who feels a sense of tension between who they are and what they do.

Whatever it is you are doing, why ever you feel uncomfortable with it and whatever has held you back from doing something about it; now is the time to change.

There is a huge mixer swirling up the world of work and we can all take advantage of it to make the changes that we need to make.

Whether all you need to do is to make some adjustments in the relationship you have with your boss or whether you need a different job or to start your own business now is the time to act.

I am not talking about taking risks or increasing the level of uncertainty. I am talking about strategic thinking and careful planning.

Step 1 - articulate your life's purpose, if you want help with this download my free life purpose e-book or give me a call.

The route to doing work that is both fulfilling and valuable (to you, your employer and our society) is to make your work the platform for achieving your life's purpose.

Please note - However counter cultural it may seem - it is absolutely in your employers interests for you to use their organisation as a platform for achieving your life's purpose - this is explained in more detail below.

Step 2 - Examine your work carefully and see what the most effective way will be to deliver your life's purpose. Bear in mind that, tempting as it may seem, it is seldom easier to leave you job and set up your own thing than it is to adjust what you have.

At the same time take an inventory of your assets - do you have savings or things you could sell? What skills do you have? What relationships do you have? Is there a redundancy option?

Most of us are well aware of our liabilities, but it is also worth checking in with those and seeing if they can be cancelled out by assets, deferred or just looked at in a different way.

Step 3 - Articulate your strategy for getting from where you are to where you want to be. Write it down. I like to use sticky notes for this. Break the whole project down into small jobs, write all of the jobs on sticky notes - one job per note - then arrange the notes in chronological order. Make use of any assets that are relevant.

One of the jobs might be to have an honest conversation with your boss, partner or someone else. If this is the case and you find that intimidating - make sure you practice the conversation in advance with someone who can help you.

Step 4 - Do the jobs on the sticky notes one at a time. Remember to stay flexible and change the plan if you need to, without letting go of the objective.

If you want help with this process for you personally or for your business give me a call. I can help with all aspects of it including writing an authentic business plan and internet marketing once you get going.

If you are a business manager and the idea of having your team using your business as a platform for achieving their life's purpose sounds intimidating - think on this:

The newly released Global Productivity Report for 2008 finds that:

Companies will leave 30% of potential productivity gains untapped over the next two years
Managers spend 34% of their time on administrative tasks and only 10% of their time on training and active supervision of their workers
34.3% of the average worker's time is spent on unproductive activities, up from 32.1% the prior year
The top two barriers to improved productivity are a shortage of skilled workers and internal communication issues

When your team are pursuing their life's purpose they will be super motivated, creative and responsible. If their life purpose can be aligned with your business aims your business will enjoy the benefits of massively increased engagement and productivity. If their life purpose cannot be aligned with the aims of the business, why are they working there?

Please take advantage of these changing times to make the changes that you want and not just to be changed by them.

If you want help with any aspect give me a call. Authenticis can now offer low carbon and low cost training programs for teams using phone conference based sessions without the need for everyone to travel and stay in hotels lets have a chat.

If you find these e-mails valuable and energising, you may like to contribute some energy to help me continue to write them. £5 per year seems like good value.

I am now doing more frequent and much shorter bursts of inspiration on Twitter - you can join in here www.neilcrofts.com

With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Inspirer
authenticis
inspiration innovation motivation

+44 (0)7775 658534
neil@authenticis.com
www.authenticis.com