What beliefs do you have about your workday?
In his book, Thinking for a Change, John Maxwell says, “a belief is not just an idea that you possess; it is an idea that possesses you.”
No matter what your beliefs, you can be sure they are driving your reality. What you’re experiencing right now at this very moment is a reflection of your beliefs. Whether good or bad… productive or unproductive… or somewhere in between, those beliefs drive the reality of your workday and your life.
If we focus specifically on your workday and you believe it’s “as good as it gets,” that’s the workday you’ll have.
You get what you expect.
And what you expect is based on your beliefs, which wield a lot of power. If you expect your workday to include chaos for example—and you believe you have no control over that—that’s the kind of workday you’ll have.
You’ll also get what you tolerate. If you’re putting up with interruptions and distractions, for example, and you’re tolerating a less-than-productive workday, that’s the kind of day you’ll keep having.
But what about the power of choice? And the chance to change?
How do you want your workday to unfold? What do you want it to be like? How would you like it to change?
Change your beliefs and you can change your reality.
Remember… you’re in charge of designing your workday. Outside of the unforeseen issues and emergencies we all have to deal with, you’re in control of how you manage your work and your time.
And you’re in control of your THINKING—the most important driver of your reality and your success.
What’s possible for your workday is based on what you think and believe, and those will drive what you ACHIEVE.
Maxwell says, “Learning how to master the process of thinking well leads you to productive thinking. If you can develop the discipline of good thinking and turn it into a lifetime habit, then you will be productive all of your life.”
To help you with that, here are three mindset shifts you can make to turn your workday around if it’s not producing the results you want to achieve.
What You Learn Affects What You Earn
If you believe continuous learning and improvement are important to your future success, you’re right. And you’re not alone. Recent research has shown that most working adults believe this, too.
Check in with how much learning you do. And not just learning, but implementation, too. This is the stage where real change occurs. Once you take what you learn and put it into motion, you will have STRETCHED your mind and your capabilities, and both will never be the same, which is a GOOD thing. You’ll become enlightened. And this will propel you forward, helping you to find new opportunities around every corner to learn and grow.
Are you learning new skills from time to time? All the time? Or not so much?
If you’ve decided that the level of knowledge and skills you’ve already acquired are good enough to get by, be careful. If you’ve become complacent or lack the curiosity to grow and learn, or you aren’t seeking to “sharpen the saw,” you risk getting stuck in the “ culture of the average.”
“Average” is reflected in how you think, how you work, the results you get, and the level of success you will achieve. Just the same, “excellence” can be reflected in these as well.
In Thinking for a Change, John Maxwell agrees that most people are complacent, saying they’re “…more satisfied with old problems than committed to finding new solutions.”
But solutions are a MUST if you don’t want to get stuck where you are. If you’re stuck, you’re likely standing still—or worse, going backwards.
This is when others will BLOW by you in a whirlwind of progress, success and happiness.
Would you like to see your achievements and progress increase while your stress goes down? Would you rather be the one with exceptional results instead of just average? Would you like to be the high achiever who has the competitive edge?
As Josh Bersin of Bersin by Deloitte states, “The learning curve is the earning curve; your skills are the currency for your success.”
If you want greater success and all the trappings of a more productive and successful career or business, and you want a happier, healthier life, shift your mindset to one of continuous learning and improvement. Stay curious and seek opportunities to add to your knowledge and implement new skills.
Keep the End in Mind
When you get “caught in the weeds” at work and you feel like you’re slogging through molasses, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture.
At the end of the day, you may feel like you didn’t get much accomplished, because you got bogged down with too many interruptions. Distractions and notifications tugged at you and kept you reactive. And little tasks that seemed quick to knock out kept you from completing more important tasks.
You could feel the same way, too, however, when you spin through your workday at high speeds like a tornado.
Either way, if you feel you’re a victim of circumstance—swayed by everything that’s going on around you—you may have lost sight of your big goal and lost control of your direction.
In Maxwell’s book, he states, “Big picture thinkers don’t let the grind get to them, because they don’t lose sight of the all-important overview. They know that the person who forgets the ultimate is a slave to the immediate.”
If you reflect on your workday, is it all you can do to “keep up” at work? Do you feel like you’re a “slave to the immediate?” If so, you’re likely working in a rushed, reactive manner, which pulls you away from working proactively with intention and a clear direction toward your goals.
This suggests a mindset of survival. You may continuously feel behind as you’re just barely keeping your nose above water. It’s not a strategic way of thinking or working, and it’s easy to adopt this mindset when you’re missing a solid plan of action—one that supports being purposeful and productive, and making real progress.
Instead, shift your mindset from Survival Mode to Success Mode. You’re in charge!
It’s entirely possible for you to take matters into your own hands and start working differently. You can elevate your thinking, your productivity, your progress, and your success.
Whatever goal or project you have in your sights, get crystal clear about what you want to ACHIEVE and WHY. Then BELIEVE you can ACHIEVE. (Because you can!)
The more passionate you are about your goal and your belief in yourself, the greater your sense of urgency to get it done, whatever it is. And with a sense of urgency toward achievement and taking sure and steady action, you’ll also feel compelled to remove anything that gets in your way.
Work with intention. Drive your day proactively in the direction YOU want it to go. Don’t let your day drive YOU.
Be the thermostat, not the thermometer.
How You Work is Essential to Your Success.
Does the voice in your head sometimes say, “I could have done that more easily if…” or “I could have done that much faster, if…?”
If so, these are goldmines of opportunity.
If you could work more efficiently, what could you do with the time you save? What could you produce? What could you achieve?
This has everything to do with HOW you work.
How you work affects your level of accomplishment during the day, which totally affects how quickly you can finish projects, hit targets, and achieve goals. This also totally affects how much time you’ll get at night and on the weekends to do what you want to do with your personal time.
What does it look like when HOW you’re working isn’t working?
For example, if you’ve fallen behind on a project with a deadline, but weeks ago you thought you had plenty of time, you have an opportunity to be a better planner and a better “doer.”
These two feed one another in a continuous cycle. Being a better planner can get you into action faster and being a better “doer” can drive away procrastination.
Instead of thinking “I’ve got all day” or “I’ve got plenty of time,” remember… you don’t.
Another example is spending too much time looking for information. This can include papers, files, to-do lists, e-documents, emails, contact information, or anything else you KNOW you have, but just can’t find quickly.
When you spend too much time every day looking for various bits of information you need, it’s a sign that better systems are necessary for storing or managing tasks and information.
You must be able to find things quickly so you can move forward with your projects, finish emails, answer questions from others, be responsive, and simply keep making progress.
Too many professionals disregard these kinds of examples when they happen, believing the circumstances they find themselves in are unavoidable or their day is just “as good as it gets.” But both of those are untrue.
You CAN improve HOW you’re working by getting systems and processes in place to support you more effectively.
When you have systems and processes you can rely on in your workday, you’ll have total clarity and complete control of…
…all of your tasks and responsibilities
…which priority comes first
…what tasks you’ll do and when
…the time you’ve already committed to
…how you manage your information and how to find it fast
…the time that’s available to you and how you’ll spend it
…how to process email and how to dispense with it faster
…and so much more.
When you establish solid systems and processes in your workday, you’ll waste FAR less time, energy and effort on decision making, finding things, getting through email, answering questions, and getting things done.
And when all of this is working—and working well—you’ll be able to work more efficiently and effectively. You’ll have the ability to save more time and energy. And you can use time more efficiently to be more proactive and productive, which can make all the difference in the world to your progress, achievement and results—and your life.
