If you get this, you'll improve your game, be more valuable to your employer, and frankly, be a lot happier in the long run.
Human beings have an infinite capacity to find ways of entertaining themselves. I recently heard about a South African sport called Kudu Spitting. A Kudu is a kind of antelope and participants collect the cherry-sized kudu droppings and see how far they can spit them. Yes, we are talking about kudu poop and yes, they spit it with their mouths.
Play is magic. It makes time seem to pass more quickly. No matter how strenuous or challenging the play is, we are motivated, energized and rejuvenated by it. Play inspires us to improve our performance. We strive to get better and better and when we are done, we look forward to the next opportunity to play.
Wouldn’t it be nice if work could be as much fun as our favorite games? Imagine having fun at work all day long and coming home afterwards filled with energy and looking forward to going back the next day!
Play can be as physically challenging and mentally stressful as work. Yet, we thrive on play while work can be soul destroying. Why is that?
Philosopher Alan Watts identified the critical difference for us. When we feel compelled or obligated to perform a task, it feels like work. When there is no sense of obligation, whatever we are doing feels more like play. When we treat everything we do, including work, as play, a sort of miracle happens. It all becomes rather fun.
Now, among mundane and boring jobs, bagging groceries has to be in the top ten. A few years ago, I took a job at the local grocery store while recovering from two spinal surgeries. I just needed to get out of the house and do something physical. In order to inure myself to the lack of mental challenge, I created a number of little games. I mentally evaluated how healthy each order was and devised a ranking system. I also challenged myself to see how quickly and efficiently I could bag large orders using fewer bags. As I collected shopping cars from the parking lot, I worked toward increasing the number of carts I could manage and navigate without losing control of them.
According to Watts, the key to my ability to convert bagging groceries into pure play was the fact that I didn’t feel obligated to do it. I was in that job because I had specifically chosen to do that work for my own reasons. But, it is not difficult for me to apply the same standard to anything that I do. I have chosen my career. I choose my clients. When I commit myself to a particular project, I voluntarily sign the contract. I may make that choice because I want or need the money but the choice is mine all the same.
According to an on-going work-life balance survey by Integrity HPI, 24% of survey participants feel trapped in their current job. Trapped, stuck, unable to break away, in other words, they feel obligated to continue. It might be difficult for those people to convert their jobs into play but they are the ones who would benefit most from doing so. It is possible that they are in the wrong job yet I suspect that they are more likely in the wrong mind-set.
If a hunter working in the South African bush could think up Kudu spitting, you can creatively find ways to make your job fun and exciting. Give it a shot. Have a go. You’re it!
Joseph Onesta is a Speaker, Trainer and Coach. The focus of his practice, Integrity HPI is making life and work better for people and for companies. Visit his website, http://www.integrityhpi.com for more information or to invite him to speak at your event.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
I need a SPAM filter for snail mail!
“We need a bigger mailbox!” proclaimed a friend as she came back to her kitchen, barely able to contain the mass of envelops and flyers clutched to her chest. She dumped the pile next to the hot biscuits and steaming coffee she had served me a few moments earlier. We chatted while she sorted her mail into three piles, one to keep, one to shred and one to recycle. “Gosh, look at this stuff. Why can’t there be a spam filter for snail mail?”
For the rest of our visit, the idea of a spam filter for snail mail lingered in the back of my mind. Think of the time and resources we waste picking through our mail looking for the important stuff like bills and statements. How often has a bill or important notice gone unheeded because it was lost in a pile of flyers, coupons and catalogs? In terms of living a balanced life, junk mail may not seem like much of a challenge but it is a needless and wasteful part of the equation that can be significantly minimized with a few simple steps.
A large percentage of junk mail consists of offers of credit based on our credit scores. Creditors buy mailing lists from the major credit reporting agencies and make blanket offers to every one who fits their profile. Since offers of credit are among the kinds of mail that should be shredded to foil dumpster diving identity thieves, why get them at all? Consumers can opt out of unsolicited offers of credit by visiting http://www.optoutprescreen.com or by calling (888) 5OPTOUT.
You can stop a lot of the advertising you receive by contacting the Direct Mail Preference Service. You can do this online at http://www.dmachoice.org. Reputable direct mail marketers are members of the Direct Mail Association and comply with the list.
Catalog Choice, http://www.catalogchoice.org, is a service that helps people unsubscribe to catalogs from merchants. Once you sign up you simply find the catalogs you receive and indicate that you no longer wish to receive them. They do the rest.
You may have to contact some mailers directly. Some of the flyers you receive don’t have a return address so look for the card that accompanies the flyers. The card has a return address. It also has numbers near your address that identify you as the recipient. Attach the card to a dated, signed letter requesting to be removed from all of their mailing lists. It may take a month or so to kick in because mailings are prepared in advance but it should work.
You may also wish to contact the charities you support and ask them not to share your information with other organizations. This will reduce the charitable requests you receive.
If you want to take the easy way out and hit as much of the direct mail community as you can in one stroke, a relatively nonprofit organization, http://www.41pounds.org promises to do the legwork for you for a basic fee of $41. They promise to eliminate up to 90% of your junk mail for five years.
Before you go out and buy a bigger mailbox to accommodate your snail mail spam, consider these few easy steps to drastically reduce your junk mail. You will save time, make fewer trips to the recycle center and save a few trees in the bargain.
Joseph Onesta is a Speaker, Training and Consultant at Integrity HPI http://www.integrityhpi.com Please visit his website to learn more about his services.
For the rest of our visit, the idea of a spam filter for snail mail lingered in the back of my mind. Think of the time and resources we waste picking through our mail looking for the important stuff like bills and statements. How often has a bill or important notice gone unheeded because it was lost in a pile of flyers, coupons and catalogs? In terms of living a balanced life, junk mail may not seem like much of a challenge but it is a needless and wasteful part of the equation that can be significantly minimized with a few simple steps.
A large percentage of junk mail consists of offers of credit based on our credit scores. Creditors buy mailing lists from the major credit reporting agencies and make blanket offers to every one who fits their profile. Since offers of credit are among the kinds of mail that should be shredded to foil dumpster diving identity thieves, why get them at all? Consumers can opt out of unsolicited offers of credit by visiting http://www.optoutprescreen.com or by calling (888) 5OPTOUT.
You can stop a lot of the advertising you receive by contacting the Direct Mail Preference Service. You can do this online at http://www.dmachoice.org. Reputable direct mail marketers are members of the Direct Mail Association and comply with the list.
Catalog Choice, http://www.catalogchoice.org, is a service that helps people unsubscribe to catalogs from merchants. Once you sign up you simply find the catalogs you receive and indicate that you no longer wish to receive them. They do the rest.
You may have to contact some mailers directly. Some of the flyers you receive don’t have a return address so look for the card that accompanies the flyers. The card has a return address. It also has numbers near your address that identify you as the recipient. Attach the card to a dated, signed letter requesting to be removed from all of their mailing lists. It may take a month or so to kick in because mailings are prepared in advance but it should work.
You may also wish to contact the charities you support and ask them not to share your information with other organizations. This will reduce the charitable requests you receive.
If you want to take the easy way out and hit as much of the direct mail community as you can in one stroke, a relatively nonprofit organization, http://www.41pounds.org promises to do the legwork for you for a basic fee of $41. They promise to eliminate up to 90% of your junk mail for five years.
Before you go out and buy a bigger mailbox to accommodate your snail mail spam, consider these few easy steps to drastically reduce your junk mail. You will save time, make fewer trips to the recycle center and save a few trees in the bargain.
Joseph Onesta is a Speaker, Training and Consultant at Integrity HPI http://www.integrityhpi.com Please visit his website to learn more about his services.
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