Should work be work?

 

Should Work Be Work?

 

As I was searching for new quotes for my daily Words of Wisdom! that I send out every morning, I came across one that helped answer the question that I titled these thoughts with. The quote was attributed to Confucius: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

 

I’ve been blessed for most of my life, having chosen vocations that allowed me to not work. Kinda….  That’s not to say that I didn’t put in a lot of hours or expend a lot of energy accomplishing what I did. It just didn’t, for the most part, seem like work.

 

I’m not sure we always choose the job we end up with. Sometimes I think it’s preordained. I, for as long as I can remember, wanted to be a professional musician. I achieved that and loved it for many decades. I had opportunities movies are made of. None of my family was musically inclined. It just happened. I count it a miracle.

 

I’ve got admit that sometimes people have to take jobs they wouldn’t choose if they had another choice. Those are the type of jobs that feed a family. Sometimes that type of work can become work.

 

What I think Confucius was trying to get at is that work shouldn’t be work. At Stanford University’s 2005 graduation commencement Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios said that “You've got to find what you love.” That was, seemingly, easy for Steve Jobs to say! What I think both Confucius and Jobs were saying is what Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss.”

 

Enough quoting, let me tell you what I think, then you can quote me. If you can choose your job, choose wisely, and do follow your bliss. Life is too short to make yourself unhappy. Others will help you with that. Now, I’m not suggesting you abandon your security of a job that feeds your family. In my book, my family comes before my dreams. But I’ve fulfilled all of my dreams. They just took a little longer to accomplish because my family came first. Find what you love and do it! Simple, isn’t it?

 

Now for the lesson. If you lead people, especially at a workplace, don’t make work work. Imagine what your workers would produce if they found their work to be fun, or, at least, enjoyable. There are plenty of studies that support the notion that valued workers produce more and better products. A leader should work to ensure his/her followers are valued and have the resources they need to accomplish their work. That leads to work enjoyment. Get to the next level of empowering people to do what they’re capable of doing and they will amaze you with their productivity.

 

Work shouldn’t be work. There’s plenty of that in our lives already. Find what you love and do it! Make work enjoyable for your workers! If you’re at a loss for how to do those things write me at bobvasquez@bobvasquez.com and I’ll give you some ideas. Free! I love what I do. It won’t be work at all!

 

Until next time,

 

Be GREAT! You ARE!

Do it now!

The key to a good life is having enjoyed and nurtured good relationships. The problem is that we don’t seem to have time for doing that, neither enjoying nor nurturing. As Stephen Covey said, “we get stuck in the thick of thin things.” The “thin things” is work. Yeah, we all have to, but our work often becomes more important than our relationships with our loved ones.

Let me state my case. You’re at work. It’s about 15 minutes before closing time when the boss walks in and asks you if you can stay an extra hour to finish up some unfinished business. What do you say? Do you tell her that your mom is flying in tonight and you have to pick her up from the airport? Do you tell him it’s your first wedding anniversary and you have dinner plans? Do you remind her, for the third time this week, that tonight’s your daughter’s first violin recital? Or do you call your spouse to announce your change of plans? It’s always your choice. Oh, I know it may be difficult to say no to the boss, but we have to be courageous if we’re going to have a good life.

Years ago, I used to teach a time management class where we’d get to talking about why we never have enough time for what we think is most important to us…people…relationships with people. The answer is we choose otherwise. We choose where we invest our time. Most of us will choose work over family and friends.

I had a very tough, but valuable, conversation with a very close friend yesterday. We lost a mutual friend this weekend. Neither of us ever expected to lose him. He was younger. Seemed healthy. All of a sudden, though, he’s gone. As my friend and I sympathized with each other, we both agreed that we should have stayed more connected, although we connected more lately than we had in years.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. I do hope, though, that you’ll consider doing what we all think about doing after we’ve lost someone…CONNECT! Take a minute or two and call or text or write or, better yet, go visit those people with whom you’d like to spend more time. Thank them for being who they are and for what they’ve done for you. Most importantly, don’t wait. Do it now!

Until next time, Be GREAT! You ARE!

¡HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!

Second Chances

 

During my junior and senior years of high school, I spent my summers in Buena Park California, living with my uncle, Tío Rulie, and aunt, Mama Joyce, where I worked at the Lincoln and Knott Carwash.

 

I was having a normal day when one of the guys that worked in the detailing shop drove an old Thunderbird up to me to put on the line. He told me not to turn the engine off since it would die if I did that. They’d just steam cleaned it. It was idling pretty fast. We usually turned the engines off and left them in neutral. The line was a chain-operated contraption that pulled the cars down the line of brushes and sprayers and such. We’d have five or six cars on the line at a time. 

I drove that old Thunderbird around to the line and drove it on to the next spot. I left it running as I was told. As I left the car, I slammed the door shut, which jolted the gear shift, dropping the transmission from neutral to drive. Since it went into drive and had been idling pretty fast, it jumped the tracks and kept going down the line rear-ending the car ahead, which, in turn, rear-ended the car ahead, which, did the same for six or so cars. Chaos ensued! BANG! BANG! BANG! Every car was jumping the line and running into the one in front of it! Employees, all of a sudden, appeared, I suppose to help, but more to see what the ruckus was about! After about ten minutes, all the cars had been parked out in the lot so that the managers could assess the damage. Most of the car owners were upset. Some were amused. Some had been looking to get a new car anyway so now they had an excuse to do so.

 

I walked over to the locker room, changed into my street clothes, and started to head home. As I left the locker room, the owner of the car wash, Mr Bob Burglund, came out screaming at me! “What are you doing?” he asked. He knew I was the person who had caused the problem. “I’m going home, Sir,” I replied. “You don’t have to tell me I’m fired.” “FIRED?!” he continued. “I just invested twenty thousand dollars on teaching you a lesson. Now, get your butt back to work!” he admonished me.

 

Two weeks later, I was made an assistant manager of the place. As my boss told me when he promoted me, Mr Burglund saw potential in me. He saw me as a Shining Star. He knew that I would never make that mistake again (which I never did). He gave me a second chance to redeem myself and I did. I was totally loyal to him and to what I was being paid to do. Years later, I had plenty of opportunities to give others a second chance and I did. I was never disappointed!

 

Give them a second chance!

 

Until next time,

 

Be great! You ARE!

 

HEIRPOWER!  

bob vásquez

One small change

It’s that time of year.  The time of year  when we resolve to be better.  We call those resolutions New Year resolutions. Unless you subscribe to my premise that the power in this is when those resolutions are revolutions. 

My first question is why do we wait for 1 January to change? If what we intend to do will make us better, will it only work if we start on the first of January? If it will help us now, start now! My Number One Protégé, Dr José LugoSantiago, tells me that it serves as a reset point. Yeah, I guess that makes sense, but we can reset our lives, especially for the better, right now. Every day. Every moment. 

 

I’m a writer. I do it a lot. You can search my name in amazon and Apple books for proof of that. I noticed something the other day as I was writing my new book. I was doing the final formatting. I saw something I didn’t like so I changed it. Not a big deal, right? Until I continued reading. I realized that that one small change, it was adding a space between a couple of words, affected the entire rest of the document. And it changed everything. The context, the thought, everything. I was amazed!

 

Life as a leader, and a person, really, is that way. One seemingly small thing can change everything… our entire lives. Now, if it changes everything for the better, then I suggest you do it! If it’s negative, stop doing it. Life is simple….

 

My friend, Shā Sparks, recently posted in her podcast, some thoughts about why New Year resolutions don’t work. One big reason is that our resolutions are often overwhelming. I’ve heard it, no kidding, “Chief, this year I resolve to lose fifty pounds. In the next month!” Whoa, I always think, which leg are you having cut off? That’s a lot. In one month. I always suggest doing it in small increments throughout a longer period of time. That may work. Otherwise, that person will quit shortly after they realize that’s near impossible to do, in one month, and that’s usually after the first workout or kale salad.

 

You’ve, surely, heard or read the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” And the answer is always, “One bite at a time.” One small change will affect everything. Start there. That small change can lead to another, maybe even larger change, and give you the momentum to reach your goal. It may take longer, but it’ll be worth it. And it will be way more effective if it leads to progress.

 

As a leader, what small change can you make today that will help empower you to be the leader you envision, the leader you wish you had? Once you answer that and apply a process for improving that, you’re on your way to becoming an Effective Leader.

 

Until next time,

 

Be great! You ARE!

 

HEIRPOWER!

New Year's Revolutions!

“Whatcha doin’, Daddy?”  my daughter, Elyse, inquired of me. “I’m writing down my New Year’s Revolutions,”  I replied.  When she finally stopped laughing, I asked her,  “Why are you laughing?”  

“Dad!”  she said,  “The word is resolutions, not revolutions.”  She was a college freshman at the time.  I’m convinced that one of the core classes every college freshman takes is titled “Now you know EVERYTHING!”  One of my revolutions is to be a mentor to my daughters, so I decided to start immediately by getting the dictionary out and helping her understand my perspective.  Interestingly, she didn’t know what that book was.  I explained that it’s a printed copy of dictionary.com.  AH! Then, she understood exactly.  

“How does Webster define revolution?”  I asked her.  With great excitement, in anticipation of proving the old man wrong (you see, that’s an objective of the core class I mentioned earlier), she looked up the word and declared that it meant “an assertedly momentous change in any situation.”

 

“See, Baby,”  I said,  “that’s exactly what I want to do, change certain situations in my life.  And if they’re momentous changes, that, to me, means that I’ll be a much better person for it.  Revolutions!” “Oh,”  she responded,  “like you want to lose twenty pounds this year?  That would be momentous!”  “Yes, but I’m not sure I’m willing to work that hard, I’m going to think big, but start small.”  “So what are your revolutions for this year then, Dad?”

 

“Well, Elyse, I’m convinced that it’s the little things we do that matter most.  Although I do this a little bit, I’m going to resolve, your word, to do it more often and more regularly.  That is, I’m going to say “Good morning!” to everyone I see every morning.  And it will start with you, your mom, your sister and your niece.” “Like you say, Dad, you already do that.  How is that momentous?” “I suppose the momentous part will be when I don’t FEEL like saying it.  Or, better yet, when I see people I don’t know.” “You know you might scare them when you do that, don’t you?” “Yeah, but maybe it’ll scare them into a good mood, ya think?” “Okay, I’ll buy that.  What else will you do that’s revolutionary?”

 

“How about I exercise regularly?” “That’ll take a lot of time and work, won’t it?” “Well, first, I’ll MAKE time.  I’ll get up real early every morning so that I don’t take time away from being with y’all.  And I won’t try to kill myself.  I really don’t need to compete with The Rock any more.  I’ll find an exercise that I can do inside so that I don’t have to worry about weather.  We have that old bike-that-goes-nowhere-fast downstairs.  I’ll ride that every day for a half hour.  I can even watch videos while I do that.  MAYBE I’ll even watch educational videos.  Can you recommend any?”

 

“Well, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off taught me a lot.  But I don’t think that’s what you mean, huh?” “You’re so smart now that you’re in college, Baby!” “You know, you could read while you’re riding that bike too, Dad!” “Yep.  I could do that, but I think I’d rather do that before I go to bed every night.” “What else, Dad? This is starting to get interesting.”

 

“Well, I want to do something momentous, but something I can stick with all year long.  I’m going to try my best to be honest.”  “That may be hard, Dad.”  “Yes, but if I can do that it will be momentous, won’t it?  One of the topics I talk about a lot in my classes is ‘integrity.’  You’ve studied that word at school, haven’t you?” “Yeah, it’s one of our school’s core values.  We talk about it a lot.  How do you define it in your classes?” “To me, it means being honest with myself as well as with others and doing the right things even when it’s not popular or, especially, when someone else isn’t watching.” “What about when EVERYONE is watching, Dad?”  “I hadn’t thought of that one, Elyse.  You’re scaring me!”  “I guess that’s enough to keep you busy all year long, isn’t it?”  

 

“I’m also going to try to be a servant.” “Oh-oh, Dad, you’re really gonna get in trouble now!”  “I probably will, Elyse, but another principle I teach about is humility.  Humility requires us to think and act like a servant.  I’m going to try to practice what I preach this year, Baby.  I’ll serve others as best I can.” 

 

“Dad, while you were talking, I looked up the word resolution.  It’s a course of action decided upon.  Are you saying you’re going to resolve to live up to your revolutions?” “Okay, Elyse, you win!  You’re right.  I resolve to live up to my revolutions this year.  Will you help me?” “Of course, Dad, I’ll coach you!  Good luck on your New Year Revolutions, Daddy.”  “Thanks, Baby, I might need it.  When you’re about to do something momentous it helps to have support, I’ll consider you my accountability partner. Now, let’s go get bulked up for this event and have some ice cream.”

 

Until next time, Be GREAT! You ARE!

 

bob vásquez!