5 Things To Be Thankful For At Work

“Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everyone else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems.” 

– Zig Ziglar

About a month ago I met with a friend and we had a long conversation about our jobs. My friend, disappointed, complained about the job he’s been doing for almost 10 years and described the work he does as “terrible.”

“My boss is a jerk,” my friend exclaimed,”and they work us like crazy.” He summarized the rest of his conversation with the words “it sucks.”

I looked at my friend and asked him if there was anything he liked about the job. He pondered a bit and came up with a few things he liked about his job. I followed up with a second question: is it really that bad?

I feel as though many people like to play the ‘victim’ at times and would rather prove why their job is worse than someone else’s. My perspective is quite different because I’ve been homeless, jobless and broke all at once so I cherish certain things that others might not (Read How I Survived With $11 In My Pocket). Here are at least five things to be thankful for at work:

Be thankful you have a job – Is not having a job really much better than having the job you currently have? Be thankful you are currently employed and receive a pay check every month. Some people might not have that privilege.

Be thankful you have work – It is one thing to have a job and another thing to have plenty of work to do. Having a lot of work, or a lot of business, is good. It provides you with stability.

Be thankful for the people you work with – Sometimes the job requires long hours and you might see your co-workers more than you might see your wife. Be thankful for the comraderies, joy and experience you share with your team.  

Be thankful you’re learning – I can almost guarantee that the person you were when you first started working wherever you are is no longer the person you are now. You’ve grown professionally and will continue to learn. Be thankful for that opportunity.

Be thankful for the challenges – When your day becomes more challenging, you become stronger. Without challenges there is no effort, no growth and no strength. Be thankful that you have been challenged physically and/or mentally and you are a smarter, stronger person.

There are other things to be thankful for. Make sure to show your gratitude at work this week and reflect on the positive things your job has to offer. 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

The 3 Lessons I Learned From Having An Affair

"Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

- Unknown

For quite a few days I sneaked into my apartment trying not to make any noise. I would tell myself that this would be the last time but I've been telling myself the same thing for a few months already. I was left with guilt, remorse and I didn't know how to change my situation.

I had a bad habit of texting or calling my significant other to tell her that I would be home by 8pm but I never made it by that time. I would get home close to midnight. Things needed to change quickly or I knew I would lose the ones close to me. 

If you clicked on the header of this blog because you thought I was going to make some gossipy confessions, I'm sorry to disappoint you. The affair I felt I was having was not with someone else but with my job. Time to time I hear other people I meet that they too have spent countless hours working and haven't been able to figure out how to balance their work and their life. In a way, I'm glad I experienced this early in my career so that I can learn from it. These are the three lessons I learned from having an affair with my job:

The definition of work-life balance

Before my 'affair' I thought work-life balance meant that I should work 40 hours a week and the rest is for my own leisure. Shortly after, I began to ponder about what work-life balance really meant to me. It turns out, it means something different to everyone. To some who love what they do, working 60 hours a week and spending weekends with family works well. For others, the hours they work is insignificant - it's more about how they feel, striving for a happy, emotional balance between their work and their life. I really had to sit down and write out my thoughts about what work-life balance meant to me and what I was trying to achieve in the first place. 

It's not your company's fault - it's your fault

When work gets busy and the 'affair' occurs, we convince ourselves that the 'busy season' will soon be over. Next thing we know, just like in my story, the busy season continues and seems to be endless. It's very common for frustration to kick in and the first thing we do when we're stressed and cranky is blame others. Many times, we blame our habit of overworking (or as we like to call it 'being overworked') on our boss or our company. I did the same thing as well, as did others that worked with me. However, complaining and blaming the company did not help our situation. What did help? Looking in the mirror. I found out that my time management was poor, my organization could be stronger and my priorities in life were never established. I worked on improving myself and setting my priorities right and better prepared myself for the next heavy season.

Help is always near

The worst thing I did, which lead to the biggest lesson I learned, was not asking for help. I'm the type of person that feels can take on a lot of responsibilities and I feel there is nothing I can't do. However, when things got rough and the load got heavier, I didn't say a thing. After speaking with my supervisor, I was able to get assistance, learned how to delegate better and was able to make it home sooner. At first, I didn't want any help because I didn't want them to go through what I was going through and I also didn't want my team or boss to think that I was incompetent to do the work. My supervisor also recommended some readings so I researched a few books that helped me with my time management. There is always help.

Perhaps I exaggerated a bit by calling what I went through an 'affair' but if you asked my girlfriend at the time, she'd probably say that I left her for my job. The reality is, many of us struggle with finding the right balance between work and life and I hope to cover this topic in the next few blogs. I hope you learn from my mistakes. 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.

Life Is Too Short? I Disagree

“Life is long. You’re probably not gonna get hit by a bus. And you’re gonna have to live with the choices you make for the next fifty years.” 

– Chris Rock

When I was younger I never thought I would live to be passed my early thirties. I had a different mentality back then. Friends that I hung around with had the same mentality. I believed life was short because I could never picture myself being old. This idea that “life is short” makes people do one of two things: (1) they might go crazy trying to do everything and anything, thinking that they only have a few years to live or (2) they won’t do anything because life is too short and nothing matters.

Now that I’m currently living in my early thirties, I have a different perspective on life. I treasure each day as if it was a God-given present. Each day I wake up thankful for the new day and thankful for the day before. Yet, we don’t know what the future holds for us.

If you do the math, it actually turns out that life is very long. Today is October 28, meaning we already lived for 300 days in 2014. If you want to count the hours, we’ve lived 7,200 hours this year alone. As I think back at my old-self, having already lived thousands of days, I wonder why I never did the math. So far, I’ve lived more than 11,000 days.

Holistically, it’s really how you take each day of your life that matters. Some people might say that 11,000 days is a short period of time, for some reason. I personally think it’s enough time, plenty of time, to do marvelous things. I don’t know what’s in store for me tomorrow or years from now, but my goal is to make every day count.

Whether you think life is short or life is long, the question should really be: what are you doing each day you have been given? Are you doing something valuable or just letting the days pass you by?

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.