You Need Mind Numbing Work
Have you ever enjoyed mind numbing work?
You need work that’s not going to weigh down your brain. A heavy brain gets tired. On the other hand, a slightly distracted brain is a light brain that can work on other problems.
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9 Tips to Boost Your Motivation
There are days when you will struggle to do even the easiest task. A short email can feel like an hour long torture session. These days can really test your will.
These rough days also give you a great opportunity to achieve significant personal growth at work. When you are struggling the most, you should rely on every resource you have.
I put together a list of 9 things you can do to shake off your blues and boost your motivation:
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Take Back Control of Your Business – Series
Over the past two and a half years I’ve learned a ton about developing a business.
I’ve learned how to:
> Network the “right way”
> Write in a way that attracts my desired audience
> Create happiness systems that maximize my productivity
Over the next few posts, I want to share a few of these things that I’ve learned.
The most important part of developing my business has been working with my emotional core. Too often we discount the importance of having a foundation built on happiness. A person can do great work if they bully themselves into producing results, but this is impossible to sustain.
Starting tomorrow I’m going to explore how I’ve created a small business that has allowed me to maximize my happiness. It’s a 3 part series, so stay tuned for all three installments.
3. Keep a One Sentence Journal
A small business owner who only worries about money and neglects happiness is missing the point of being an entrepreneur. We need to develop a core that allows us to always come back to our emotional center. It’s important to connect with our work in a balanced way.
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5 Ways to Conquer Your Fears
What is the one emotion that influences most of our choices?
Anger – Nope.
Sadness – Nope.
Fear – Yep!
You’ve just won a free trip to Awareness Island, where we have put together a package of fun. You’ll be staying in the all-inclusive resort at Confident Garden Inn. The food is all grown and freshly made on the island. Everyone will walk up and talk to you because they don’t care what you think; all that matters is that everyone has a meaningful experience.
I’m booked to go next month.
This is when that dreamy-hazy transition kicks in and we wake up to reality. Fear is a part of our lives, but that doesn’t mean that we have to give in to its bullying.
So why does fear play such a big role in our lives?
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Why Take the Risk of Being Successful in Unhappiness?
Every now and again, I like to bring you short interviews to give you a new perspective on work happiness. During my study of work happiness I have found that there are many paths to the same goal. Some people believe that loving what you do is a must, while other people believe that relationships are vital to enjoying the work that we do. Interviews are a great way to get out of your own perspective and see what other people are doing to develop their strengths and live their passions.
If you have never visited I Can Has CheezBurger you are missing out. It is simply one of the funniest websites around. People add comments to pictures of cats doing something weird. I borrowed one from the site. It’s in the upper left hand corner of this post. It’s a wonderful break from a tedious task. Ben Huh is the brilliant mind behind this website. I was lucky to have met him at SXSW this past month and he agreed to do an interview.
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The 100-100 Divide
In a perfect work environment we give 100% and our company gives 100%. Of course this never happens because we make choices based on how well we think we are treated. If your company didn’t give you a promotion, that you thought you deserved, would you still work as hard the next day?
No?
Wow, big shock.
When your manager/boss sees that you just don’t have the pep that you once had, they also pull back their desire to help you. This creates a divide that leaves everyone searching for answers
You may pull back and only give 75% of your energy, maybe taking slightly longer breaks or surfing Amazon for a new book. Your company wants you to work harder, but they’ve seen this reaction 700 times before and they don’t try to open a conversation to improve the disconnect.
Now that you’ve pulled back to 75% and no one cares, you realize that you can pull back to 50%.
You’re now working at 50% of your capacity because you can. You avoid work on some days and accomplish a lot on others, but on average you are giving 50% of your energy.
Your employer is troubled, but thinks it’s probably just a phase and before they do anything about it they realize that they’ve just created your expectations about what kind of work you need to do to get by.
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Save Money and Boost Energy at Work
This is a guest post by Nathalie Lussier of The Raw Foods Witch
Do you feel tired, unnecessarily distracted, or just frustrated at work? What if it were possible to change the way you feel about your work by changing the way your body operates at work. The premise is that by eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, you’re going to experience positive results at work.
The concept of raw food may appear daunting at first, but it’s one of the simplest ways of eating for health. Everyone knows that fresh fruits and vegetables are good for you, and raw food just takes that to the next level by recommending a diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that have not been heated above 112F.(Karl’s Note: Nathalie explains why you shouldn’t cook food about 112F on her site, “The reason being that food heated above 112 Fahrenheit loses some of its digestive enzymes.”)
The concept of raw is so powerful because it eliminates certain foods that are bad for your health, such as processed sugar and starch. Here are 5 good reasons why you might want to eat a raw food diet until dinner, and that includes eating raw at work.
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Dealing With Dread
(Can’t see the video? Then try watching it at Work Happy Now - Dealing with Dread)
Dealing with dread is one of the hardest parts of working with a difficult project. Watch how I cope and use the dread to my advantage.
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Value In Effort
(Can’t see the video? Then try watching it at Work Happy Now – Value In Effort)
The value that you feel you are giving matters. That’s what this video discusses. I talk about connecting to your actions and how easy it is to stay motivated when you care.
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Results are Only 1% of the Story
(Can’t see the video? Then click here and try watching it at Work Happy Now)
There is so much more to a project than just the results. If you play a game to win then you are setting yourself up for emotional pain. If you play to enjoy the game and you win in the process then you are creating emotional freedom.
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