Crush it or be crushed. You can choose
Do you feel like you’re crushing it, or being crushed?
It seems as if every other person I talk to says they are working crazy hours to stay on top of ‘business as usual’.
They tell me there is hardly any time to think strategically about work, let alone look after themselves and the people they care about. They’re struggling to delegate. They’re ghosting colleagues and friends. Getting out of bed on Monday morning fills them with dread. They’re tired, scared and miserable.
In this fragile economic environment, gaslighting is alive and well in the workplace: “If you don’t pick up this extra work, we will find someone who will.”
Another insidious practice creeping in these days is turning up to a brand new job, only to find that the scope of the role has expanded and it isn’t what you signed up for.
All of this makes me sad.
As if COVID wasn’t difficult enough, talented folks are being stretched to breaking point. They’re being crushed and it’s difficult to watch.
I’ve been working for more than 30 years now, in agencies, in-house and running my own show. When I first starting working after finishing university, I toiled away on weekends and when I was sick. I didn’t sleep much. There wasn’t much exercise. I deferred my happiness and my PTO piled up.
I was a speedboat at work racing to achieve, often leaving important stakeholders in my wake (I was once described as a speedboat in a performance review. True story).
I thought that if I worked my tail off, higher-ups would just know I was a comms genius worthy of promotion. Little did I know at the time that this behaviour wasn’t helping me.
If you are feeling stressed and tired right now, I want you to know that succeeding in work and life is not all hard graft. But you have to change your behaviour to change your situation.
Are you working too hard because you’re unclear about what you want to achieve? Is hard graft pulling you in the wrong direction?
Setting aside time to focus on your behaviour, mindset and influence through executive coaching is a worthwhile personal investment.
At risk of burnout, it was executive coaching that changed everything for me. It was the boost I needed to help:
build self-awareness
improve communication
resolve conflicts
develop my leadership skills
make valuable connections
set a clear vision and goals (and go after them).
With these skills in my toolkit, over time I was better able to navigate various twists and turns of the corporate world and progress, personally and professionally.
I built my impact and influence at work
I was promoted into more senior roles
I expanded my network globally , making new friends along the way
I certified as an organisational coach, to help other progress
I certified as a gym instructor! Still my healthy side hustle.
Crush it, or be crushed. You can choose.
If you feel like you’re floundering, it might be time to invest in executive coaching. It can help you create space in your life for what matters. It will help you become more resilient and curious to try new ways of doing things.
Above all, executive coaching will help you make a bigger impact in work and life and expend less energy along the way.
I learned the hard way that work and life was not all about hard graft. Now I help others to realise the same and write a new purposeful and efficient game plan through executive coaching. If you’re interested in how executive coaching can help you, get in touch.
