Do More of What You Love

Morning! Put simply, doing what you love creates the most #value. For you. For the people around you. And for where you work.

Here’s my example. Last Friday morning I opened my electronic contact book, which was still on the same page as last week. Eeek. That meant I hadn’t called anyone new, or contacted someone about something new, all week. Even though that is absolutely what I love to do, and it’s where I add most #value.

Why? It’s simple really. For once, everything else I’ve been doing has seemed more important. And some of it is (sometimes!). The people stuff is naturally where I spend my time. The process is necessary if I’m to deliver results. And the politics is what drives many organisations, so practising “political savvy” is how to “get things done”. Where I work has no more politics than anywhere else, but it still takes effort.

But looking at that contact book was still a surprise. It made me realise how easy it is to get diverted from what you love. So this is what I did. I put everything else to one side, and spent just one hour calling people. I had three excellent conversations, and arranged two meetings. That made me smile, and gave me the energy for everything else that day.

For the introverts among you (morning Fi!) picking up the phone, and speaking to people you don’t necessarily know, probably seems like torture. But that’s just my example. What’s yours? What parts of your job give you pleasure? What do you really love to do at work? Will you schedule an hour of your time to do exactly that? Because then you’ll start doing more of what you love. And being happy and adding #value is maybe that simple.