FISH!ing lessons for life

Few days ago, I got a call from my friend. In my half an hour of conversation with her, she only cribbed about her job. I wondered what really happened. Two years ago she completed her MBA from one of the best institutions in India. She got a campus placement and called it her dream job. Today, she hated her job. She told me “it’s boring and monotonous.”

I have often seen people changing their FB status from “feeling enthusiastic at work” to “Monday blues and Thank God it’s Friday.” People are highly disengaged. They are only going through motions at work. I remember my friend telling me that the only message which makes her happy is “Your salary has been credited to your Account.”  People lack the passion, enthusiasm and energy at work. It is not only harmful for the organization they work for but it is affecting their personal lives too.

I wanted to give an easy-to-follow advice to my friend. I knew I had to boost her morale and help her see things differently at her workplace. Two days back, I read this wonderful book FISH! by Stephen, Harry and Paul.I read the first line and knew I will find my answers in this book.

We have to find a deep source of energy, creativity and passion that exist inside each one of us by learning to love what we do, even if at the moment we may not be doing exactly what we love.

FISH! is a story of a woman Mary Jane who has been promoted as the manager of the operations group on the third floor of First Guarantee Financial. The third floor has often been the topic of conversation but for all the opposite reasons. It has been hated by other employees and everyone dreaded any contact with the third floor. Words like unpleasant, slow, wasteland, zombie were often used to describe the third floor because of callous and disengaged attitude of the employees. Mary Jane on joining her duties on the third floor experiences the lifeless and depressing environment of her workplace when she decides to transform this toxic energy dump into a workplace filled with energy, positivity and fun.

Mary Jane finds the solution for her problems at the world –famous Pike place Fish market. The fishmongers amazed her with their passion, enthusiasm and fun at work. She realizes that if the tedious and mundane work of the fish market could be performed with energy and engagement, her lifeless workplace could also be transformed into one with enthusiasm, efficiency and productivity. She applies the FISH! Philosophy and does wonders at her workplace.

The FISH! Philosophy has four ingredients which can be applied to any organization and to every part of our life. These four practices help us see our life and work with a new perspective and enable us to become our best version.

1. Choose your attitude

There is always a choice about the way you do your work, even if there is not a choice about the work itself.

In life, we often find ourselves in situations which we didn’t want to be in. We may not have the choice to opt out of it but we always have a choice about our attitude to face it. It will take some courage and self control to internalize with the idea to choose our attitude, but we can definitely make that choice.

2. Play

Workplace should be like a playground and employees like adult children.

We spend about 75% of our time doing work-related activities and it becomes imperative that we enjoy and feel energized doing our work. We must look forward to our work each day because there should be nothing as enjoyable as the work we do. In this process, the work itself becomes a reward and not just a way to rewards.

3. Make their day

It makes you feel good about your job, even if it’s not perfect.

When we focus our attention on making someone’s day, it not only engages them but it provides us with a constant flow of positive feelings at work. It gives us happiness and creates an atmosphere of inclusion.

4. Be there

Life is too precious just to be passing through to retirement.

Every day in our life is a gift of God. We have to be fully engaged in whatever we do. We should stay focused to accomplish our goals and we shall start loving what we do.

The book also provides four real –life stories where the FISH!ing lessons are put into action to experience amazing results. I hope, I and my friend apply these lessons too and make a positive difference in our lives.

                                                                                                              Upasana Dhanda