Treadmill Blues?

It happens all the time.

See if this seems familiar. We find a company we would really like to go to work for and we apply. For weeks or sometimes months, we don't sleep well.

We keep thinking about how much money we will be paid when we get it. We think about how much better that job will be than the one we are currently doing.

We think and rethink every step that we have made in making this possible; how much research we did, (if any) and perhaps we have someone on the inside already telling us that we have a good shot at getting this and to just be patient.

Finally, the day comes and we win! We get the position that we have wanted for a long time and we give our notice at the old place. We settle things up and we start the new job.

The Honeymoon phase lasts for a few weeks, and then we start to see the truth in the people whom we work for and with and the shiny-ness of the new job starts to wear a little thin. Maybe our boss isn't always the nice person we liked immediately. Maybe people above our boss aren't that enamored with us, because they wanted their first cousin to get the job and you are the one who kept that from happening. Real Life returns.

Now you are finding yourself in a similar condition and circumstance. The Honeymoon period is definitely over and the increase in your salary has already been usurped by the payments you committed to for the new furniture, so your wallet isn't spilling over with extra money that you imagined would be the case and you marvel at how little time it took for that to happen.

Fast forward a couple of years and you find yourself bored with the job you worked so hard to obtain. You aren't getting along all that well with the boss, largely due to cutbacks in personnel to please the HR people and the budget, and you are working harder for the same money you used to think would fix everything for you and your personal Life.

So, you start looking again...for something better...that pays more...that would make you happier than you are right now.

I get it. I used to actually think that my misfortune, my mistakes, my shortcomings and my being passed over for promotions and raises was mostly due to someone above me either not liking me or liking someone else more, and that there was nothing I could do about that.

And I will tell you that the day things started to turn around for me was the day I figured out that all my bosses wanted from me was to be someone they could count on to bring MORE VALUE to my position within the company. They wanted to get their full money's worth in hiring me. They wanted me to make them look good. They wanted me to bring new ideas, new concepts, better brainstorming to the position, which was much different than me expecting raises based on time spent and nothing else.

Once I understood this, I started to figure out what I could to in order to bring that value, because when I did, I became more Value-Able. I went back to researching what my employer was up against in the market place. I took it upon myself to interview other people in the company who had good ideas, but weren't being heard. I volunteered for extra projects. I talked up friends to apply. I created an attitude of gratefulness for the opportunity to work there.

And, guess what else-My attitude became infectious. Other people in the company who had the same or similar belief that they couldn't contribute started to contribute because I paved the way, and we, together, up-leveled everyone's attitude and performance.

It wasn't just me doing that, but I know I influenced a lot of people. When that started to happen, we all started to share our pride again in what the company delivered in product and service to our target market. We all started to show up on time. Our numbers went substantially down when it came to people calling in sick.

Oh, and because the company started doing better, they were able to incrementally pay us more when reviews came up, because the raises were based on production values, customer-service values, management values and personal values, not just time on the job.

So, my question to you is this: What are you doing to bring more value to your position? Because when you start to show up as someone more valuable, not only are you going to be in more demand where you are now, but your company's competitors would like to talk to you, because they could use you, too.

And that is how you create leverage.

...dr

StandOut Mastery

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