Skip to main content

More By Less

We are two months into the new year of #Improve2019 and by now everyone should be in the midst of whatever improvement they wanted to make both personally and professionally. One of the greatest rewards is seeing people working towards goals. In workforce development and most other social service professions this is especially true. For many people, making even a small effort will start to show some result towards a goal, but what happens when it doesn’t.

There are times when hard work does not pay off. Sometimes pushing hard does not yield a result. Some people are tirelessly working towards a goal and yet nothing is happening. This can be especially frustrating as a person watches another person reach milestones.  In those difficult times, the best thing a person can do is sometimes to ease up a little.

I would not recommend this strategy for everyone in every situation, but sometimes the amount of effort a person is putting into a goal is exhausting and draining energy. Imagine you have a goal to run the New York City Marathon.  Perhaps the strategy is to learn endurance by running longer amounts of time or to extend your distances each time you run. Sounds logical, and for some people, this might work. Each day you run longer and farther. You feel pumped except you are exhausted and one day you can barely run at all. You find your training is not productive and you do not have the energy for the workout. Your body is tired and needs to recuperate. Resting your body will allow you to gain additional energy for your ongoing training.

The same can be true for achieving a professional goal. Even if a goal is not physical in nature, mental tasks can be just as exhausting. If you have a goal to analyze 200 pieces of data within five days, your mind can become tired quickly.  As your mind gets tired, you are not able to work as quickly. Focus may be lost. Sometimes instead you need to break up the task to give your mind a break.

Getting more results by doing less work is not about the end result. The goal is the same. Rather it is about taking the time to rest your body, mind, or soul if needed. It is about getting your stamina up, so you have endurance to the finish line. Improvements are not sprints. They are marathons. Improving is a journey. Regardless of your role in the goal, it is important to keep in mind achievement requires endurance. The greater the endurance the more likely a person is to achieve a goal.
 
~Karen Cirincione
Email: kcirincione@gmail.com        
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/karenjcirincione
Twitter: @kcirincione  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you Birthday?

Another year in my life has passed. It’s time for another birthday. Each year as the day approaches, I take the time to reflect on my past year, my accomplishments, and my goals for the year. My birthday is like my personal New Years’ celebration with another opportunity to have the best year ever.   I am not afraid of a birthday. Age is just a number, but each year is what you make of it. Each year I have seen the sun rise, the rain fall, and the snow melt, I have been given a gift from the universe. Many people do not get to see another birthday. I owe myself the opportunity to set goals and feel proud as I work towards achieving them. Sometimes these goals have been born from unhappy feelings and bad situations, but growth brings wisdom.   In my working life, and especially as a workforce professional, I know some of my growth must be professionally. Having experience working with job seekers looking for jobs, I understand how crucial professional growth is...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Authentic You

Authenticity is not something we think or talk about every day. It is something we all need for ourselves and to truly connect and have meaningful interactions with others. Anyone on the #improve2019 journey is looking to either improve themselves or to be the guiding light for another person on the journey. Without authenticity, the fruits of labor are bitter. They are not satisfying, but meaningless. The fruits grow are wants in the world, but are not what we truly need.   Authenticity starts with the self. It means we are first to be honest with ourselves, good or bad. It means taking a hard look in the mirror and owning our faults. Are we trying too hard or not enough? Are we speaking and not acting? Do our actions match our intentions?   These are the questions we need to ask ourselves and to really ponder. After we have truly done the recognition and have taken the steps we need to improve, we can really look to helping others doing the same.   Auth...
Post a Comment
Read more

Great Questions=Great Answers! The Pieces to the Puzzle are revealed!

Newbies in workforce development sometimes ask me how to work with a customer or how do you know why someone cannot get a job.   The answer is really simple. Ask the right questions, and then listen for the answer.    It’s not a secret. You can’t just look at person or their job seeking documents and just know. You need the person to open his mouth and speak.   You need the narrative.   Why narrative? First, you will get the information to help you help the customer.   That is if you ask the right question.   Secondly, it helps you establish rapport and trust with your customer. Someone is not going to open up if he does not trust you. This is very important.   Remember digging a hole to China as a child.   Quickly you found out that you could not find China with one shovel full of dirt.   The digger must unearth many layers to get to China! A child will quickly find out that he can’t shovel his way to China, but may find neat ...
1 comment
Read more