Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Good Morning America



It’s the 4th of July weekend, the real start to summer. Lazy days, grilling, vacations, catching up on the books you wanted to read over the winter. Soak it up and enjoy. These are the days to remember . . .

I wanted to get a quick post out before the long weekend in celebration of summer and taking time off. According to a survey conducted by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of the office supplier Staples, 53% of American workers are burned-out and overworked. What is even more disturbing, according to the same survey, 86% of workers are happy and willing to work for a promotion within their organization despite being burned-out and overworked!
While I don’t dismiss the value of hard work and the importance of putting food on the table for your family, there has to be a balance between work and life and also greater emphasis on valuing what is truly important.
We all probably have different values and thoughts on what we want out of life. I won’t judge and say that one is better than another. But I do know that if you can’t go to work and have fun and find purpose in what you are doing every day, it’s time to rethink what you are doing with your time.
One of my mentors, Ari Weinzweig, has written and lectured extensively about the “energy crisis” in the American workplace. If you are working in an environment that does not provide a financially sound, supportive, sustainable way to be, you either need to foster change or find a workplace that does create positive energy. In order to have the power to create positive outcomes, we must have a stake in the outcomes.
This weekend tune out what doesn’t thrill you, fire up the grill, crack open a few cold ones (whatever your choice), and enjoy the time off with friends and family. Recharge your battery and ponder your own energy crisis at work and how you are going to fix it on Monday morning. (Need a little extra nudge getting to that vacation state of mind? Check out the latest post at Harvard Business Review’s “Work-Life Balance” blog: https://hbr.org/2015/06/get-in-the-right-state-of-mind-for-vacation.)
Have a safe and enjoyable 4th!

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