At home, above my desk hangs a sign that in bold letters displays “do what you (insert heart here).” For a long time, I found it inspirational. I’m guessing that is more than likely the sole reason why I purchased it in the first place.
Recently, I find myself gazing at it and wondering is that really enough? I ask this because I know 100% that I absolutely love what I do. I couldn’t imagine really doing anything else. I say realistically because periodically I dream of owning a donut shop where I would have unlimited access to the warm donuts right out of the fryer to my liking. Hint: This girl loooves her donuts.
Nevertheless, this absolute love does not make every day fantastic. It doesn’t guarantee that I won’t even have to do something that I don’t love. I mean, admit it, do you love everything about your job all the time? No, there are things we must do and we know why they must be done but doesn’t make them any more enjoyable.
This week I had a run in with what my mentor would call a “toxic person.” This individual vocalized how they believed I was going to fail and was happy to state the reasons why. Despite all the wonderful support and opportunities that I have been experiencing with Leadership Arts, I couldn’t let go of these comments. In fact, I think they began to turn into a little voice that would just chant in the background of my mind all day. Then the voice became louder and started to drown out any positive comments where I was becoming almost deaf.
I had no other choice but to reflect. Figure out why, why am I doing this? Not why am I dwelling on the toxicity, but why am I sitting in this office giving it all I got? Do you want to know what I came up with?
I came up with these five reasons:
- We heard you! Time and time again, leaders and employees alike were asking for a how-to manual on being successful in their roles. It does not take a large amount of research to learn that the vast majority of people do not want to go to a work environment every day that is miserable. We specialize in training leaders and yes even employees, on how to make that environment much more enjoyable.
- Sadly there are organizations that are just not willing to invest in something so intangible. There have been several attempts to link soft skills training to business outcomes, however, none have fully succeeded at proving the monumental value. This value is only fully appreciated when one experiences the outcomes. We wanted to make sure we provide the opportunity to make this possible not only to organizations at a reasonable cost (in hopes they would give it a whirl) but individuals that would like to invest in themselves as well.
- We love what we do, yet that isn’t enough. We come to work every day for you. It really isn’t about us or what we want. We do this to make a difference one individual at a time. Nothing means more to us than a genuine thank you.
- As business trends change, one thing is becoming clear. People are the asset that can make or break you. People have the power to make an organization amazing. They also have the power to make an organization crash and burn. This is a force to be reckoned with.
- Long story short, we are in the people planning business. Whether it is building awareness as to the significant people play in your business model or helping your team reach a whole new level of performance.
Loving what you do is not enough. It has to be about something bigger than you.
Discovering these five reasons has rejuvenated my passion to pursue this journey and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.
Sincerely,
