Transforming Your Workplace

Have you ever wondered what could improve your personal effectiveness, productivity and sense of satisfaction? We have. In fact, the two of us have devoted the past 20+ years to discovering and rediscovering the answer to this question. Over this time we have repeatedly seen that no system of rules has led us to be our personal best. Sometimes it has been the supportive words of a friend, and other times it has been gathering the strength to overcome a challenging obstacle. Still other times, it has been discipline and simply going for it that has helped us to shine. Above all, it has been the willingness to look and re-look at the view we take of the world, our environment and ourselves that has supported us in continuing along our own personal paths.

If you want to be happy and satisfied, it is important that you investigate how it is that you relate to your world, your workplace and to yourself.

By and large, most people spend the majority of their waking lives at work. If you consider the time it takes to get dressed, take yourself to work and bring yourself home at the end of the day, not to mention all of the time you spend thinking about what needs to be done there, then a huge portion of your life and life energy is invested in your occupation. Because "work" is such a major portion of the average person’s life, we thought we would look at how you relate to working and your job as a metaphor for how you approach life.

A powerful way to begin is to assume that life is holographic. In other words, if you look at any one aspect of your life, it will reflect how you are in all aspects. This could be equated to DNA. The DNA in a strand of your hair is the same as the DNA in your bone marrow, the same as the DNA in your blood. So for the sake of this article we will assume the way you are at work is typical of how you are in all aspects of your life.

It has been said that it is easy to become enlightened on a mountaintop but difficult in the marketplace. On the "mountain" there is not much in the way of distractions, intrusions or deadlines. In the "marketplace" (your job) however, life is full of distractions, intrusions, interruptions, frustrations and unexpected events. Add to this people: lots of people and all of the dynamics that come along with dealing with different cultures and personalities. It is easy to be satisfied when all the circumstances line up perfectly, but for most of us in our jobs, life does not always turn out the way we prefer and the challenge is to find real balance in a day-to-day sense.

Large office buildings have trouble with air conditioning/heating systems re-circulating the same air and spreading viruses through the work force. Well, office gossip can debilitate your productivity and satisfaction much like this season’s strain of the flu. It works like this: a co-worker "sneezes" his or her current complaints in your direction. "The boss is a jerk", "I hate my job", "I’m not appreciated around here". There is a short incubation period, 24 to 48 hours, and soon you come down with the same virus which you then pass back and forth and on to others until the workplace becomes infected with a never ending, evolving strain of "This isn’t it." The best virus protection against the workplace attitude flu is to really get involved in your work, and to bring "complaints" to those who can actually do something about them. Incidentally, a friend of ours, a president of a computer company and manager of a sales force, has noticed a direct correlation between productivity and complaints - those who are producing don’t find things to complain about and those who aren’t producing always complain that something or someone else is the cause for their lack of success.

There are three Principles of Instantaneous Transformation. We will give them to you here so that you can see how they apply to your workplace or situations in your work environment.

1. Anything you resist will persist and grow stronger.

2. No two things can occupy the same space at the same time.

3. Anything that you choose to be exactly the way it is will complete itself, in that moment, and lose its power over you.

Here are the principles in practical terms. First, anything you resist will persist and grow stronger. For example, take a look at those things about your boss or co-worker that you don’t like. Notice how when you focus on your complaints they seem to intensify while your productivity and satisfaction radically decrease? This brings the second principle into play: No two things can occupy the same space at the same time. In other words, if you are focusing on your complaints, then you can’t be doing your best work. Of course, the converse is also true - if you are focusing on doing your best work then you can’t be complaining. This dovetails nicely with the third principle: Anything that you choose to be exactly the way it is will complete itself, in that moment, and lose its power over you. Another way of looking at this third principle is anything you leave alone will leave you alone. There are often compelling distractions in your business environment, either circumstantial or personality conflicts. However, if you turn your attention from your disagreement with the way things are, it minimizes their impact and allows you to get on with your day.