When you stop and listen to the conversations happening inside your workplace, what do you hear? Does it sound anything like this?
‘Hey, Jo. How are you?’
‘Soooooooooo busy. It’s crazy right now, isn’t it?’
‘Oh, I know, me too. I’ve been working every night this week, and on weekends. It’s just hectic.’
If this is how many of the conversations sound where you work, it’s possible you’re working in a ‘busy-badge’ culture. In ‘busy-badge’ cultures, hustle can be seen as a way of demonstrating value, but at what cost? Are people busy with the most impactful priorities, or are they just so busy being busy because they’ve got swept up in the hustle and grind vibes that linger everywhere, like a bad cologne.
As a global career and leadership coach, trainer, speaker and author of ‘Less Hustle, more Happy’, I’ve had a front row seat for years to organisations globally, and witnessed the hustle and grind cultures at play that even the most disciplined individual would be forgiven for getting swept up in.
In a world that seems so focused on ‘busy-ness’though, I believe, that if we want to create careers that are sustainable and fulfilling for the long haul, it is essential we remain focussed on the strategies that target our efforts, expertise and enthusiasm in ways that can also get us results, but without selling our souls to mindless hustle in the process.
Here are three ways you can do it:
Know yourself and your Career Values
To drive a sustainable, fulfilling and happy career, knowing what your motivators are, your strengths, and your own personal triggers, is not only helpful information to support you in making better decisions in the moment, but also enables you to make better decisions for yourself about your career from the inside out, as opposed to the outside in. Knowing yourself and your career values allows you to be the driver of your career and not the passenger.
Understand your strengths, and find ways to leverage them more
As I share in my book, the effort, expertise and enthusiasm formula is at the heart of a happy career. Essential to this formula is knowing your unique gifts and strengths, and then becoming more intentional about how you leverage them in your day to get you outcomes more easily. For example, if a superpower of yours is organisation skills, how could you weave this strength into your day to help you be even more impactful in your role, and get outcomes for yourself and others more easily?
Be clear on impact and outcomes over inputs
Conventional career advice has taught us that the only way to get ahead in our careers is to say yes to every opportunity (often without consideration of the trade off), take everything on, and then hope that someone notices and rewards us for it.
A better approach to getting ahead in your career though is to start asking yourself more consistently “Am I just busy being busy here, or am I being impactful?”. The more you can focus on the outcomes of the things you are working on, and then translate those outcomes to your manager, team, or other stakeholders, the more they will see you as the value add, high potential leader that you are.
With 25,550 days on average on earth, we will likely work in some capacity for nearly two thirds of that time. How do you want to live your working years? Engaged, fulfilled and able to draw meaning from the time you spend at work (and yes, meaning can be drawn from outside of your 9-5 and used to motivate you at work), or mindlessly hustling and counting down the days until you retire?
About the author: Claire Seeber is a Career and Leadership Coach, Trainer, Keynote Speaker, and Author of the book ‘Less Hustle, More Happy’. She is an expert in leadership development and career advancement strategies, and blends her experience in business, HR and communications to ensure that people are better able to show up and have the impact on themselves, their teams, and their organisations that they can feel proud of, AND that get outcomes.
