In this movie Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs does two things, first he talks about a day he worked on a farm and amongst other things docks lambs. I saw this show and couldn’t believe he did what he did. I thought it was inhumane and as it turns out initially he did too, but in an entertaining fashion he talks through his learning and explains.
The second thing he does is he makes the point that in his opinion people with Dirty Jobs are happier. He puts forward a strong case that following the advice “Follow Your Passion” might be bad advice. For some it will just lead to a life of disappointment and I therefore guess unhapiness.
Certainly there are lots of very happy people picking fruit, waiting tables etc so that they can collect just enough money to do what they really love such as surfing in the evening and snow boarding all winter. That’s not to suggest these are “dirty jobs”, just examples of jobs I no longer want to do to earn an income. They don’t meet my needs but do work perfectly for many and therefore support Mikes point.
It’s an interesting observation and …
maybe it’s a crazy addiction but I however am someone that has chosen to persue my dreams through work. Not just in what I do day to day, but also through what I am able to do with the reasources and network of people that result from my efforts.
I care deeply about What I do, How I do it and more importantly Who I do it With.
Work for me has become one of the ways I express myself, I see our company as a reflection of me. When things are going well, I find it easy to feel good about myself. When the stress kicks in for a prolonged period of time I need to remind myself that “it’s just a game”, yet sometimes it can get me down. I guess that’s his point. If you take it personally, and if you don’t keep the self judgement under control it is going to be hard to be happy.
Life is always easier when we keep things simple … when we stay present and we design our lives around what makes us smile.
So why is it so easy to build up a story which starts with “I’ll be happy when …” especially when it comes to our work?
If I’ve learnt nothing else from the Fire Service it is this…
You only have THIS MOMENT … Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is still a dream and sadly some people wont even have this afternoon.
‘Follow Your Passion’ is fantastic advice, but there are so many ways to do this, not just at work. Great family, friends, laughter, work, sports, hobbies.
What ever you do life is to short not to enjoy it!
Sadly I have decided to stop development of my wordpress plugins. I have become extremely busy in my day job and my work as a volunteer Fire Fighter, my family and friends need to be my focus the rest of the time.
I am sorry if you have been using my plugins and this leaves them unsupported but have been forced to make this decision rather than leave people hanging with an expectation of assistance but no time to do so.
Well today, has been a pretty exciting day. Apple launched their latest professional photography software, Aperture 3, and for me it was particularly special as we (Queensberry) were involved in our own small way.
After approximately a year of working with Apple, including a trip to Cupertino in October, today’s announcement shared information on how professional photographers could buy our wedding albums through Aperture. Using a cleverly developed plugin our clients can now use their favourite image tool to order albums from us.
It’s not just exciting because we’re working with Apple, but I’ve been an Apple fan boy since I was literally a boy of maybe 9 or 10 years old, when Dad brought our first Apple IIe. I have only owned Macs etc since, our companies run almost exclusively on their gear and our own software is largely developed on Mac workstations.
I’m obviously proud. Quoting their website, it’s not only great to be included in an elite group of “some of the world’s finest bookmakers” but I get to work closely with a company I have admired for decades.
The team there are an awesome group of really nice people, and I congratulate them on the success of a great product.
Wikipedia describes Empathy as the capability to share and understand another’s emotions and feelings, and is characterized as the ability to “put oneself into another’s shoes”.
This connection to others is both an honorable and natural feeling, but can also often drive us to do something that, is the completely wrong thing to do. Since joining the Fire Service I’ve seen many situations where peoples empathy for another has not only caused them to be unable to render help, but on occasions has actually put everyone in danger.
In a blog post the other day Seth Godin talked about empathy and asked marketers to not assume they know how people are feeling emotionally. His logic was that unless you had had the same experience, how could you know how a person was feeling and that it was therefore dangerous to pretend you do.
I agree with this, but in a stressful, high anxiety situation, peoples imagination and emotions can run away on them if the environment is not managed and if people do not control their own state. As we grow, we develop a strong natural empathetic response. It’s that feeling that makes us want to rush over and help someone we see struggling, or aid someone in pain.
The problem is, if we get caught up in that emotion – we actually lose the ability to help.
What I’ve discovered, partly through training and partly through observation is that there is a space (a period of time) between the stimulus (what happened) and your response to it. For some people that time doesn’t seem to exist and they react so quickly, so the challenge is to take a deep breath and take as long as needed to respond appropriately.
‘Feel’ but don’t get caught up
It’s important to have empathy and show compassion, but you can’t get caught up in the emotion of the situation. You help best when you are totally present and strong.
What’s your role
Be clear, “what’s my role in this situation”, and respond appropriately. At the scene of a car accident it would be a natural instinct to want to help a crying child first and remove them from the situation and give comfort. But to remain effective we must control those feelings, and do what is right. To solve an emotional situation effectively there should be a process that works best
The same situation we see on the Fire Ground exist in normal life.
To be effective in our jobs, our businesses, and our families, we need to learn to have empathy without over reaction, this allows us to assess and then act in the most effective manner. If not the situation becomes overwhelming and we lose both our clarity of thought and the creativity required to solve the problem at hand.
Empathy can become an addiction
It feels good to be connected emotionally to people, but it is not always best to be like that. Build a strong emotional muscle to help guide your response as It’s a lot easier to assess and react to a situation by looking in ‘at it’ rather than when you are ‘too close’.
In business we’re required to make big decisions in stressful environments, think strategically under pressure and set an example for our employees. Don’t go running into any burning building without taking a minute to control your frame of mind.
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