A Better Way to Employ Work
My youngest daughter Promise bakes bread for a living. She works for a national bread and sandwich chain that’s growing fast, and 6 months ago she was asked to teach her trade to other young people. She’s trained a score already with no end in sight; interest in bread baking as a career is rising like a ball of sourdough.
In the time that she’s been an instructor, Promise has matured noticeably in how she deals with her co-workers, friends and family. She now sets boundaries with others and communicates her expectations more clearly. She also shows more patience, even with me, her once insupportable mother!
Promise’s increasing ability to deal well with people off the job owes a lot to the practice she’s been getting in using relationship skills on the job.
In training others, Promise has had to learn to be patient. She has also learned to clarify her needs and to state plainly what she wants and expects of others. Just as much as knowing in what proportions to mix flour and water, these skills are essential to Promise if she’s to have the overnight “bake” ready for early risers who jumpstart their work day with a bagel.
Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work, where we also receive some training beyond the basics that made us employable in the first place. The workplace is more than an environment in which to perfect occupational skills, however. Consider:
Would it enhance other aspects of your life if you could communicate effectively? Who better to hone this skill with than your co-workers?
Would your goals in life be easier to reach if you could manage time efficiently? Cultivate this skill at work—you may as well make your boss happy while benefiting yourself.
Would you be happier at home and play if you could “respond” instead of simply “react” when stressed? If you can think of a better training ground than work to develop this ability, please let me know!
This year we’ll go really deep into how you can apply the Law of Attraction at work to develop yourself in ways that will enrich every facet of your life.
A good start is to select something you do (or fail to do) that causes you to “beat up” on yourself. I’m focusing on finishing projects. As I practice this in my work, I’ll grow better at completing projects off the clock too, a tremendously positive “spillover” into my personal life.
To reach my goal, I’m replacing my usual self-accusation of “I never complete things” with the mantra “I start and finish only what’s important to me.” I’ll continue to abandon some projects before they’re finished; it’s in my nature as a creative person. Yet I’ll also become skilled at distinguishing what really matters to me and only awaits completion. Shifting my focus from “don’t” to “do” will trigger the Law of Attraction to deliver more of what I want: mastery in completing what I start.
Once you’ve decided on an improvement area, ask someone to help you recognize your progress. (It can be hard to see it for yourself if you’re tackling something for which you regularly chide yourself.) You might enlist your boss or direct supervisor, if you’re on good terms. After all, they have a vested interest in seeing you perform better.
There’s no arena as rich as the workplace in opportunities to focus on and practice skills that can color all parts of your life positively. There you can earn your daily bread and train yourself up in ways that mean the difference between just making a living and making a life.
