The Job Perk You're Not Getting But Could Be

Posted on June 23rd, 2009 by Keith Ferrazzi

People today are shortchanging themselves -- that's the unspoken tragedy of economic recession. The five to ten percent of Americans who are unemployed and struggling lead the headlines, understandably. But how about those with jobs? The crappy employment market reduces people's expectations around satisfaction, advancement, and pay. "Just be glad you have a job" rolls off everyone's tongue and suddenly you're stagnating.

If you're someone who feels stuck, here's one suggestion: Don’t assume that your long-term professional goals can’t be served by your current job, even if it's not your ideal position. As the most successful people out there know, everything is connected! When juggling your personal and professional lives, work on blending the two, not striking a balance. Blend the demands of your day job with your long-term goals by doing what I call “drafting”—recasting current work goals to make them serve longer-term personal interests.

Drafting allows you to bring a greater percentage of your passion and interests to work; it will also significantly increase your energy for the job you have today. Along the way, it will help you to perform better—so everyone wins! Do you have to tell others of your longer-term goals? Not for starters. Just do it. Take one goal that someone’s handed you, and turn it into a learning goal for your own benefit. Or call a friend and say, “Hey, I’m trying to find a way to turn my day-to-day goals at work into something that can really benefit my long-term career. Here are my present goals at work. And here are my long-term goals in life. Can you help me?”

Creating our own personal learning goals (or even suggesting that our managers make it part of company protocol) to support the performance goals we’ve been given is an easy way to "draft." Learning goals are exactly what they sound like - goals that aren't focused on a specific outcome, but on learning a new skill or subject expertise, hopefully complimenting some kind of performance goal. The nice thing about learning is that it serves you as much as your employers. Company goals become tools in our own self-development. Think of it as a job perk that isn’t written in your contract. Meanwhile, your employer will benefit from your increased engagement.

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8 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

  1. Mike Tomasello says:
    June 23, 2009 at 2:58 pm
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    Thank you! It has been driving me crazy hearing people just saying "I'm just lucky to have a job" and then sit in misery and try to bring me down with it.

    For those that have jobs, we also have the opportunity as you have outlined it to build upon what we have and not only make ourselves more valuable to the company in the process but increase the chances that we will be recognized as the leader in our area of desired personal growth!

  2. Hello, my comment about job situations being gloomy. I know gloom is the most fascinating to people. I am a Consultant with Mary Kay Cosmetics and I set my goals for my sales and being positive and helping others feel good about themselves my business is great. Volunteer and help people and it will all come back to you. The passage I live by is: Let nothing disturb thee; let nothing dismay thee; God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. He who has God find he lacks nothing. God alone Suffices. St. Theresa of Avila (1515-1582)

  3. Thanks for this article and all your hard work in helping others navigate life. I have been keeping up with you since I randomly purchased "Never eat alone" at Borders like 2 years ago. You never disappoint.
    As Napoleon Hill said "The only thing you have control over is how you thing about and react to things." We don't have control over the economic situation but how we think about it and react to it, we have control over. Those very thoughts and reactions determine our success or failure. I am glad to see that you are helping people change those very thoughts and reactions.
    Thanks
    kb

    @Dorothy, thanks for that quote!

  4. I haven't read much of Napolean Hill, but I would credit Victor Frankl, in "Man's Search for Meaning," with an earlier, more urgent expression of the same idea: “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.”
    Worth reading -- or re-reading -- if you have not done so recently.

  5. Thank you, Keith! You have been a great help in building my life and I received so much good advice from you. I am looking forward to your next topic and hopefully one day I will become as successful as you are!
    All the best!

  6. Thanks for your comments and Keith for initiating this conversation.

    The concept “drafting” it helps us to stay focus. We only achieve long-term goals by doing little things every day and by involving others, who will follow up our progress and more than anything friends who will support us. It’s very important than in this process we use numbers, indicators, to see our growth. There are many things that we are doing during our current work goals that serve our longer-term personal interests but we don’t see them. Start looking for those little things, count them and be grateful.

    I also agree with you that learning is a great way to serve others and to keep ourselves humble. The day that we think that we know everything or that we stop learning is the day that we died and this can happen with or without an economic recession. What I called it our “individual economic recession”…

    sonia@soniathomas.com

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