Give It Your All

As the escalator crested to the second floor of the convention center, Ken stepped off and headed straight for the cluster of armchairs off to the right. Relieved, he sat and looked at his watch: 30 minutes to midnight. 'No wonder I'm beat,' he thought. And then, 'What am I doing here? Working crazy hours to make Warner look good? It isn't worth it anymore.'

Because people are
perceptive, the truth
does get out, and
giving it your all
is almost always
a great choiceJust then he saw Peter hop off the escalator and start to make the turn to go up to Three. Spotting Ken by the window, Peter brightened, changed course and headed over to say hello, motioning to the woman behind him to follow.

"Gina, meet Ken Mersereau, Diamond Square. Ken, Gina Chang."

Ken stood and smiled. "Ah, yes, I attended your talk," Ken said as they shook hands. "Enjoyed it."

"Ken Mersereau…" Gina began, "…so you're the one who makes Warner look so good."

Ken was stunned. He didn't think anyone knew. "Well, I try, but that really isn't my main goal," he said. Suddenly he was glad that he'd decided to give it his all.

Holding back because you work for a credit thief is probably not your best strategy. Because people are perceptive, the truth does get out, and giving it your all is almost always a great choice. Here are three things to keep in mind as you decide how much of yourself to throw into a job.

Don't hold back to get even

Restraining yourself because of past or current injustice only confirms the (incorrect) low opinion others have of you. If you aren't appreciated, address the problem directly with the offenders. If that's impossible or if it fails, either do your job the best you can, or find another. Doing your job half-heartedly hurts you more than anyone else.

Work for yourself first

Praise or even adulation from others makes most of us feel good, but feeling wonderful yourself about the job you're doing is even better. Practice self-appreciation until you get really good at it. You'll probably find that appreciating yourself for something feels hollow unless you've given it your all.

Give only what you've got

Giving more than you've got isn't giving your all — it's giving what's not yours. You could be stealing from yourself, when you give up your time off; from your loved ones, when you deprive them of your full Self; or from colleagues, when you take unethical shortcuts.

When you give it your all (and only your all), a wonderful thing happens. You feel the peace that comes from knowing that this planet is a better place for your having lived on it.  Top    Next Issue

Love the work but not the job? Bad boss, long commute, troubling ethical questions, hateful colleague? This ebook looks at what we can do to get more out of life at work. It helps you get moving again! Read Go For It! Sometimes It's Easier If You Run, filled with tips and techniques for putting zing into your work life. Order Now!

For more on achieving and inspiring goals, see "Corrales Mentales," Point Lookout for July 4, 2001; "Commitment Makes It Easier," Point Lookout for October 16, 2002; "Beyond WIIFM," Point Lookout for August 13, 2003; "Your Wishing Wand," Point Lookout for October 8, 2003; "Knowing Where You're Going," Point Lookout for April 20, 2005; "Workplace Myths: Motivating People," Point Lookout for July 19, 2006; "Astonishing Successes," Point Lookout for January 31, 2007; and "Achieving Goals: Inspiring Passion and Action," Point Lookout for February 14, 2007.

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Take Regular Temperature Readings

Team interactions are unimaginably complex. To avoid misunderstandings, offenses, omissions, and mistaken suppositions, teams need open communications. But no one has a full picture of everything that's happening. The Temperature Reading is a tool for surfacing hidden and invisible information, puzzles, appreciations, frustrations, and feelings.

Assumptions and the Johari Window: I

The roots of both creative and destructive conflict can often be traced to differing assumptions of the parties to the conflict. Working out these differences is a lot easier when we know what everyone's assumptions are.

Some Limits of Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis uses powerful tools for finding the sources of process problems. The approach has been so successful that it has become a way of thinking about organizational patterns. Yet, resolving organizational problems this way sometimes works — and sometimes fails. Why?

How to Find Lessons to Learn

When we conduct Lessons Learned sessions, how can we ensure that we find all the important lessons to be learned? Here's one method.

Paradoxical Policies: II

Because projects are inherently unique, constructing general organizational policies affecting projects is difficult. The urge to treat projects as if they were operations compounds the difficulty. Here's a collection of policies for projects that would be funny if they weren't real.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming September 27: On Working Breaks in Meetings

When we convene a meeting to work a problem, we sometimes find that progress is stalled. Taking a break to allow a subgroup to work part of the problem can be key to finding simple, elegant solutions rapidly. Choosing the subgroup is only the first step. Available here and by RSS on September 27.

And on October 4: Self-Importance and Conversational Narcissism at Work: I

Conversational narcissism is a set of behaviors that participants use to focus the exchange on their own self-interest rather than the shared objective. This post emphasizes the role of these behaviors in advancing a narcissist's sense of self-importance. Available here and by RSS on October 4.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenogMhuqCxAnbfLvzbner@ChacigAthhhYwzZDgxshoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info