Learning Bites #6: Why Are You Working So Hard?

If you are among those people who tend to work their bottoms off, do you know what drives you every single day to work so hard?

In case you don’t, you might be interested in this short exercise, which is part of the Learning Bites Series.

For those of you who have never done one of these exercises, they are simply there to encourage YOU to take small action steps – now, not later in a few months time. Otherwise it will be forgotten.

NOTE: To be upfront, this little exercise will not be able to deliver you the exact answer to the question on what drives you. We would need more time for that than ‘just’ 15-20 minutes. Its intention is to trigger thoughts. To make you reflect certain things you do or say in your daily life.

Having said that, let’s start.

What we do

So often, we focus on what we do and how we do things. I am one of the first ones to admit that. Sometimes it is terrible and even very materialistic at times. We have “to do lists”, we drive our fancy car to work (at least the Germans are known for that ;-)) and we tend to present ourselves to strangers by explaining what job we have and where we work – just to name a few.

Sometimes we get into this routine, we work hard to get things done, to move forward, to be liked by others. We enjoy what we do, hopefully, or at least parts of it.

Learning Bites #6: Why Are You Working So Hard?

 

 Part 1: Sit back & Listen (18 minutes)

Have you heard of the “start with why” movement by Simon Sinek? For me it started all with this talk.

 

Take some time to watch it, in case you do not know it and even if you have already seen it, have a look at it again.

 

Part 2: Self-reflection (10 minutes)

Take a piece of paper and a pen, or open up a new document on your device and answer to following questions. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer.

 

Step 1: How often do you talk during the day/week about what you do and how you did it rather than why?

Step 2: What is more important to you? What you do or why you do it?

Step 3: How do you define your company culture? Is it visible and lived by all the team members?

Step 4: Does it bother you to work long hours?

Step 5: Which of your daily tasks do you do without realizing how the time passes by? Can you delegate some of the other tasks?

 

Even if you only watched Simon’s speech, it hopefully triggered some thoughts to uncover why you do what you do, at work and in your private life. That is already a great step!

Now, do you think this exercise is useful? What is your feedback on this exercise? Please leave a comment!

 

 Photo credit: Bart Everson