The toughest thing for me is to stop doing things no one expects me to do – just because I’m capable of doing them. You know those people who can’t resist saving poor animals from the streets when they see them? Well, in my case, poor animals are various business challenges.

Work less – earn more mantra sounds a bit silly, but I take it as my key mantra for years to come.

Why? Not because I’m lazy or because I don’t want to do my job properly, but simply because often doing things which are not your job simply because you can, gives you additional stress even if you feel good while doing it. It also gives you good reputation, better career progress opportunities, makes you more important in the company etc. But still, a lot of additional stress. And we want to prevent stress, not heal it later.

Let’s now move a bit from egocentric approach I usually take in my posts and let’s discuss what is your omnipresence doing to people around you:

Frustration.

Some people are frustrated because they think you are taking over their jobs, minimizing their efforts and successes, jeopardizing their career progress… All of this is not your intention. But, they have the right to see it that way. At the end of the day, it may happen that some of their fears come true and their frustrations get even bigger. If you are a part of a bigger organization, you can also set up a new standard for a peer group that they can’t reach. Then they start sabotaging, gossiping, not cooperating… All of that without logical reasons. Or at least logical to you.

Indolence.

When people see that there is someone around who will jump on every situation, either to fix a problem or to contribute with ideas and solutions, they start being a bit lazy. Maybe they will continue doing their basic jobs, but soon they will start looking for you. For quite some time this setup will work without any major upsets but in mid-term it will show its deficiency in a very brutal way.

Organizational Lapse.

Hardly any organization is flawless. Mistakes in organizational setup can be more or less visible and impactful. But sooner or later you pay the piper. It’s good to realize your organizational lapses as soon as possible. It’s like a boat with small cracks that are becoming bigger. And if there is one person capable of clogging those cracks for a while, it looks as if you can continue that cruise safely forever. But then, this person cracks down and the ship starts sinking.

Wrong Resources Management.

People capable of doing many different things successfully at the same time can give a totally wrong impression of the resources needed for a project or even for running the business in general. And if you are saving company’s resources too much, know that you and the people around you will have to spend quite some personal resources to compensate. So, think twice.

What to do then with this urge to save all poor animals form the street when it’s cold and raining outside? Well, try refocusing this energy on building a shelter for them, or raising awareness on the importance of responsible behavior with pets.

More on this topic in future posts. It’s complex and it bothers me a lot!

I would also like to hear your opinion on this.

Cheers!