Category / work

by Nathan Coumbe

A trick to help you better enjoy work

There’s one tiny thing you can do to drastically increase the enjoyment and satisfaction you get from work.

When you learn something new – whether it’s related to the “job“ or not – share or teach it to someone you work with. 

I once learned that a tiny practice we did at the office wasn’t just for fun or recognition. It also had real financial benefits to the company. 

Scared as I was to speak up, I shared it with my small three-man team…and discovered that my boss didn’t know about it. I was able to teach him something new.

Don’t assume just because someone’s been working somewhere longer than you that they know everything about “how things are around here“.

Be generous with your knowledge. It will only pay you back. 

by Nathan Coumbe

Making a GOOD living

Most of us read that phrase and think it means “earning a lot of money so we can buy nice things, go to fun places, and have a life of ease.”

But what if we took it literally?

Maybe it means making good things to make others’ lives better. Or perhaps making “good” (the concept) part of your life and modeling that to others. 

Maybe it just means making the world a good place. After all, we do live here.

Work is how we express our gifts, our skills, our selves. It’s how we contribute to society. Hopefully doing well at our work will let us be compensated well (while also allowing us to both enjoy our time here and be generous blessings to others). 

But I don’t really think money has much to do with good living. At least not after a certain point.

That’s my definition. What does “making a good living” mean to you?

by Nathan Coumbe

The master in the art of living…

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from James Michener:

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.

He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.

To him he’s always doing both.”

by Nathan Coumbe

The first thing to do when you get laid off…

I lost my job yesterday – nothing to do with me. Something happened with the company, and I was one of the casualties.

There’s nothing I can do about it but to accept the reality of the situation and figure out how I’ll respond, rather than react, to this setback.

And the first thing I did?

I went for a walk.

Even though I really didn’t want to. I did it anyway – and I felt better for it.

When something like this happens, the best thing you can do is to get in some movement. Any form of exercise will do:

  • A long walk
  • A few laps at the pool
  • A great strength session

Get the heart pumping, the blood flowing to your brain, and the endorphins storming throughout your body.

There’s another thing you need to do, too—take your daily dose of motivational vitamins.

I love to listen to Seth Godin and Zig Ziglar on a daily basis – the same messages over and over again until I can repeat them verbatim. Why?

Because when I start repeating what they say—when I can finish their sentences—it means I’ve changed the way I talk to myself. Their messages of hope and success become my thoughts on the same topics.

So, if you’re about to lose (or already have lost) your job, take these two steps immediately.

  1. Get in some exercise (and do something physical EVERY SINGLE DAY)
  2. Take your daily motivational vitamin

By the way, here are two great recommendations from Seth & Zig to get you started:

P.S. Check out my cute little video talking about this very topic.

by Nathan Coumbe

We ask more from our work

Millennials and Gen-Z-ers are often mocked because we want more from work…

We want more than just a paycheck and health insurance (a statement usually said in derision by older generations). We want meaning and impact in our work.

OF COURSE WE DO!

We spend the majority of our lives at work. 

40 hours a week (if we aren’t forced to work overtime)…

50 weeks a year (if we’re lucky enough to get a 2-week vacation)…

For 40 years (probably longer with the way things are looking)…

On the low end, that’s 80,000 hours of lives.

We spend more time at work than we do with our spouses or children, who are supposed to be the most important part of our lives. 

If we are to spend almost all our time on this earth toiling away, shouldn’t it also be the thing that brings us meaning and fulfillment? Shouldn’t it also impact the world in a positive way?

What’s wrong with that?

by Nathan Coumbe

Consistency is key

“If you want to change your body, being consistent is more important than anything else.”

—Precision Nutrition, “Prepare for liftoff”

This is wonderful advice. But it doesn’t just apply to your body.

With anything you pursue, consistency is the key factor that will determine success or failure, change or stagnation.

If you want to be a writer, showing up to the page consistently—upon waking for Morning Pages or each evening on a blog—is the most important thing you can do.

If you want to start a business, showing up to work on it every day—writing copy, sending emails, building an offer—is the way to do it.

Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” To be the thing you want to be, you have to do it day after day.

What do you want to become? What do you need to do consistently to become that?

by Nathan Coumbe

Getting paid for what’s easy

It doesn’t happen. At least, not in the ways or amounts we want it to.

People don’t want to have to think for a living. They want to make money for easy work…

And thinking, making decisions, being creative—none of that is easy.

But those are precisely the things that people get paid the most for. They’re the only things that’ll help us survive in the modern economy.

The easy work is disappearing… We must embrace the hard work—the work that isn’t easy to measure.

by Nathan Coumbe

If you’re surviving, you’re succeeding

Every day that you’re still “playing the game“ is a day you’re moving closer to achieving your goals. 

If you’re still in the game (whatever that game is to you), you’re succeeding. 

You might not be moving forward quickly. In fact, you might be standing still. 

Sometimes, literally surviving—keeping your head above the water—is all you’re capable of doing. And that’s enough. 

Because until you quit, there’s still the possibility of winning. 

Staying in the game the first, and most important, part of playing the game. 

But once you’re out, there’s no longer any possibility of winning. 

by Nathan Coumbe

Infinity makes your career difficult

“Infinity” overwhelms us. We aren’t wired to understand or cope with it.

When we humans are faced with a seemingly infinite number of choices, most of the time we make no choice at all.

We freeze up, afraid to make the wrong one…

Or we just walk away…

Or, sometimes, we just go with whoever or whatever happens to be #1 that day—the “industry leader”.

And today, we have an infinite number of career choices. We grow up being told we can be anything… and in many cases that’s true. Most of the gatekeepers are gone.

But we’re also pushed to develop competence in many areas, rather than expertise or remarkability in just one or a few. We have to get Bs in everything, rather than an A+ in our favorite area and some Cs in the others.

This need to be good at everything, combined with too many choices, paralyzes us. Because we don’t want to pick the “wrong thing”. We don’t want to dedicate years of our lives and massive amounts of money to something that might not be a good fit.

So we don’t pick at all… Or we just pick the one that has the highest possible salary, the best job prospects, or the most security.

We don’t consider who we are, how we’re wired, what we love, what changes we’d like to see in the world…

We just go with whatever comes our way… but we can do so much better than that. We can contribute so much more.

But we have to choose what we’re going to focus on… and what we’re going to quit.

So what do you do? How do you overcome the paralysis of analysis? The overwhelm we experience when faced with too many choices?

Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

(H/t to Seth Godin for inspiring this post)

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by Nathan Coumbe

Your day begins at sunset

In traditional Jewish & Orthodox Christian cultures, the new day begins at sunset, not sunrise.

Even God, in the book of Genesis, began his work days building the universe in the evening.

Yet we base all our work, plans, and decision-making around what time we wake up. And we end the day with (often inadequate) rest and sleep.

What if we flipped this idea on its head?

I’ve been listening to Michael Hyatt’s latest book, Win at Work & Succeed at Life. In it, he has an entire section dedicated to this topic and its importance.

But what interested me the most was the inverted way he looks at work and rest.

He made me realize that rest isn’t a reward for hard work…

In fact, rest is the vital precursor to doing excellent work day after day.

Think about it: in the ancient world, everyone worked long, hard days building, crafting, and farming. Without adequate rest, their bodies would have broken down, and their work would have suffered.

The crop might have failed, the buildings might have crumbled… Their creations would have worn out and broken. So their days began at sunset, which means they started their days with rest, relaxation, and sleep.

Most of us do knowledge work these days, but the same principle applies. We have to prioritize rest if we hope to succeed at work.

Can you change your mindset and start your days with rest?

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