Tag / work

by Nathan Coumbe

Leaders must let workers work

The most beneficial thing a leader can do in 21st-century knowledge work is to allow employees to spend most of their working hours applying the high-value, high-return skills for which they were hired.

They should be allowed to do this without being encumbered or distracted by the “busy work” of modern knowledge work, such as email, Slack messages, and administrative overhead.

Imagine if it had been necessary for Charles Darwin to respond to 40 letters a day. How long would it have taken him to publish On the Origin of Species?

Or what if Mozart had to deal with five unplanned visits from other musicians every hour? Would he have become the musical genius we now know him to be?

Yet, between instant messaging software, email, and open-office pop-ins (for those not working remotely), these hypothetical scenarios are everyday occurrences for most of us.

It’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed, overworked, and chronically unproductive, even with all the stuff we’re doing.

The solution, then, is to build workflows and processes so that your teams can spend less time discussing tasks that need to be done and actually complete those tasks (while also having the slack necessary to think and rest).

by Nathan Coumbe

The ladder is gone

Many of the greatest business and self-help books of all time are woefully outdated.

And I don’t mean the examples used in the books. The working world has changed so much that the underlying assumptions on which the books are based no long apply.

Work hard and get promoted. You’ll make more money.

Move up the ladder for more responsibility, greater impact, and a nicer life.

Specialize in a certain field or department. That’s how you win.

The problem is the ladder is gone. There’s nothing to climb anymore.

Middle managers on are the way out. You’re either a doer or a leader (and often both at the same time).

Specialists are getting replaced by AI. We don’t need as many of them anymore.

Hard work doesn’t really matter much anymore. A computer can work harder, faster, and cheaper than you.

What matters now are remarkable results, unforgettable impact, and connection with other people. And being able to use AI and all the other technology available to us as tools to achieve those three things.

It’s the rare person who stays with one company and gets promoted over and over, making more money each time.

More likely, you’ll bounce around to 15 different companies over your working life, becoming a generalist that can synthesize tons of different fields.

And before you know it, you’re making your own field, your own specialty job that combines everything you’ve learned into something new.

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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

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

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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by Nathan Coumbe

Feeling stuck making your dreams a reality?

It’s okay to feel a little stuck sometimes… Stuck not knowing what to do or how to do it to make a change in your life.

Maybe you’re dreaming of a job that you actually enjoy… A job you wake up excited about doing.

Maybe you’re dreaming of time to spend with your family instead of working all that overtime just to make ends meet.

Or maybe you’re dreaming of work that puts your skills and talents to good use doing something that really matters.

But you don’t have a clue where to start or you’re just scared of letting go of the J.O.B. you have now. 

It’s okay to feel stuck. 

But it’s not okay to stay stuck.

My friend Dan Miller has helped thousands of people take their dreams and develop a plan and act on them with resources like his New York Times Bestseller 48 Days To the Work (and Life) You Love and No More Dreaded Mondays.

He’s going to be hosting a FREE Masterclass that I think you should check out on Thursday, July 15th with two times to choose from — 1 PM CT and 7 PM CT.

“5 Reasons Big Dreamers Get Stuck And How To Blast Through Them To Success”

You can sign up here.

He’ll walk you through those 5 reasons. Chances are one (or some) of them are what’s holding you back from your dreams as well.

He’ll also help you with some immediate action points and some real-life examples of people who have used them so you can start blasting through those stuck points to the success you’ve been dreaming of.

So take action NOW and save your seat for this FREE masterclass.

Click here to sign up.

by Nathan Coumbe

Life lessons from the last 18 months

Cherish your loved ones – they’ll be taken from you when you least expect it.

I’ve lost three close family members in 18 months. My father-in-law dropped dead of heart failure in December 2019. He was in perfect health.

My uncle died of cancer 6 months later. I had just seen him at Thanksgiving the previous year, and he seemed to be doing just fine.

Then my dad died in May. I had just spoken with him on the phone a month before… He sounded just like his old self. By the time I got to see him, he couldn’t speak or see me. I was able to say goodbye, but I’ll never know if he heard me.

And I might be losing someone else soon.

Tell your family you love them after you finish reading this. Then do it every day from now on.

Serious illness—or even death—can strike you down no matter your age or health.

My wife and I took the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. We quarantined, wore masks, and did all we were advised to do by the CDC. And both of us still managed to catch it.

My wife had a fever for eight days. I ended up in the ICU on forced oxygen for eight days gasping for breath. Wondering if this was what it felt like to die. The doctors told me had I not come in the night that I did, I would have died in my sleep.

I spent Christmas and New Year’s in a hospital room isolated and alone—except for the occasional nurse or technician. Eight days. And there were people around me even worse off than I was.

I was 30 years old and in perfect health. And I’m still recovering.

Never chase money – you’ll always end up miserable.

I was in my sweet spot at a job I enjoyed—teaching classes all day and putting my creative skills to use on a daily basis. But I felt I wasn’t making enough money, so I took a promotion.

The money wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. And I wound up in a miserable role that stressed me out more than I could have ever imagined.

Then another offer came my way, a chance to escape that misery, and it came with a decent bump in pay. But I had an uneasy feeling about it during the interviews.

I took it anyway, and it left me just as miserable as I was before, but for different reasons.

It might be a cliche, but find something that makes you happy. Then find a way to make a living doing it. Don’t take jobs you know don’t fit you simply because they offer you more money.

Take any or all of these lessons to heart. Let them guide your actions for the last half of 2021 and beyond.

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by Nathan Coumbe

No Job Is Beneath You If You’re Fighting Against Your Own Poverty

Today’s Daily Stoic email so inspired me, I had to share it with you.

“The Stoic doesn’t believe that any job—any profession or action—is beneath them if it is what life is demanding of them. To the Stoic, a dollar earned honestly is a good one. To a Stoic, a job done well is a good one.

—Ryan Holiday

If you have a job and are able to put food on the table for yourself and your family, you’re incredible. If you’re paying your bills and have a roof over your head, you’re a rockstar.

“I am solving the problem of poverty,” said Ulysses S. Grant when asked why he was selling firewood.

Don’t think of it as demeaning. But also don’t stop striving for something different if that’s what you want.

Sometimes you just have to work.

Check out the full post here.

by Nathan Coumbe

Did You Do Something Good Today?

“Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavoring something for the public good.”

—Thomas à Kempis

What are you doing right now? Okay, you’re reading this blog post – bad question to ask.

What have you done today? What are you planning on doing today?

Have you written anything? Have you read a good book (or blog post?) 

Have you developed your self-awareness? Or your ability to empathize with people who are different from you? 

Have you done something for the good of another? 

Have you performed any selfless act of service?

Too many of us end each day with a resounding “no” to all these questions. Instead, our answer to the question, “What have you done today?” is usually something like this: “I went to work, came home, and binge-watched Netflix until I passed out.”

Change How You View Your Work

Perhaps you really did nothing other than work today. Perhaps it really had no other benefit than growing your checking account. 

Or perhaps you should reevaluate how you spend the time you are not at work, so that you do create something, learn something new, or serve another person. Or perhaps you should change the way you view your work – I’m betting you did something today that benefitted someone. Reflect on that. 

Too often, we use work, podcasts, and the always-available streaming services to block ourselves from creating our art. We chalk it up to a lack of time. 

But where is your time going? We all have the same 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. Unless we are doing shift work or have a newborn at home, we have time to create good for the world. 

I challenge you to answer one question every night before you go to sleep: “Did I do something good today?”

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by Nathan Coumbe

You are a salesperson…don’t screw it up!

“But Nathan! I’m not in sales!” I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.

What’s your role at work? Office manager? Administrative assistant? Florist? Customer service rep? Your title doesn’t matter–you’re in sales.

We all work on commission. Perhaps that commission is a “guaranteed” bi-weekly paycheck for a certain amount each time, or maybe you are paid on the number of hours you work each week. It doesn’t matter–you work on commission.

How is that possible? If you don’t show up to work, you don’t get paid. If you screw something up badly enough, you get fired. Your income is only guaranteed if you work, just like a salesperson’s income is only guaranteed if she sells.

Even if you physically don’t work in a role where you are allowed to sell a product or service to a customer, you are still involved the sales process, because you represent your company.

If you offend a customer or badly represent your brand in some way, it’s quite possible you will lose a sale for the person who actually works in sales.

Since sales is the only part of a company that actually produces revenue, any lost sale results in lost income for your employer which might mean you don’t get that raise you were hoping for next year. Or worse yet, you might get fired.

“Not everyone can make a sale, but ANYONE can lose a sale.”

–Zig Ziglar

We all get paid for results, regardless of how well it’s hidden in hourly wages or a regular salary.

Think like a salesperson.

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