Last night I put on a pair of runners and made my way to the Botanical Gardens (“the Tan”) here in Melbourne.
It’s a cracking spot for a run. Though these days my running is more of a Cliff Young Shuffle. See Dr Google if you’re too young to know what that means.
As I huffed and puffed my way round, I started getting annoyed with myself. Runners were passing me easily. Yet some of them looked slow. So how slow was I?
“What’s wrong with you? You used to be half decent. Move your legs, old man.”
About halfway through, I saw a kid sitting on a bench with his mother. For some reason, we caught each other’s eyes. As I plodded my way closer to him, he looked at me with a strange look, one I can’t quite describe. Then it hit me: he wasn’t sitting on the bench. He was in a wheelchair.
As I passed him we gave each other a smile. Different types of smiles but smiles nonetheless. It was the reality check I needed. Stop whining, be grateful. I carried on shuffling. What was I thinking? My life is fantastic and I’m lucky in so many ways. I can’t run as well as I once did but so what? I can still run.
This stuff happens at work, too. Your staff – and you, maybe? – will occasionally forget just how lucky we all are. I’m hearing a lot from managers about Generation “Me, Me, Me”, who come to them regularly with statements and questions such as:
👉 I want a pay rise.
👉 I want another pay rise.
👉 When am I getting a promotion?
👉 When will the corner office be mine?
👉 Why can’t I work from home all the time?
👉 I want … I want … I want.
👉 When will I be CEO and run this entire place?
Why does this happen? Well, I guess we each become consumed in our own little world. Our problems, wants and desires become magnified in our heads. They overtake our appreciation for what we have. So we start to focus on what we don’t have, instead. You only have to look around the world to see that our lives are almost too good, too convenient, too easy.
How to deal with this? In your next team meeting, say something like:
“I have a question for you. What are some of the things you’re grateful for, about working here?”
Go round the room; everyone needs to answer. When they’re done, you can add e.g. “That’s great. Let me also share some things I’m grateful for.” And off you go. It might not change everyone’s perspective … but it might change it for one or two. That’s part of your role as a manager: getting people to see things differently. Or to see things they currently can’t.
Next week I’ll run the Tan again. This time I’ll smile when those other runners pass me by.
How lucky am I? How lucky I am.
