10 Things I Would Have Done Differently at Work
My life would have been very different if I knew earlier in my career what I know now about living from trust and intuition rather than fear, not attaching to outcomes, operating from self rather than ego, not being a victim, not judging… everything I write about. Here are a few things I would have done differently when I was gainfully employed:
I would have been more open to different ways to get where I wanted to go rather than thinking I knew the exact path and pursuing it persistently.
I would have shifted from fighting energy to alignment energy and approached problems with ease rather than stress. I would have gotten better results and had a lot more fun on the way.
More often than not, I would have prioritized relationships over doing what I thought was the best thing for the customer and the company. A short-term compromise can often be better for the customer and the company long-term if it builds relationships (as long as it doesn’t require compromising ethics of course).
I would have told people when they broke my trust, rather than pretending everything was fine just because they were more senior or I was afraid to rock the boat. It was impossible to build a healthy relationship on a broken foundation, but if I had pointed out that it was broken, there would have been a chance to fix it. If not, I would have known that I had tried and upheld my values.
I would have stressed less about every meeting or decision and realized that in the grand scheme of things (and my life) none of them mattered, even if they involved important people and projects (I wasn't saving lives after all).
I would have judged people less and realized that everyone was doing the best they could given their life circumstances and capabilities, even if their best didn’t meet my expectations. That approach would have led to either more open, heartfelt conversations that would have allowed me to help people more, or to a quicker realization that I was dealing with a lost cause.
I would have focused less on what was right, fair or appropriate, and more on accepting reality with equanimity and dealing with it. I wasted a lot of time and energy fighting what was.
I would have dedicated at least an hour a day or a few hours each week to doing the things that feed my soul (art), regardless of how many emails would have gone unanswered, how many meetings had to be skipped or how many documents had to wait another day to be read or written. Feeding my soul over time would have prevented me from losing myself in an entirely mind-driven career.
I would have asked myself what truly made me happy in the moment, and whether my days had that component a good chunk of the time. I might have discovered a lot earlier that my happiness was largely future-based. Public service announcement: We never live in our future.
I would have noticed that people who were more successful than me were either more fully aligned with what they truly wanted or in greater levels of self-denial and living in their head than I was. An internal battle between what my soul wanted and what my mind told me I wanted was not a great recipe for success and/or happiness.
Do any of these resonate with you?
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