One of the first and most influential inspirational speakers I learned of and learned from was Earl Nightingale. Today I reread one of his profound quotations . . .
“We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.”
– Earl Nightingale, personal development pioneer
Questions to Ponder
- How often am I at my very best?
- How engaged am I in my work?
- What factors expand my engagement?
- What factors contract it?
Action Steps
- What are the factors that lead me to be my very best?
- Decide to engage more fully in your work – the decision itself is an important step.
- Create or build more clarity on your goals.
- Strengthen (or remind yourself of) the connection you see between your work and your goals.
My Thoughts
Who doesn’t want to be their best? This quotation is so powerful for us personally, because in a few words we get a what do to and why it matters to us. Hopefully my questions and action steps help you take it from being a nice statement of fact to an actionable idea to improve your life and results. Beyond the personal implications, there are useful leadership lessons as well . . .
Engagement at work is a trendy topic – for good reason. When people are fully engaged in their work, as Mr. Nightingale says, they are happier. More to the point for us as a leader though, is that fully engaged employees will be more productive and less likely to leave for “greener pastures.” These two factors alone make employee engagement a bottom line business issue.
This wonderful quotation gives you a leadership roadmap for helping engage people more fully in their work. Here are just a couple thoughts you can glean from it (feel free to share others as a comment).
- Help people set and focus on their goals.
- Help people use their strengths, because when that happens you get better results and more likely people will enjoy their work.
I was just thinking about how this might apply to teams and entrepreneurs and it made me think of this concept that I’ve been stumbling across a lot lately: The idea of a “master mind” group (an idea, I think, originates with Napoleon Hill). I believe we all have incredible talents and, as you say, when we are engaged in our work, pursuing the goals we’ve set for ourselves, it can help to bring out our best . I just can’t help but wonder if we can take it a step further. Perhaps if we work to bring out the best in others, in our team as well as ourselves, then our efforts will be that much more meaningful and worthwhile.
Johnny – Masterminds are incredibly powerful indeed!
Kevin 🙂
Being at our very best is certainly something we should all aim for, especially in terms of service – which is why we have called our blog “very best service” – when analysing engagement at work, it is also important to examine the off-work factors such as health and relationships with family and friends which are huge drivers behind the creation of a happy and fulfilling working environment
Kevin,
Great thought-provoking post about employee engagement/satisfaction! I really like how you noted, “my questions and action steps help you take it from being a nice statement of fact to an actionable idea to improve your life and results”. As you know, people and organizations mentally ascend to change but need daily action steps to realize it!
As well, my mentor Dr. John Maxwell has so profoundly heralded, “Everything rises and falls on leadership”! Corporate leadership has to take responsibility and decide to set the standard. Things such as rethinking corporate culture and redesigning organizational training programs will “stop the bleeding” and initiate a shift towards employee satisfaction, and ultimately, employee ownership.
I will send you the study (white paper) done by the Dale Carnegie Institute about this very thing. You might be able to glean from their research and confirm some of your findings.
Have a great weekend!
John
John C. Buckley
Twitter: @drjohncbuckley
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/buckleyjohnc
Thanks for the thoughtful reply – I look forward to reading what you send.
Kevin 🙂
Reflecting on when we are at our best can lead to powerful insights for both personal and professional growth. Your tips are a great reminder to assess and use our strengths strategically. Thanks for this thought-provoking post!