“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve had the good fortune and good pleasure to offer a number of my employees promotions this year. It’s one of my favorite responsibilities as CEO, as it provides tangible evidence that we’ve successfully created an environment conducive to growth.
You may have read about or noticed that there are generational differences in learning styles, ways of getting things done and modes of communicating in the workplace. There are pronounced differences between the Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y, but underneath these generational veneers I’ve found that people, no matter what age, thrive when they are genuinely appreciated, constantly challenged and trusted more than they trust themselves.
When a work or home environment is filled with these qualities, a certain pressure builds. The pressure is invisible and hard to define, yet undeniably influential. It beckons the highest and finest expression and discourages anything less. The more it is resisted, the more uncomfortable it becomes. The more you come to rest in it, the more you realize the pressure is your ally and not your foe. Centers of excellence are invariably high pressure centers.
If your concerned to grow and develop in your workplace, I encourage you to consider the following points, learned by this author the hard way:
1. Never predicate the quality of your performance on your or another’s opinion of the caliber of your boss or peers. In other words, don’t play to the level of the team. The quality of your giving need not be conditional. It can be absolute.
2. Never base your effort on how much you like or dislike the task at hand. Always give it your all, even if the task is “beneath” you, not part of your job description, boring, terrifying or odious.
3. Never follow your heart without balancing feeling with rational thought. Mind and heart are two parts of a whole. Doing only what you love will is a bunch of narcissistic poppycock that will greatly limit your fulfillment. Always do what needs to be done because it is the right thing to do.
4. Realize that how you do what you do gives evidence of the centering of your worship. Your spiritual life and secular life are one and the same if you are living correctly and if you are not continuously answering the call to greatness, you are likely worshipping false idols.
5. Never use the mistakes of another to put him “in his place” or to enhance your position. Any problem, every problem can be used to draw people together on the one hand and to lift them up on the other.
6. Do what you’re told before you innovate. Experience is the best teacher and what you know now is likely a limited perspective.
7. Be willing to move easily when you’re told “no.” Be willing to move easily when you’re told “you can do it, I believe in you.”
I hope that you have a wonderful day, but more I importantly, that you find the way to rise up and give more fully of yourself, without concern for results.
Gregory Hake 
Thanks Gregg,
There is much to receive and enact in your Clarion’s Call today. I especially took note of your words to balance feeling with rational thought. Such succinct words to simplify the process for conscious clarity. Makes me think how the Clarion Call is a clear call to know our integrity.
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Thanks Gregg!
Will do.
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These tips, if acted upon, guarantee a fulfilled and almost assuredly successful life. For me at least, I have noticed that in the heat of the moment I can react to pressure in ways that I regret when the moment has cooled off. I think I am not alone in this issue.
I get to where I can work effectively under the current highest pressure I have experienced, but since I am interested in always being more effective, that highest level of pressure is always and should always be increasing. Otherwise it just becomes stasis, and all the progress you have gained in handling pressure will be lost when stasis, and not progress, is the goal.
I understand in theory that it is important to relax in the pressure, but occasionally when things get intense theory doesn’t make it to practice. This is a problem, yet I feel that the best assistance in getting theory into practice is having concrete steps to follow, along with a big helping of honest desire to achieve the outcome. If the desire is not there no amount of reading this blog can help. The nice thing is that today’s post is full of those concrete steps that make the difference between thinking “what did I do wrong?” and “oh, I see where I tried to innovate somewhere before I understood the basics fully. I should have listened to the person with experience. That’s why everything fell apart”.
After screwing up, there is usually a chance to examine what happened. The chance is there to either see what happened or try to obfuscate your mistakes in other’s eyes and in your own. After things cool off, take the time to see where you could have done better. And next time, realize that the pressure will always be increasing. I realize that the three step process of feeling increased pressure, reacting to the pressure, and realizing later that I shouldn’t have reacted that way isn’t the most effective method of living an uncommon life. In fact, it is the most common way to deal with it. The right way to go about it is to answer the call to greatness in every moment, as the pressure will be my ally instead of a foe. Today’s post gives plenty of steps to make sure that reaction to heavy pressure is a thing of the past.
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Doing the job the best that I can is the only way I’ve seen to open the next door. I’ve also had the experience that a lack of education, being the newest person, not the gender that excells in this field and not a relative have all been glass ceilings that shattered under the pressure of honest effort. Love this post! Such practical and true advice!
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Thank you, wOnderful points!
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Great points! I look forward to meditating on each one a little further.
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