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Loving Your Work

love-work

Hello and Welcome to the Surging forward podcast this weeks episode is a great time with an  interview with Thomas Bennett an Electrical Tradesman in the Hampton Roads Area of Virginia.  I think you will enjoy hearing about his great success at a young age and how you can love the work you do. Lets me know your thoughts and if you would like to be on our show contact me at dave@surgingforward.com

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Respect for Authority

respect

I had an interesting question posed to me by an apprentice at school the other night. He was at a cross roads that many of us have been at least sometime in our career, if you have not than believe me you will. The superintendent has asking, well more like depending that he do work that was not part of his contract. The young apprentice is actually very sharp and respectful which is why he is in charge at a young age. Sometimes when those in charge see a younger person one of the not so good skills are used called intimidation. This often comes in the form of threats or other verbal abuses. The person that is in charge of his small job often feels intimidated or even unqualified for the job. And feels that if he does not perform the work he is not obeying authority. Yes it is a tough call and sometimes it is very hard to stand up for what is right because of fear that this other person though he does not sign your pay check is good friends with your boss and could cost you your job. I want to share a story of a very similar incident that happen to me at a young age. I too was put in charge of a small job when I was only 26 years old. It was a 80 thousand dollar job and yes I was a bit nervous I was foreman and we were subs on a much larger contract. My actual boss was one of those types who was very hard to please and as I look back not a very good teacher. The superintendent on the whole job was best friends with my boss.  There was a lot of stress to keep our part of the work as the budget was low so though there should have been about 15 people on the job we only had 6 so obviously I laid out work for the guys and also carried my tools, dealt with issues and stressed over the schedule. Many times the Super on the job would bypass me and talk with my guys and give them tasks that were not even related to the work we were doing let alone the contract. I was getting very frustrated as it seemed that none of the older more experience people in charge listen to a word I said. I asked one of the other project managers I knew at the time that I felt sfae confiding in and he gave me simple yet great advice.  He simply said Dave you are in a bind but here is something you can learn that will help you always grow. You have to always resect authority and those that make the rules. Whatever position you are in you can make some rules but not all the rule you always have someone above you. I agreed and said so what is the solution I have two differ bosses with two different rules. He stated that no you have one boss and no matter good or bad you must follow his rules unless they violate ethics or safety. You may not like them but you must always follow. Here is where the advice comes in. When you can make the rules always make sure your rules are fair. When you can’t make the rules always make sure you fully understand the rules to the game as yes they can change. When you do not agree than ask the question one time to make sure you are clear and then make the statement that you will follow to a tee but you may not like those rules. Powerful words but it puts the heavy load where it belongs I tried that an believe it or not my job wen much smother. As for the other super that tried to run the job. I simply stood up to him an explained the rules laid down from my boss and what you are asking me or my crew to do is not in the contract, if you have issues take it up with him. Boy did that take a load off of me. I was not nearly as stressed because of someone else. So remember do not take on some else’s stress, they are not your issues. Understand the rules to the game and remember the person making the rules may not like the results but that is his/her issue not yours. So yes we should follow Authority but you also do not have to shoulder all the stress for those that cannot handle authority. When you are put in authority always remember respect is something earned you cannot demand it. Let me know you thoughts or your experiences. Send you questions to dave@surgingforward.com

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How to Increase Your Endurance Episode 24

stay-the-course

How to Increase Your endurance? Last week I talked about being Overwhelmed. This week I want to talk about increasing your endurance. Do you ever wonder why it seems that some people seem to get so much done and yet you feel I would like to make it through the day? Why is that? Well to tell you the truth I have felt like that many times, when we get that worn out feeling it is very easy to just give up and quit. I myself have felt this way many times just as you have and everyone does at some point. As a matter of fact this week alone has been a tough week with deadlines that have been moved up for one reason or another. Sometimes we just wish there was at least an extra 5 hours in each day but I could really use 10. But unfortunately there is only 24 and you really should have at least an hour or two just for you at a min. You should also have a least 7-9 hours of sleep based on the National sleep Foundation. So this leaves with about 13 hours. Well if I work 10 hours a day on a full time job and I drive or should I say fight traffic 1 hr each way that leaves us about 1 hour each day to get something done. So how does a person get ahead well the first thing we like to do is to take away the little time for ourselves which is the one to two hours. This will give us at least 3 hours, but many say this is not enough. So we sacrifice our sleep and then we call this endurance but after a while we get burned out. Instead of enduring we have completely run out of gas. Our dreams and goals we determined will never happen. We then resort to saying that we are happy with the status quo, Above all else we envy anyone that is successful and feel they must have everything given to them or they stepped on someone to make it for their goal. My friends that is the furthest thing from the truth. You see that is someone who does not have a plan , Does not know how to say the word no and does not use their time to the best possible way to help increase their endurance to be able to work more effectively. We live in such a now society and if we can’t get what we want in thirty days we move on to the next big thing that can make us some money. Meanwhile you may stay unhappy because even if you do make good money you find that you hate it because it is not your passion as we talked about in a prior podcast, which I would encourage you to listen to by the way. Endurance simply means to stay the course. Yes you will have road blocks. Yes you will have days in which you will feel like you got little or nothing done. But when you stay the course you will also have days where you will get a lot done if you manage your time wisely. Over time you will be able to look back and say wow I finished writing that book, or wow I finished writing that online course, or wow I finished that leadership course online. As well as many more wow I got that done. Take advantage of the down time in the scenario I used earlier I waste two hours driving in traffic each day. What do you do listen to music talk radio, fight road rage or nothing at all. Well why not listen to the leadership or motivation podcasts. I have many that I listen to and I get a totally different message each day and I am trained but many great people each and every day like Michael Hyatt, Bruce Van Horne, Dan Miller, Ray Edwards, Cliff Ravenscraft, Daniel Lewis and many other great podcasters I learn everything from creating a podcast to enjoying my work to leading a successful and happy life. This is two hours a day of great training and I get to work each day in a good mood ready to start the day and then I get home in a good mood ready to finish the day. I work on my course creations a little at a time. I work on this podcast. I than still have time to teach two nights a week also. So as I do a little at time over time my endurance becomes better and better and I am actually able to get more done in a shorter amount of time. Yes there are days of stress but when you feed your soul and mind with a positive message during the down times than your priorities change and you make better decisions overall.  So stay the course my friend Rome was not built in a day and when you start your running the small distance first you will soon be running a full 10 mile marathon. Thank you for listening and follow us on Twitter or Facebook at Surging Forward. Until next time stay safe and Keep Surging Forward.

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Why am I so Overwhelmed?

over-whelmed

Do you sometimes just feel overwhelmed? Last week I talked about setting the right goals if you have not listen to that episode you may want to go back and listen so that we make the right goals. This week I want to talk about not getting over whelmed. I had mention that we should all be setting goals. But the goals we set sometimes needs to be really looked at to see if it is really a goal you want to attain. When we go out into the work force and set random goals without a plan or a realistic time for completing that goal it will start to become what I call the hamster wheel effect.  For example if you set a goal that I want to make more money, 1st off that is pretty vague, So I may ask you How much do you want to make, many times the response is very quick and most either say a million dollars or a hundred thousand a year. For seem strange reason that is the number many people I talk too will say I have my reasons why but I still find it strange even after about 15 years of asking that questions to some of my students. I will usually tell them to do some research of the job opportunities where they work at present, what hobbies they like to, What special skills they have to offer to others, Of which I may add we all have many different skills to offer each other yet many times some go through out there whole life and never use the skill that they are best at. This is because they spend their entire lives trying to be like someone else. This is really worse than failing because when you fail doing something that comes natural for you it makes you stronger if it is a natural skill. But when you keep trying to do something that someone else is really great at but you have a hard time with and you continue to fail you will more than likely just get depressed and give up. Now that is by no means saying that you cannot or should not learn new skills quite the contrary we should always be learning how to improve and for those if you that think you have arrive as I tell my students there is always something more to learn. Now if you are not sure what you like or what you are good at this is the most important part of the plan and the research. You need to get in your quite spot and think write down what you are good at and enjoy doing. The talents that people have in this world are endless. God has given each one of us special talents that you have which will others who may not have that particular talent. I can use myself as an example of getting off track in life. Click sound track to listen to rest of episode.

Email us at dave@surgingforward.com