Being a Good Employee

Clarify the result your role exists to create and choose how you want to contribute.

Your job doesn't determine who you are. You determine who you are in your job.

That distinction changes everything about being an employee.

We often think we need the right position, the right boss, or the right company before we can show up as the person we want to be. We wait for a dream job to give us the experience we're missing.

But it isn't your job's job to make you happy or make you like yourself. That work belongs to you.

You can decide who you want to be in the position you have now.

Don't postpone being yourself until your dream job

Imagine you're in your dream job. What would you be thinking? How would you feel? How would you show up?

If that person is completely different from who you're being today, that's where your work is.

In this episode, I was learning to run a growing organization. My favorite work was coaching and teaching. Managing people and building infrastructure didn't feel like my natural skill set.

I could hear myself complaining about that. The negative thoughts made me feel less effective, and then I was showing up from that feeling.

I realized I could think about my current work as the work I was meant to do to grow into the next version of myself. I could study, practice, try, fail, and keep improving.

I didn't have to wait until I was doing only my favorite tasks to be a person of excellence.

Put your current job in the Model

Start with the facts. Put your current position in the circumstance line without your opinion about it.

For me, that was CEO of The Life Coach School. For you, it might be administrative assistant, human resources manager, or another role.

Then notice your thought about that position. If you're thinking you aren't doing what you're meant to do, you may feel discouraged or frustrated. That feeling will influence how you act.

Now imagine the thought you'd have in your dream job. You might think this is the purpose of your life. What would it be like to bring that thought to your current work?

You can make two Models with the same job in the circumstance line and completely different thoughts, feelings, actions, and results.

Thoughts create feelings, which drive actions and results. You don't have to wait for a new circumstance to do this work.

Choose why you're showing up

Why are you in this job? Even if the answer is that you want to pay your bills and support your family, own that reason.

You are someone who creates value in exchange for money. You're not merely serving time until a paycheck arrives.

Ask why the position exists. Why is someone willing to pay for it? What value are they looking for?

Then ask how you could deliver at the highest level you're capable of. What would it take to do an exceptional job?

You may not receive an immediate raise or recognition. But you will know how you showed up. The contribution defines who you are, not simply what your employer thinks about you.

Give yourself the pillow test

When you put your head on the pillow at night, are you proud of your day?

Did you do what you said you would do? Did you contribute? Did you bring your best thinking and effort?

Your boss may not know everything you did. No one else may notice. You notice.

You also know when you've spent the day doing the minimum, distracting yourself, or blaming the job for how you behaved. You're not fooling yourself.

I want you to create a result you're proud of within your own Model: growth, learning, contribution, and being the person you want to be.

Someone else's lack of recognition doesn't have to determine whether you continue being that person.

Ask your boss how you can do better

This takes courage, but it's a powerful question: how can I do better?

You're not asking your boss to list everything wrong with you. You're asking them to think about what would be useful and what the position could contribute.

When I worked at Hewlett Packard, I asked my bosses what their dream employee would do in my position. What would be their dream come true?

The answer may surprise you. Be willing to hear it.

Ask about daily, weekly, and yearly expectations. What is most important? How will you both recognize success?

Those conversations give you direction. Then you can deliver on it because that's how you want to show up, not because you're trying to earn approval.

If you're an entrepreneur, you can direct the same question toward your customer: what would be their dream come true?

Communicate the value you're creating

I always let my boss know what I was doing, what worked, what didn't, and where I saw value.

That isn't the same as seeking approval or offering favors in the hope of being liked. It's clear communication about your contribution.

As an employer, I appreciate knowing what people have created. Sometimes team members do wonderful work I wouldn't otherwise hear about.

Keep your boss updated. Share how you added value and what you learned. Ask for feedback.

It also helps you see your own work clearly. If all you can report is that you arrived and left on time, ask what else you want to be able to say.

Be excellent because that's who you want to be

You don't have to wait for the ideal job to become the best version of yourself. In fact, learning to manage your mind in a job that isn't your favorite prepares you to contribute when you do move into work you love.

Stop asking only what the job can do for you. Ask who you want to be regardless of the job.

How do you want to contribute? What value can you create? What would make you proud of yourself?

You may not change your position today. You can change how you're being in it. That is something you take with you into every opportunity that comes next.