If It Wasn’t For The People…
“If it wasn’t for the people, this job would be easy!”
Every now and then I hear someone make that statement. I say it myself from time to time.
It’s a funny little oxymoron. It just sounds odd when you say it – and at first you’re not sure why. It’s an ironic statement – a little bit crass and even a little bit sad. Yet, it also rings true. And… It completely misses the point!
These people who can make our work so challenging, frustrating, exasperating, stressful and… even perplexing… are the same people who are the reason that we do the work we do. People are why we work, why we worry, why we build, why we dream, why we hustle, why we get up early and why we take just one more meeting for the day. Whether teammates, customers, employees, suppliers or family members, it is these people who make our work worth doing.
No matter what the nature of your work is, if you get any pleasure out of it at all it is because you believe that you are adding value, you are delivering a service and/or you are making the world a little better place. All of this is for the benefit of people.
At the end of a stressful month, in an overscheduled week, and a particularly tough day – when it seems that someone has been steadily and intentionally plucking on your last good nerve – we can be tempted to lament that “this sure would be a lot easier if it wasn’t for the people!”
It’s OK to laugh a little, I guess… But once the cynicism passes, remind yourself why you do what you do – and then make sure that you are on time for your first meeting the next day.
There’ll be a person on the other side of the table at that meeting who is counting on you! If it wasn’t for you, this person’s job would be a lot harder.
#XEQTE.
Every now and then I hear someone make that statement. I say it myself from time to time.
It’s a funny little oxymoron. It just sounds odd when you say it – and at first you’re not sure why. It’s an ironic statement – a little bit crass and even a little bit sad. Yet, it also rings true. And… It completely misses the point!
These people who can make our work so challenging, frustrating, exasperating, stressful and… even perplexing… are the same people who are the reason that we do the work we do. People are why we work, why we worry, why we build, why we dream, why we hustle, why we get up early and why we take just one more meeting for the day. Whether teammates, customers, employees, suppliers or family members, it is these people who make our work worth doing.
No matter what the nature of your work is, if you get any pleasure out of it at all it is because you believe that you are adding value, you are delivering a service and/or you are making the world a little better place. All of this is for the benefit of people.
At the end of a stressful month, in an overscheduled week, and a particularly tough day – when it seems that someone has been steadily and intentionally plucking on your last good nerve – we can be tempted to lament that “this sure would be a lot easier if it wasn’t for the people!”
It’s OK to laugh a little, I guess… But once the cynicism passes, remind yourself why you do what you do – and then make sure that you are on time for your first meeting the next day.
There’ll be a person on the other side of the table at that meeting who is counting on you! If it wasn’t for you, this person’s job would be a lot harder.
#XEQTE.
