Rat Race or Your Own Path?

What is one thing that corporate, government, private, and public organizations all have in common? An employee base that has more employees caught in the rat race then it should!

So, what is the rat race?

Simply put, it is the illusion created by employers, leadership, managers or coworkers that create a situation or an environment where an employee begins to place work over living life or common sense.

What does being in the race even look like?

Unfortunately, we have all seen others in it, have been in it at some point in our careers or are currently a part of it. It usually starts with a small gesture of good will by an employee, who may want to make a name for themselves or positively contribute to the organization’s mission. For the purpose of this article, let’s say there is a task with a stated or assumed urgent turnaround timeline. Being a good, reliable and loyal employee, they take on this task and may even have no problem delaying or working through lunch to see it completed sooner. Situations like these, I’ll refer to as a “gateway race”. Employees who tend to fall into this category, are typically known as team players. For the sake of clarity, please understand that there is nothing wrong with being a team player. It’s what can come next, that makes it dangerous. I am referring to a combination of repeating this action and slowly taking on more things to “help” with, in order to be a team play or get a promotion. Over time, the workload progresses to the point of staying a little longer at work to make sure other issues are resolved in a timely manner. Not too far down the line, work begins making its way home or they find themselves logging in outside normal business hours to "get caught up" or to "get ahead."

Is it possible to get out of the rat race, if you find yourself in it?

The good news is that if you are have found yourself in a rat race or headed towards one, there are ways to change your trajectory.

As an individual contributor you have the power to:

     1.  Just say no! This point is twofold:  

• Professional: Sometimes you have to say no to new tasks or opportunities that detract from the tasks you were hired to do. Bottom line: Be sure to take care of the need you were hired to fulfill.
• Personal: Watch your spending habits. If you are shelling out more than you bring in, then you effectively put yourself in the rat race by forcing yourself to work in order to keep up an unhealthy spending habit.

     2.  Determine where you want to go in in life. Sometimes jumping in the race, for the purpose of helping you achieve your            goal, might be warranted. Just ensure that what you are doing has a purpose that works for not only you, but the                      organization as well. Example: Taking on a new project or task because it will help you develop a new skill that will,                  down the line, make you more marketable. This would potentially be a win for the company (now) and a win for you                (later).
     3.  If what you are doing is not helping you work towards your goal or purpose in life, then you are most likely wasting                  the precious finite moments of your life working towards someone else’s goal. Let that sink in for a moment. Use your              time to help build your legacy and if that is tied to someone else’s then so be it, but know what it is you are working                 towards.
     4.  Take a step back and objectively look at what your current work/life balance looks like. If work is requiring that you to            share your home/personal life space and time, but restricts home/personal coming or interfering with your work,                   then you need to establish or reestablish boundaries.
      5.  Identify someone that you respect and can trust to have your best interest at heart. Speak with them about working                 with you devise a plan to help you restore balance at work. You also have to be willing to let them hold you                               accountable along the way. Accountability is the key to all of this. In fact, most efforts will fail in the absence of                         accountability. If you don’t have anyone in your personal/professional life or maybe you just want input from an                       objective party, 3P Journeys, LLC is a viable option.

As a supervisor, leader or employer you have the responsibility to:

1. Be vigilant in ensuring that you are using all of your available resources efficiently, within your organization’s structure. This includes knowing and managing your team’s workload.
2. Know when to say no to external and internal requests. Do this by knowing your team’s scope of responsibility, their capability and be able to adjust and redeploy your team to meet the business demands of your organization.
3. Understand that in your position, the organization has entrusted you to make decisions that will help it propel it forward. Don’t abuse this trust or misuse your authority to further your agenda and take special care not to allow others to use you or your team to further theirs.

 If you take nothing else from this article, take this with you:

• Play the long game and not the short game. This includes taking your health into consideration.
• Work to live. Don’t live to work.
• You have a gift that the world needs to experience! At the same time, remember that our lives have an expiration date, so make sure you use the time you have here wisely. 

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If you like what you have read and would like additional help navigating this process, email me at [email protected] or you can visit our website https://www.3pjourneys.com/.

Author

Floyd Sturdifen - President of 3P Journeys, LLC, passaionate coach and professional that is willing to draw from his experiences to share insight to help you in your journey.

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All Career Personal Development Professional Development Time Management