Hard Work Beats Talent.

Caught the new episode of Mad Men last night — one of my favorite shows. In the middle of all the soap opera antics of the story (I do love Roger and his comments though), I study the interactions of the characters at work. How they speak to one another, how they talk to their clients, and what they accomplish during their time at the agency.

What shines through, and many people probably miss, is how they are so successful. Let's look at two characters, Don & Peggy.

They have talent — they are the creative sparks in each of the agencies they represent. But it goes deeper.

They are 100% committed to their work:

• They work late.
• They take work home.
• They interact with their colleagues during many off-hours.
• They are willing to push themselves AND their teams.
• They think and breathe their work.

Unfortunately, if you view the teams who work for them, they are presented as lazy, comical, and people who lack direction. They go home on-time and party (sometimes they do work late).

Both Don and Peggy are talented — but it's their commitment, drive, and hard work that delivers.

That's enough of Mad Men for now. Let's talk reality.

If you want to succeed — if you want to move up in your company — if you want your business to explode — you have to HUSTLE at work.

You need to work A LOT. Think about what you're working on ALL THE TIME. Obsess about it — LIVE it. You can't get that promotion by putting in a "9-to-5" attitude.

Here are some tips I have my clients try:

• Arrive at your office early. I used to hit work at 6:30 AM and start working — I would clock 2-3 hours more work than other people trundling in at 9, Did it work? The Chairman noticed I was always the first car in the parking lot — ultimately I won the Chairman's Award. With my current business, I start at 5 AM. Because it's MY business (I wrote this blog post from 5-6 AM this morning).
• Work while you are at work. Don't ditz around — no surfing, no wandering around — make your time at work count. Every minute.
• Ask for more work from your boss. Usually do this after a good meeting with them where they've complimented you on your progress/work.
• Stay late. Ask if you can help out on a project. You don't have to burn the midnight oil all the time, but put in 1-2 late nights a week — stay until 8.
• Work on the weekends. I get up at 5-6 AM and work until 9 AM on Sat/Sun. That gives me an extra 3-8 more hours of work in the week without it affecting my home life.
• Think outside the box. Get your head thinking where everyone else isn't. Go where the puck will be going. Mention new ideas during meetings — but be positive.
• Do extra-credit work. I used to do this ALL THE TIME. I would keep my ears open and listen for opportunities or gaps where I could approach management with help they might need, a new idea how to do something, or a side-project which would make the company millions. It worked ALL the time.

If you try 2-3 of these tips, I promise you will begin to get more done, get greater exposure (with the people who matter), and start to see openings where you can succeed.

I know, I know. You have a spouse, kids, parents, friends, responsibilities, and a myriad of other obstacles. But at the end of the day, if you want to succeed at what you do, you have to hustle.

And that's the truth.

P.S. If you want to watch a great video on Hard Work Beats Talent, watch this.

Are You An Egomaniac?

A few weeks ago, I posted one of my most read articles, 'Are You Late All The Time?'. I received a huge response from readers (thank you!), all letting me know they are either mending their ways or will take charge with late people in their life. Here's a little secret about Rich Gee — I am an avid Vince Flynn Fan — I read all of his books. I am currently in the middle of one of his older novels, Act of Treason. Not to get into the story, but there's a great description of people who are habitually late for meetings. I'll quote it in it's entirety (it's so good):

"When someone is constantly late, they fall into three categories."

"The first, he called idiot savant. The type of person who is so smart in his or her field of expertise that their mid is literally elsewhere. In layman's terms he explained that these people were smart in school and dumb on the bus."

"The second category was made up of perfectionists, people who were incapable of letting go of one task and moving on to another. These people were always playing catch-up, rarely rose to any real position of power, and needed to be managed properly."

"The third category, and the one to be most wary of were the egomaniacs. These were the people who not only felt that their time was more important than anyone else's, but who needed to prove it by constantly making others wait for them."

WOW. The only thing I would add to this description — one can share elements of each category. So you can be a perfectionist with a little idiot savant. Or a bit of an egomaniac (be honest, we all are at one time or another) with a dash of  perfectionism.

Or all three. Coming from someone who is maniacally early all the time — it's hard for me to understand habitually late people. Now I do.

Is there a diagnosis for people like me who are always early? Where do you place yourself? I'd love to know — comment below.

How To Stop Working So Late - Part One.

It's an epidemic. An epidemic SO BIG, the CDC should be called in with their Hazmat suite and an antidote found. What's so hard about closing your laptop and going home at 5 PM? Nothing. But we've all be indoctrinated to stick around, stay late, be visible, show management 'You Care'.

And it's not a 'Top Down' behavior — it infects the entire marketplace. So what do you do? Here are a few tips to help you better understand the aberrant psychology behind this modern phenomena:

It's illogical.

You're hired and paid (by law) to work 40 hours a week. It's your choice to work longer hours. Every hour you add to your work week, subtracts from your salary. Here's the math:

40 hours x 50 weeks = 2000 hours $100,000/2000 = $50/hour

Now if you work through lunch and stay 1-2 hours later each day, that adds 15 hours onto your 40 hours each week.

55 Hours x 50 weeks = 2750 hours $100,000/2750 = $36/hour

$14 or a 28% drop in pay. They don't pay you any more money (unless you get overtime pay). Why would you do that? What happens when you don't take your full vacation, work at home, or on the weekends?

That's right — your hourly wage plummets even more.

It forces you to procrastinate.

Instead of filling up your 40 hours each week with 40 hours of truly dedicated, hard and powerful work, you spread it out during the additional 28% of time during the week. What happens?

You attend more unproductive and boring meetings. You schmooze more with the wrong people. You read TOO much unnecessary email. You surf. You IM. Instead of calling someone, communicating information, and hanging up, you spend precious time blabbing. You push items, calls, and activities out which should be worked on NOW. We all do it.

You become part of 'The Herd'.

You see others stay late, so you do too. It's psychological. You begin to feel a pull to be the same as the rest of your peers. Add in the subtle digs from your 'friends' when you do leave on time: "Hey Susan, are you working banker's hours?"

So we stay later. And later. And later. If Tom, Mary and Steve are working late, I need to work late too. Whoops, my boss is still here, I need to stay late until he leaves. Maybe I should walk around the office with some papers looking frustrated to show them I really care about my job and I'm working hard (this was told to me years ago by a colleague — he used to do this to look busy — I'm not kidding).

So what do you do?

1. Analyze your performance.

Are you getting good reviews? Accolades from your boss, peers, and superiors? Getting work done on time? Then you are a good worker — industrious, deadline-focused, dependable. So why do you stay late and act like you aren't this way?

Because we're nervous to break from the herd. We're afraid of looking different, standing out, being seen as someone who doesn't 'care' about the company. We are indoctrinated over time to give our blood, sweat, tears, and life to the company. Be comfortable in who you are — a valued member of the team.

Doing this will not only set your mind straight about what you deliver, but will give you ammunition for the next step.

2. Prepare for 'The Talk'.

If you start closing your laptop at 5 PM and leave, someone is going to notice. Maybe it's a peer or your boss. Initially, they might not say anything, but soon, they will. If it's a peer, tell them to mind their own business. Or just smile and say 'See you tomorrow!'.

If it's your boss and they call you in to talk about this, do what I did many years ago:

Boss: "Rich, I'm a little concerned about your work habits here at the office." Me: "Wow, Tom, what am I doing?" Boss: "You're booking out on work. Early." Me: "Booking out? When I started here, you said 5 PM was quitting time. So I'm doing what you said." Boss: "I know what I said — but there's work to be done." Me: "Is there anything I'm late on?" Boss: "No." Me: "Do I not stick around if there's an emergency? Don't I ask for more work?" Boss: "You do." Me: "Have I ever missed a deadline? Did I drop the ball on any project?" Boss: "No." Me: "So why is it important I stay hours later every day?" Boss: "I don't know. But we all do it."

So I said: "Tom, let me put it this way — if I am not doing my job, or dropping the ball, or letting the team down, let me know. And I'll immediately ensure that I'm around here after hours to rectify that problem. But if there is no real problem, no issue, no drop in production, I'd like to continue to leave at 5 PM. Is that okay?"

My boss then said (and I quote): "I understand Rich. Can you teach me how you get all of your work done and leave by 5 PM?"

Catch Part Two of this series HERE.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Do you find yourself working later and later and later? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands of executives who need to change this dynamic — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office - You're Always Late.

I know you're busy. We all are. Does it seem that you never get ahead of the curve? That you are always late for almost every meeting, appointment and even getting to work?

Let's look at why it happens in the first place:

1. You think you're special. You're not. You are just like everyone else. Start treating people with respect.
2. You're on a long-term ego trip. Even CEO's show up on time to meetings with the lowest employees on the corporate totem pole.
3. You want to look important. It doesn't make you look like "executive material" (i.e., no time for the peons). It makes you look like an ass.
4. You forget about the time. Sorry, that's not an option. You are an adult — start acting like one.

Get it through your head — you hate it when people are late for  you — don't do it to them. Being on time or early shows respect. AND - it allows the meeting to possibly end early.

Here are some quick tips to stop that from happening:

1. Set all clocks that you monitor 5-10 minutes ahead. I know that it's stupid - but it works.
2. Buffer time around meetings. If you bump one up against another, you won't have time to get to it. And you will then have time to hit the bathroom.
3. If you're too busy, try to cut out some lower priority meetings. See this post.
4. Get up earlier if you are always late to work. You miss the later traffic AND you get more work done before normal work hours begin.

Being late isn't a personality defect, most of the time, you just don't care. Start caring.