If we do, we may fear the boss will think us incompetent, or a co-worker will think we’re not a team player, or a family member will not feel loved or supported.
costume and admit that we
can’t do everything, or to allow others to see our “dirt.” We may also not like to bother others or add to their burdens. Or, we may fear that asking for help may make us feel or look incompetent.
Work for the sake of work alone is pointless
if it doesn’t produce special database the intended results. We once had an employee that proclaimed more than once that they worked harder and longer hours than anyone else in the office. It didn’t seem to matter to them that they were not producing the results they were hired to achieve. But it did matter to their boss, and they were fired in spite of those long hours. It’s far too easy to lie to ourselves and put a higher value on the quantity of time spent than on the quality of our results. It’s also counter-productive to wear ourselves out today on that which is less important, to the point of diminishing personal resources needed for the important tasks of tomorrow.
I must admit that this has always been
a major hurdle for me. When our budget has been tight, I’ve told myself that we can’t afford it. When we could afford it, well, that didn’t seem to matter either. I’d usually rather buy a tool that I thought would help me do it myself faster or better than pay someone else to do it. The problem with this is that with everything else I usually have on my plate, the task would continue to hang over me and remain undone for sometimes weeks longer than it needed to, often adding unnecessary stress to my life, and impacting results. At PRMarketing.com, we see businesses who try do-it-yourself online PR to no avail–outsourcing help can be a great thing.
This is one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves
I should know – I’m a world-class expert at looking to bite off more than I can chew. It may have the biggest impact upon me than any of these fibs, because I hate to go to bed at night if there is still something important on my “to do” list that will “just take a few more minutes.” The problem is, those minutes add up – and then subtract from the rest I need to be my best the following day. The same story applies to those things we feel we need to do before leaving the office, except in that case we are sacrificing time with our families as well as personal rejuvenation.
This one is for all of us perfectionists
We tell ourselves that it’s easier to just do it ourselves than to teach or train someone else, or to monitor and then clean up after the person who will probably do it beneath our standards. This flawed thinking keeps us in the work rut, enables others to be slackers, and robs others of learning opportunities that can enrich and grow our organizations.
The very bottom line is that all of this flawed thinking is exhausting, depleting, and discouraging. Left unchecked, these lies we tell ourselves can snatch away the very success we are seeking in our careers, homes, and relationships.