Billabonic

Life Among The Selected Few
2009-12-29 20:16:08 (UTC)

How To Take Charge of Your Personal Life So Your Professional Life Can Soar

Think your personal and professional lives aren’t
intertwined? Think again. Chances are that despite your
best attempts to keep the two separate, the quality and
stability of your personal life often have a direct impact
upon the quality and success of your professional life. In
fact, for many people, their professional life mirrors
their personal life.

When your personal life is stable and happy, this
mirroring is a good thing. Your professional life will be
productive and rewarding because you’ll be able to direct
your attention and energy to your work, your customers and
your co-workers. However, if your personal life is filled
with turmoil, grief or pain, your professional life will
very often suffer. When you’re emotionally drained from
hours of conflict, sadness or abuse at home, it’s
difficult to focus on even the simplest work-related task.
It’s no wonder then that when asked to choose between two
equally qualified employees, managers will routinely
choose to keep the person with the stable personal life.

To many people, this may seem unfair. After all, your
personal life is private and none of your employer’s
business. While this is very true, the fact is that many
employees do not keep their personal lives private.
Instead, they bring their personal problems into the
workplace, thus affecting their ability to do their job
well. Since organizations must focus on profits and
customer satisfaction above all else, they cannot afford
to allow unproductive workers to stay on the payroll.

However, many employers do realize that there will be
times in their employees’ lives when circumstances beyond
their control may affect their ability to perform on the
job. In these instances, most organizations not only
understand, but are also willing to make arrangements to
help employees through these difficult times. With that
said, though, the employers also have certain expectations
of their employees.

They expect employees to try to deal with their personal
problems on their own and to ask for help only with the
most serious problems.

They expect employees to make every reasonable effort to
get help if they need it.

They expect employees to work with them to find a
solution, such as a temporary replacement or a new work
schedule, so they can continue to provide the best service
to their customers while they work together with their
employees to deal with their problems.

Regardless of what may be occurring in your personal life
at the moment, there are steps you can take to meet your
employer’s expectations while taking charge of your
personal life. Following these guidelines will enable you
to become the employee your organization fights to keep.

1. Separate the “Big” Stuff from the “Little” Stuff
If you’re constantly upset, depressed, stressed or
involved in a life “emergency,” your job performance will
continually decline and your employer’s patience will
finally wear thin. No organization should be expected to
accept a drop in work performance for every stressful
event that comes along. Your employer counts on you to
deal with most situations on your own, most of the time,
without affecting your ability to have a positive impact
on customers and co-workers. Before you bring your most
current “crisis” into the workplace, decide whether it’s
big enough to warrant assistance. While you can expect
compassion and help for dealing with big problems, such as
the death of a spouse or a catastrophic illness, you can’t
expect the same kind of support for little problems, such
as the dog being ill or your child’s softball game being
rescheduled. Once you learn to separate the big stuff from
the little stuff, you can keep your personal life in order
by reacting to the problem appropriately.

2. Get Help If You Need It
As understanding as employers may be, they can only do so
much to help you. Ultimately it’s your responsibility to
make every effort possible to work through your crisis,
even if it means getting help from outside sources.
However, the hardest thing for many people to do is admit
they need help. They mistakenly believe that asking for
help is a sign of weakness, when in reality the opposite
is true. For the most part, people who ask for help tend
to be very strong and determined not to become victims of
abuse, neglect, violence or tragedy. How willing are you
to get help when you need it? If your personal life is in
turmoil, then you may be able to benefit from some of the
many excellent services available in your community or
through your organization. Remember, whether you solve
your problem yourself or with the help of others, the
results are worth the effort: peace of mind, healthier
relationships, a new outlook on life, and of course,
better on-the-job performance.

3. Work with Your Organization to Find a Solution
When you do have a “big” problem that justifiably affects
your job performance, let your manager know about it as
soon as possible. Trying to keep it a secret or hoping no
one will notice may increase the stress already induced by
the event. But instead of revealing your situation and
then waiting for your organization to come up with a
solution, bring to the meeting some possible solutions
that would work for both you and your employer. Perhaps
you could be temporarily transferred to a department that
requires less customer contact, or maybe you could make
arrangements to switch schedules with someone in order to
give you the time you need to deal with your problem. When
you show your employer that you respect their objectives
and are prepared to do what it takes to get your personal
life back on track, there’s usually little they wouldn’t
do to help you.

Today’s organizations expect their employees to come to
work ready to put their full effort and energy into the
task at hand. Maintaining a stable personal life is one of
the surest ways to accomplish that. But while no one’s
personal life will ever be perfectly in order, being able
to separate the “big” stuff from the “little” stuff,
asking for help when you need it, and working with your
organization to find a solution for your problems are the
keys to weathering any crisis. Always remember that when
your personal life is in order, it will be reflected in
your work and in your ability to ensure your future
employability.




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