the 12 steps to use your job

This is the first thing you need to understand.  You can use any job as a tool for achieving your biggest personal goals, but the key is that you have to use it, and it takes deliberate, planned action.  These are the twelve steps for making your time at work work for you:

STEP 1:  Make a very specific and very detailed plan for your  job.

This is where you identify exactly what you want for your life, and then pick your job apart for every advantage and opportunity you can use for getting those things.  You think about how it can develop you, what skills you can learn, the connections you can make, the things it could lead to. You think of every possibility, so you’ll never walk into work again without knowing exactly what it’s for and where it’s taking you.  Then you think about how you might evolve your current position to make it work for you even more. 

STEP 2:  Have confidence in yourself.

This step comes with a bonus of giving you more confidence in general, but having it at work will be critical for getting the most out of it.  You’ll need to believe in yourself and your abilities, and be able to trust yourself to make decisions. Having confidence will change everything for you, and that’s why it’s the very next step in this process of using your job.

STEP 3:  Develop yourself with your job.

This is where you’ll identify exactly who you need to become in order to reach your biggest goals.  You’ll identify the knowledge and skills you’ll need, and the character traits you’ll need to develop.  You’ll study those things on your own time, and you’ll practice them at work. 

STEP 4:  Be in character at work.

This takes your practice of skills and attributes, and it puts it on steroids.  During this step, you make yourself a work character. That character is YOU at your best, and you practicing the skills and attributes you need to have in order to achieve your goals.  And every single second you’re at work, you stay in character. 

STEP 5:  Learn your company’s goals and how you can deliver them.

In this step, you learn exactly what your company’s strategic goals are, and you identify all the ways you can demonstrate that you understand those and can deliver them from your current position. (This also happens to be the BEST way to qualify for a promotion or raise, so it’s so worth your time and effort!)

STEP 6:  Work well with your coworkers.

I love this one.  This step by itself will give you so much happiness and fulfillment from your job.  This is where you become certain things for your coworkers, and be those things for them every time you’re at work.  This will bring kindness, friendliness, helpfulness, gratitude, and cooperation in - whether it was there before or not. 

STEP 7:  Work well with your boss.

In this step, you identify your boss’s goals for his/her position and how you can support those from yours; you identify your boss’s responsibilities and how you can help him/her to spend more time on priorities; you learn your boss’s communication style and tailor yours in conversations with him/her; you learn what your boss values in an employee so you can deliver; and you learn how your boss wants to be updated so you can comply.  You also come up with ways to work better together and make things more efficient, and ways you can work with more independence.

STEP 8:  Work well with customers.

This step is the most challenging, in my opinion, but it’s also often where you can get the best practice with developing needed skills and character traits.  During this process, you identify everything you can learn from your customers that will help you become who you need to be to reach your goals. You learn how to be certain things for them - no matter what else you have going on.  And you become ultra-purposeful about staying in character - no matter who is in front of you and what buttons they’re pushing.  

STEP 9:  Increase accuracy and move on from mistakes.

This is where you set up systems and procedures for yourself to reduce mistakes and keep things from falling through the cracks.  You’ll practice clear communication, to avoid misunderstandings as much as possible. And you’ll have a plan for what to do when mistakes happen, so you can move on with confidence and grace.

STEP 10:  Be productive.

Since work can sometimes become a trap of distraction and wasted time, you’ll learn how to put things in place that will help you to quickly identify priorities and complete those, know what to do with the extra stuff and give those a place, and give yourself some priceless time for getting absorbed in your work with no interruptions. 

STEP 11:  Understand & support the vitals.

In this step you’ll identify the three most critical things your company needs to survive (sales, collections and profits), and how you can support those from whatever position you’re in.  

STEP 12:  Take care of you.

This only comes last to emphasize it, because it’s one of the most important things you’ll do.  You’re going to purposefully take care of yourself and look after your own happiness.  This is how you’ll keep your mood, energy, and performance on high, and show up to work at your best every time. 

I’m continuously working on content that will go into each of these twelve steps in-depth. You can find them on my blog, in the HOW TO USE YOUR JOB playlist of my YouTube channel, and in my book, USE YOUR JOB.

Please feel free to email me with your questions, experiences and goals for your job. It will help me to know what topics will be most helpful for you, and what to prioritize: joanie@elmoregroupinc.com