How many professional reading books do you read in a year?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: How many professional reading books do you read in a year?

  • None. I read other forms of content (blogs, magazines, journals): 39%
  • A few: 1-4: 33%
  • Several: 5-9: 13%
  • Many: 15 or more: 5%
  • A lot: 10-14: 5%
  • I don’t really do any professional reading: 4%

Short form doesn’t beat bookworms. Clearly a large portion (39%) of you eschew books in favor of short-form content. That’s a sign of the times for busy professionals. That said, a healthy portion (56%) of you are still hunkering down with a good business book on a regular basis. For those who aren’t reading books, I encourage you to pick up the habit. Short-form content is great but isn’t lasting. Books are more comprehensive in their thinking and can more fundamentally alter the way you look at the world because they give you a broader context and deeper insights into issues than a 600-word blog post can. Books are also a great way to decompress and get away from stressful screen time, bouncing from one site to another. The best way to get started on this habit is to ask your friends and co-workers for recommendations. They’ll know you well enough to recommend things you’ll enjoy.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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When is the last time you took a vacation?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: When is the last time you took a vacation?

  • Last week: 14%
  • Last month: 30%
  • Last quarter: 18%
  • 6 months ago: 14%
  • Vacation? What’s that?: 24%

Time to take a break. The 24% of you who can’t recall your last vacation are at risk for a lot of issues. Burnout, job dissatisfaction, family stress, and physical issues can all result from working too long without a break. The excuse of “I don’t have time because I have too much to do” doesn’t hold water. You have to make the time. A vacation doesn’t have to be long or expensive either. Just staying home for a few days and reconnecting with family, resting and taking some weight off your mind can work wonders. Travel can be stressful and expensive, so if you are taking a vacation requiring a trip, be sure you’re not inadvertently adding more stress to your life. For those who are demonstrating good vacation habits, bravo. Make sure your team members and colleagues do the same. Encourage them to take time off and offer to pick up the slack while they’re gone. It’s a generous offer and will benefit you and the team in the long run if everyone is rested and feels well taken care of.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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How comfortable are you asking others for help when you’re struggling with work tasks?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: How comfortable are you asking others for help when you’re struggling with work tasks?

  • Very. I ask for help anytime I need it: 27%
  • Mostly. I’ll ask for help when I’m really stuck: 41%
  • Somewhat. I’ll only ask for help in tough situations: 19%
  • Not very. I have a hard time asking for help: 8%
  • Not at all. I rarely ask others for help: 3%

Don’t wait until it’s too late. It’s great to see a large portion of you (68%) willing to ask for help when needed. For those who have trouble requesting assistance, remember it’s easier to fix a small problem sooner than a big problem later. Things can get out of control fast. You have colleagues for a reason. Taking on too much can also affect your stress levels, performance and even your health. You don’t have to ask for help all the time and there is a balance of not being overly reliant on others. That said, doing everything by yourself is stressful, risky and lonely. As long as you’re being reasonable with your requests in terms of size and frequency, you’ll find the vast majority of coworkers or friends are more than willing to pitch in when asked.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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What expectations do you have of your team members when it comes to email responsiveness?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: What expectations do you have of your team members when it comes to email responsiveness?

  • I expect a response only during working hours: 51%
  • I expect a response to all emails within a few hours of it being sent: 6%
  • I expect responses on urgent items immediately and others during normal hours: 43%

Reasonable expectations? While many respondents only expect a response during working hours, 43% expected responses to “urgent” items immediately even outside working hours. The real question here is what constitutes “urgent” because we all have different definitions. I challenge you to assess your view of urgent. Does that proposal really have to go out that night? Is the client really going to read it over dinner? Or can it wait until morning? Do you really need that report with the latest production numbers at 10 p.m.? Are you going to act on them that night or is it just curiosity that has you asking. “Urgency” is a slippery slope that leads us to be emailing at all hours of the day and night. Challenge the definition of urgent if you want some of that madness to stop. And if you expect an email at all hours regardless of work hours or not, I hate to break it to you but your team probably hates you.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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Want to be Happier at Work? Get Out of Your Own Way

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Office Happiness

Happiness is something everyone is striving for in their everyday lives, but what might be getting in the way of your happiness is actually you.

Today’s post is by Deirdre Maloney, and author of Tough Truths (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Pay even a little attention these days and you’ll find there’s an epidemic going around when it comes to our professional lives.

Simply put…a whole lot of us aren’t happy at work. Or we’re not as happy as we could be. Many are downright miserable. And, far too often, we’re a big part of the problem. And we don’t even know it.

Or, at least, we didn’t know it…until today. Because we’re about to get real about how we mess with our own happiness at work, and how to stop.

Embrace the Happiness Ratio

The first problem is that we often fail to even think about whether or not we’re happy at work in the first place (we also do this with our personal lives, by the way). Once we’ve established ourselves for even a short amount of time, we don’t stop for even a second to consider if we’re truly happy…or still happy…in our jobs. We just move through our workdays, noticing that sometimes we don’t sleep well at night, sometimes we snap at colleagues, sometimes we roll our eyes as the emails come rolling in.

To get at this problem, consider the happiness ratio. This quick nugget of wisdom states that we must be happy in every part of our lives a minimum of 70% of the time. This is especially true for our work, which, for most of us, takes up more time in a given week than anything else.

I came to this 70% minimum number after conducting research with plenty of happy and not-so-happy folks. And it’s a fair percentage, right?

So assess where your professional life as a whole falls in the ratio. Then do the same with each component of the work. Notice which areas fall short of 70%. Notice which ones fall very short. It’s time to change them.

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How much exposure does your entire organization get to your customers?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: How much exposure does your entire organization get to your customers?

  • A lot. Every function of our company regularly interacts with customers: 34%
  • Some. Occasionally customers will meet with specific groups they have to interact with: 29%
  • Little. Only sales, marketing, the front line and support really interact with customers: 38%

Know your customer. Just because a function is “behind the lines” that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expose them to customers. Bring a customer in for a team meeting. Invite customers to speak at your off-sites. The more clarity everyone has around who the customer is and what matters to them, the better your organization can serve them. It doesn’t have to be frequent and it doesn’t require a lot of effort but it can yield huge results. New ideas and opportunities can come from those interactions. It will also help ground your team in why the work they do is important. Take advantage of the opportunity to know your customers more closely.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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