Where are you gonna live?

Working for a governmental organization or a large corporation can be very frustrating. They tell you things that seem to have no basis in fact, they make decisions that contradict what they have told you is the gospel truth and they do things that make you realize that they don't care about you at all.

In the public safety sector, their lack of planning or concern or outright misrepresentations can be explained away by terms like "Operational Necessity" or "Agency Needs". It is considered perfectly acceptable to lie to people below you in the pile if you ensure that you throw these words around.

I have seen this sort of thing make some of the most eager and motivated workers turn into cynical and angry people that will avoid work, become bitter and angry and infect others with their unpleasant attitudes. 

 But you don't have to end up this way!

Last week, I attended a class that is helping me get some perspective on how to work for a bureaucracy and still maintain your sanity and integrity.

Here are some perspectives from that class:

- Sometimes the decisions really are made because of Operation necessity. You aren't privy to all the information that those decision makers are making.

-Even if this isn't the case, where you choose to live makes a difference. 

Allow me to explain.

The place you work for controls maybe 25% of your time, if your regular work week is a 40 hour workweek. Of that time, they only control a portion of what you do with that time and the decisions that you make. Usually, they provide the guidelines like hours, area and how you deal with problems and you take it from their.

The place you work does not decide how hard you work, how well you do your job, how much pride you have in your job, etc.

The place you work does not decide your attitude.

You can choose to live in the arena of always thinking about the things they are doing wrong and being angry about things out of your control

or

You can choose to live in the areas of life that you can control and that you can make a difference in.

Where you choose to live will make a huge difference in every area of your life.

I know that "they" should stop lying to you, treating you the way they do and making dumb decisions, but until that happens, you (and I) are going to have to learn how to deal with it. I think not living in that arena is a good start.

Thanks to Jack Harris for the class and the inspiration for this post.