Increase your Effectiveness: (Work) More

You should request, look for, and create more opportunities and projects. If you’re truly committed, then to do more you’re going to need to work more as well: get in early, stay late, pop in on weekends, work from home.

[This post is part of a series; you can read the introduction/summary here.]

Practice make perfect. (aren’t you glad you clicked on this post, after reading that nugget?)

But seriously, to be maximally effective requires skills, and practice is how you acquire and extend those requisite skills.

So, you’re going to need opportunities to practice.

Now, you can sit around and wait for projects to land on your desk; or, if you want to speed up your progress and skill development, then you can do more: you should request, look for, and create more opportunities and projects.

Sounds simple enough, but one complication is that you probably already have a full plate. Well, if you’re truly committed to improving your effectiveness, then to do more you’re going to need to work more as well: get in early, stay late, pop in on weekends, work from home. If you don’t want to take those steps, then that’s fine – provided you’re OK with being outcompeted by the people who are willing and eager to do so.

If you’re truly committed, then to do more you’re going to need to work more as well: get in early, stay late, pop in on weekends, work from home.

Another complication is that maybe your boss doesn’t want to give you projects that rely on skills that you don’t have – especially important projects with time commitments, high visibility, and large potential downsides if the results are poor. Sure, long-term your boss should be committed to helping you grow, but in the short term he or she is more concerned with the right things getting done, on time and with sufficient quality. Furthermore, there might not be enough projects of a particular type to go around.

So that’s why in addition to requesting more opportunities and projects you need to look for and create your own. Crucially, though, these pet projects shouldn’t come at the expense of your manager’s (and hopefully by extension the company’s) priorities – which is why you have to be prepared to invest more of your own time and energy into them.

Crucially, these pet projects shouldn’t come at the expense of your manager’s priorities – which is why you have to be prepared to invest more of your own time and energy into them.

If there’s truly a dearth of opportunity at work (and I caution that this is rarely the case…if it is the case then maybe look for a new gig), then create opportunities outside of work. Hobbies, volunteer activities, moonlighting – these can all create more work for you.

Remember, “More” is all about getting you the practice that you need to start improving.

Once you’re doing more, it’s time to start doing things faster.

If there’s truly a dearth of opportunity at work, then create opportunities outside of work.

About Lee Brooks

Lee Brooks is the founder of Cromulent Marketing, a boutique marketing agency specializing in crafting messaging, creating content, and managing public relations for B2B technology companies.