“Does this client not know how hard I worked for them?
I spent countless hours keeping this deal together and they “changed their mind”?
They had the nerve, after all my hard work to go and work with someone else after I did most of the work for the person who replaced me.
How could they not understand all the time I sacrificed on their behalf?
Do they just not care?!”
Basically.
We expect our effort, our sweat, and our time to count for something.
The reality is your time and your effort will never mean as much to other people as it means to you.
When it comes to legwork and the physical labor of your work, no one is going to understand the sacrifice in the same way you do.
Remember the saying that lasted a really long time: “Don’t work hard! Work Smart!”
You could pick in the past.
You could make a decent living working really hard or working really smart.
In the past.
People have endless choices for who they can work with today.
That is why working only hard or only smart does not set you apart from your competition.
It isn’t that the people you serve do not care about you.
They just care about themselves more.
Hard work and smart work are not things that directly impact clients.
Those things are required to do a good job.
Emotional labor, on the other hand, is quite different.
It is different because it is the one thing that you can do with your effort that means more to someone else than it means to you.
The following is a motto I wrote down. I hope you like it, but more importantly, I hope you find it works for you.
Work hard.
In every aspect of your life.
Being average is not good enough for you.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
Being phenomenal means doing what you do well, and pushing your own limits.
Work hard for you, because that’s who cares most about the toll of physical work.
Work smart.
Not to get out of working hard, but because thoughts become things.
Do emotional labor.
Be willing to connect with people.
Listen and acknowledge people.
Comfort and calm people.
Guide and give your attention to people.
People care about the way you make them feel.
People work with people who make them feel good and safe with decisions.
People are loyal to other people based on feelings.
Not if you only contribute sweat.
Not if you only contribute intellect.
Work with intent to contribute to people’s dreams.
And one day, you will wake up in your own.
CDM Think Tank LLC 