"According to the American Job Satisfaction Survey, only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work."

1. The Sign Said Think
Light Reading is a series of communications from MASSolutions that
sheds light on common business challenges and provides solutions to
strengthen your bottom line.
It seems less than half of us are happy with our jobs. According to the American Job
Satisfaction Survey, only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work. That's
the lowest level in the 22 years the Conference Board research group has been
conducting the survey. The major reason cited by unhappy workers is they don't find
their jobs interesting. Economists say the lack of passion will hurt productivity while
health care practitioners worry about the impact on our well being. Since I'm neither an
economist nor a physician, I'm going to focus more on creative productivity. Miss
Krueger, my eighth grade English teacher, had a sign above the blackboard with only
one word in big, bold letters: Think. While I'm guessing she was addressing our inability
to think clearly about punctuation and grammar, her sign can actually help us focus on
the big picture from a career standpoint. How much time do you spend thinking beyond
your daily, repetitive activities? Do you take the time to figure out what you want to
achieve throughout the year as opposed to the day or week? When was the last time
you really wrote down a personal and/or professional growth goal?Time and again we
work with clients who struggle to truly focus beyond the current day, month or quarter.
Our mentoring programs see talented individuals struggling to move beyond hustle and
bustle activities rather than creatively focusing on meaningful growth.Why?Maybe
strategic thinking is misperceived as “pie in the sky.” Or it could be a lack of confidence
or time management abilities. Whatever the reason, you can change by taking the time
to think. What is the one thing that would make your professional life better? Write it
down. Now, brainstorm and list three or four tactics to move you towards achieving this
goal. Put deadlines next to each one and begin working your plan. After you achieve
some success, think about another goal and write down the action items to reach it.You
might think your situation is more complicated and you won't be able to do it. But, you
can. It all begins with taking the time to creatively focus on the big picture. Or as Miss
Krueger's sign said: Think.
David M. Mastovich, MBA, is the president of Massolutions, a Pittsburgh based
Strategic Marketing firm that focuses on improving the bottom line for client companies
through creative marketing, selling, messaging and customer experience enhancement.