You might be wondering what this post is all about. Well, you may or may not have noticed, but I’ve been pretty quiet on social media lately. This year has been crazy. Earlier in the year, I saw a few folks I follow decide to take a break from social and left for months. I understood at the time how one could be burned out and need to step away.

This past week I was listening to a podcast and the speaker said many times we would rather make a point than make a difference. He went on to say that many times, making the point will make us feel better but if we don’t make a difference then it didn’t really matter. Not only that but you may have made the point but you may have lost the right to do anything else.

If something is truly a priority for you, don’t you go and do it before anything (or most anything) else? Wouldn’t that mean that the inverse is true as well? I.e. if you aren’t doing it first (or close to first) it isn’t really a priority?

The question for today is what should you be doing first that you aren’t? Also, what are you putting off because it really isn’t a priority? Try to recognize what your priorities really are and do them.

I struggle with expectations. I constantly expect a lot from everyone, including myself and I’m consistently disappointed. I decided to write out my expectations so I thought I would share them.

I expect people to work when at work. I understand that there will be times when you have fun and talk at work but in the end, I expect you to work. I expect that you will use your time wisely. I expect you not to spend significant time surfing the web or playing games on the computer.
I expect that you can be competent in our core functional areas (whatever that may be for your company).
I expect you to act in a professional manner at all times.
I expect you to expand your knowledge.
I expect that if you use your time wisely that you can expand your knowledge while at work.
I expect you to be to work on time and to be available during core hours (again, whatever those may be for your company).
I expect that you will pursue professional certifications and that you can prepare for them outside of business hours.
I expect for you to try. I don’t expect perfection but I do expect an honest effort. If you need help ask for it but only after you have given an honest effort. I expect you to complete tasks in a timely manner. I expect for everyone to lead by example. I expect that you will do what you said you were going to do, when you said you would do it.

I’ve been thinking about this subject for a few weeks now. In general, no matter what, every so often I struggle with the leadership around me. I see great leaders out there but typically, I’m not engaged with them for whatever reason.

Lately, I have noticed that many people who are in leadership positions don’t do the same things that they ask their subordinates to do. In my case, it is my direct boss and because of this, I am losing more and more respect for him. Too often he makes requests of my co-workers and me to do things (such as get certified, etc) but yet he is unwilling to do those very same things. In the case of certification, we all need to have certain professional certifications (him included) so he tells us to go study and take the tests. His best advice is schedule the exam as it will force you to study when there is a deadline. While I completely agree with this and have done so just to keep me motivated, it is hard to stay motivated when you have taken and passed 8 tests in the past 12 months and he hasn’t taken any.