Where has the notion gone that hard work is no longer necessary?  Have we created a society that has minimized hard work? Have we created a society of entitlement?


Recently I have witnessed multiple generations of people that think everything should be handed to them; From 14 year olds to 40 year olds, I don’t get it!  Mediocrity is a disease that stems from the lack of hard work, where has the notion gone that we don't have to work hard? 


Work when you competition is sleeping, work when others are partying, and work towards your goals! (assuming you have some, if not get some)


 If you want to be great, you have to work harder, learn more, and be willing to delay instant gratification;  that is what makes the great ones great!  Work your ass off and be the best you can be, don’t stand for status quo!  be the 1% who do, vs the 99% who don’t! ~Ken

Quitting is the easy part.  What comes after is far worse than the pain you were in when you decided to quit.
 
When you quit you are looking for the immediate gratification of the pain stopping, looking for the feeling that you are done and don’t need to keep going on.  And if feels good!  It feels better than anything else; for about 30 min, but what comes next is far worse.
 
Your brain goes into overdrive.  The questions start to come, what could I have done differently, or asked for help on, or just had some more patience. See quitting is often a permanent solution to a temporary problem. The mind or body is saying that you don’t deserve this, or that it is too hard, or why does this only happen to me. When in fact, it happens to everyone.  The comfort zone is a strange thing.  It allows you to exist and  doesn’t want you to push further.  When people get out of their comfort zone the first instinct is to quit; they say this is too hard.  When in fact they haven’t figured out an alternative; many times this is just the beginning to greatness.
 
As a headhunter, coach and athlete I have seen many people, including myself, quit something because it was too hard for the moment.  When in reality it may be too hard for an hour, a day, a month, a year.  But what most people don’t realize is that no matter how bad something is, it will always end.  I can’t tell you how many people I have spoken with that have quit their jobs because their boss wasn’t nice to them, or that they didn’t feel like they were getting compensated enough, or that the work is too hard; but then go through the pain of trying to find another role and can’t.  You know why, because people don’t want to hire quitters.
 
When you go on interview and the hiring manager asks you the reason you aren’t working what do you say?  Think about it.  There is always some excuse, but in reality it is because you didn’t  endure.  You are a quitter and that screws with your psyche.  You no longer have an income, your identity is no longer intact and then you start realize what you had wasn’t that bad.    
 
When you quit, you are no longer in control, you are on defense.  When you are on defense you have lost your power, you become desperate and take a step back, rather than a step forward and settle for something that you wouldn’t normally settle for.  Does it feel good to settle? Does it make you proud to say that you quit?  When you look back on your previous role you begin to realize it wasn’t as bad as you made it out to be. 
 
Think about how good you feel if had endured a hard battle, think about how proud you would feel if you outlasted your boss, your client, or your role.  Right when you are about to quit, realize that many times, that glory is one more step away.  Remember that it is always the darkest before the dawn!  

Ken
​klubin@zrgpartners.com 

​This is a personal accountability and responsibility question.  If you walked out the door for an interview, sales call, or even a date, this is a question you must ask yourself.

How do you look? Is your story dialed in?  How is your attitude? Are you likable? Are you willing to do what it takes, no matter what? Do you make excuses?  Have you done all of your homework on the hiring manager, company, team? Are all the boxes checked off so that you will be remembered as a person they must hire or do a deal with? 
 
I know it is a different way of thinking, but now it is on your shoulders.  I know for me, this is an opportunity to be better prepared to win.  If I look in the mirror on my way out the door and I am not ready to have a definitive yes, it is time to adjust so that I am. 
 
Before your next interview, sales call, yearly review, or date, ask yourself this very important question,

Would You Hire you?

Ken

Do you follow the masses or are you on your own path?

If you follow everyone else, you will be just like everyone else; those statistics are scary:

1.    The average American is overweight 

2.       Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day; only one in three adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week

3.    The average American thinks the government's number-one priority should be to help keep and create jobs in America 

4.    The average American watches 2 hours and 49 minutes of television a day.

5.    The average American is Divorced

6.    The average American hasn't finished college

I don’t know about you, but looking at what everyone else does is frightening . In the US we have accepted mediocrity, laziness, and sub par performances as normal; this needs to change.

Everyone says that they want to be rich, beautiful, healthy, and happy but are not willing to work for it!  We have developed a world of instant gratification and laziness and that isn't working. On average our kids will live 5 years less than us, be more broke, and won’t be able to live up to the standard of living they are used to unless we change what average is.  To be better than average we need to work hard, be focused, get off the couch and be role models for the next generation.  

Let’s get the world to see beyond average!

Ken 

​Accepting anxiety is a sign that I must do what is necessary. It means that I need to make things happen. It means that I can do what I do best. It means that there is power that is coming out of my mind/body  that needs to be unleashed and that the anxiety is there for a reason.  Anxiety is priming the pump for greatness and  is a tool that we all need to survive. If we didn’t feel anxious we would never be ready for anything.  It is a tool that forces you to focus and to prepare, to be better than you were yesterday and to be ready to launch forward. It is also there because it tells you when you are doing things the wrong way, it is there because it shows your weaknesses and forces you to the face those weaknesses.
 
As a lifelong sufferer of anxiety, debilitating at some points,  I have decided to embrace it, make it my friend. I believe anxiety is a tool for greatness!  It is a tool that gets you excited and wakes you up in the morning to be ready to perform. It is a tool that forces you to do/be/get better if you recognize it as such. It forces me to do the deep work, to ask the questions:  How do I perform? What do I need to do to be ready to perform? How do I lever this internal power to move forward?

Most companies think that they should be able to hire “A” level talent at the drop of a hat and that candidates should be begging to work for them; this is the furthest from the truth. In fact most companies are terrible at hiring good talent, never mind hiring the best. The reality is that you are not Apple, Google, Microsoft, Goldman or the coolest new start up in the land, then why are you trying to hire like you are?
Organizations need to have a gut check and realize that they are typically a “B” at best and most likely a “C”. I like to use the analogy of when you are trading in a car. Most people believe that they should be able to get the trade in value for a car that is in pristine condition, when in reality they will be lucky if they get the good value. Like most cars, companies have nicks, dings, and a sputtering engine from time to time and once they own that, the perspective of hiring is changed.