Life Is Good - When you work on challenging projects

In most countries, an average workday is 8 hours long. A lot of times these 8 hours expand to 10 or 12 or even 16-hour workdays. This means (when we have a job), we spend ⅓ third of our life at work.

And the sad part is, that most of the people still:

• Hate their jobs
• Hate their bosses
• Are not engaged with what they do
• Are bored
• Can't wait to be 60 years old (or more) to retire
• These people just threw away one-third of their life!

If the other third of our lives are spent sleeping and watching TV, that is one heck of a life, but I will save that for another blog post.

I know not everyone thinks the same, but my common sense is telling me that if I spend one-third of my life doing something, I’d better make sure I have fun doing it. And if I enjoy my job, then I think we can all agree that a significant part of our “LIFE IS GOOD” equation is checked.

What makes life good at work?

Most people, when going to work, believe money is the main driver of their happiness and motivation. Or a job that is easy. Or a place where everyone is slacking off and drinking margaritas all day long.

Sure, you need to have a basic income that enables you to live a good life. We need to take a break every now or then (and who does not like margaritas, especially if you have them while responding to a complex email).

But one survey demonstrated what makes people most happy while at work. I don’t remember the book where I read this, but the main message stuck in my mind, and I completely agree with it.

So when you have real challenges, interesting projects, motivating goals, and uplifting missions at your job, and when you are working on these projects and working closely with other talented people who are capable of performing expertly.

This makes life GOOD! This makes work FUN. And by FUN I do not mean easy. Easy is not FUN. FUN is when you are dealing with a project whereby you are not entirely sure how to tackle it. FUN is when you GET AFTER IT! And give it your best shot. FUN is when you can't sleep at night because you are busy thinking of various solutions.

Our "intrapreneur" company culture at Goolets

Everyone knows what an entrepreneur is. But very few people understand the term INTRAPRENEUR.

When you wish to take huge risks, have an amazing vision, and are willing to invest a lot of personal time and money into a project that might succeed someday (many of them don’t), and you have a bit of an issue with authority, you launch your own company and this gives you the label of “entrepreneur”.

However, when you are interested in forging a career in a company you are working for, we urge our people to try to have an “intrapreneur” mindset.

Some people have it. 

And I guarantee that they have more fun at work than people who don't have it.

This list highlights the fact that intrapreneurs don’t act or think like regular employees; they act and think like owners. 

They’re not working for a paycheck; they’re working towards building something meaningful, that provides a sense of pride and fulfilment.

In doing so, they seek recognition, autonomy, resources, responsibility, and ownership of the projects.

Intrapreneurs have the respect to say, “Look, I think like you, I work like you, I’m the same as you, but you put up the money. You ignited the vision, and you took all the risk.” Intrapreneurs work within the system but find ways to improve themselves professionally while also helping to grow the company. 

For example, at Google, in addition to their regular work, employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google - of their own choice. This empowers them to be more creative and innovative. Many of the company’s most significant advances have happened in this manner.

The opposite of this is an aristocratic and bureaucratic culture, when you just follow the rules, never challenge the status quo, and rarely if ever have an opportunity to innovate. The boss just tells you to focus solely on selling, or marketing, or whatever is written in your job description. 

I like to encourage our employees to:

• Take some calculated risks (not just cover their backs) 
• Be innovative and think outside the box
• Be proactive. Not just wait for instructions from the boss, or for emails to arrive in the inbox to be answered 
• Think how they could develop and build a career at Goolets, not just come to the job
• Be vibrant
• Be efficient
• Be assertive
• Hold themselves to a high moral standard, and always think of the team, the company, and the clients first, while incorporating points 1 - 7.

Unfortunately, I think for most of the companies around the world, this mindset is still somewhat of a fantasy - but we are coming into an age where companies can always find an employee who will do the same job for less pay. 

But you can not outsource SOUL or PASSION.

And in order for the company to grow, the company needs employees who put their SOUL and PASSION into their work. 

When they put SOUL and PASSION into their work, they are fully engaged and LIFE IS GOOD when they think like an INTRAPRENEUR.

Everything is connected. Interesting and hard projects + a great team + an intrapreneur mindset = LIFE IS GOOD.

We try to live by this mindset. It is always a work in progress. It is a challenge!

But we are doing it with special people around us.

See what I am getting at?

Be great at your job. Take on more responsibility. And your life will become much better. A fun work/life balance is the goal.

#Lifeisgood

Written by: Mitja Mirtič