When you think of your ability to get into a high position, do you think more about the difficulties that are there, or the rewards that will come with the position? There are hard parts to any task or field, and those are the parts that separate the bottom half from the top half and the top quarter from 2nd quarter of participants, and so on. These are the parts to focus on in assessing what you can aspire to do in your field or be at a later time. The rest smoothly falls into place.
Case 1: Congressperson
For example, take the concept of being a congressman. When you think about what congressperson do, focus your thoughts not on the parties that are had with other big figures, or golf matches, or introductions at speeches, but about the hardest parts of their position. Maybe this would be the speech given by a congressperson claiming partial responsibility for not dealing with a problem. Things that are not enjoyable to us are also not enjoyable to congresspeople, so taking partial responsibility for not handling a large city, county, or state problem would be one of the downsides of the position.
Another example of a downside would be the constant maneuvers from people close to the congressperson, trying to damage their reputation or life, possibly to try and take their position. This is something to focus on, as it takes vigilance and integrity to maintain a position, with folks always trying to take it away. There is always someone else that wants to be in the position you are in, and some are more aggressive than others in this wanting.
Therefore, when you talk about a congressperson to someone else, or when you think about becoming one, you want to focus your discussion and thoughts only on their difficulties and stresses. The concepts that are most discussed by the public, including parties, incoming lobbyist money, and free items being provided, are easy to discuss, and that is why they are discussed, but they are irrelevant to gaining insight into the position. You can be more than willing and ready to take lobbyist money, but there is no difficulty to that, so that is a waste of time to think about, because it doesn’t set you apart from others.
Case 2: Doctor
When you think about doctors, or about becoming a doctor, the valuable focus to have is on the difficult operations or choices they have to make, and not on the great social status or monetary compensation that comes with it. If you look around the internet, or listen in public chats, you will see that much of the discussion is about what comes with the position, and not so much is about what it takes to get into and handle the position. Your mind has to be on the complicated surgery that has to be done, or having to see people in their worst conditions, or losing a patient when trying a new method. It is these aspects that defines who a doctor is, and furthermore, who a good doctor is.
Case 3: Community Group Leader
Another type of example would be of someone trying to set up a community group. A couple of sections of difficulty can be described for this example. One would be the period where the group is small and very few people are coming to the meetings. This is tough because the few people that come wonder if the group will get larger, and look to the group organizer to get it to a reasonable size, and their energy will be based on that person’s effort. This is one difficult part until the group is full-sized.
The next difficult part is handling all the complaints and issues of members once the group is large enough. This takes a lot of energy, and only a determined leader will put in the effort for this.
These are the focal points to have, as it is easy to view the group leader as having an easy or cushy position, but it takes some understanding to see what they went through and what they go through to maintain it.
Where Is Your Focus?
The main concept of this article is to check where your focus is, regarding people in their various positions. When reading what is out on the internet, or listening to discussions people have, you would think that jobs are much softer than they actually are, and that many people are cheating their way through their positions. While there is cheating and manipulation that goes on in every field(some much less than more), there are certain walls of difficulty in each that have to be accepted to get the good that comes with them.
Focus your discussion and efforts on the difficulties of what you and others do, and the rest is like a strawberry cheesecake, and cheesecake is usually real good. Frankly, I haven’t had a bad slice of cheesecake before. Cakes are already good but cheesecake is in its own territory.
“Where there is no difficulty there is no praise” – Samuel Johnson
photo credit: Michel Filion
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: eduardsays
May 17, 2010 at 10:11 am
Hey Armen,
I do believe that in a lot of cases, people who get the most money or prestige are the ones who can do what few others can. The scarcity of their competecnies give them power.
I’m thinking of another example right now: the trainer who can make a team of top managers with victims mentality take responsibility and take action. That’s something you don’t see often.
Twitter: Armen
May 17, 2010 at 11:34 am
Hi Eduard.
That is true. Scarcity of competency is a good way to word it. When you have something that others don’t, suddenly you are the one on top, in a way. It is worth it to work for a skill for this reason.
That trainer in your example would soon be approached by many to help their team of top managers. When people see something working once, they jump to make use of it, and so that trainer would be inundated with requests within a short period after showing superb training skills.
One ability is all it takes.
Twitter: calmgrowth
May 17, 2010 at 6:08 pm
One of those articles that lead to thinking about the subject… very impressive…
I once worked on the job which included washing of some machine. When my colleague washed that machine, it seemed to me that is very simple job. Just take the parts of the machine and wash them. However, one day this fellow asked me to wash the machine. I accept.
I washed the damn machine for the whole hour, at the end my hands hurt me, I was all wet, and very, very tired…
I realized that washing of that machine is not an easy job as it seems.
Since then, I often watch some people while performing a job and when I think about how easy it is to them on their job, I remember when I washed the machine…
Nice picture Armen, and yes, a strawberry cheesecake is great!
.-= Marko — Calm Growth´s last blog ..Someone Will Always Have More Than You =-.
Twitter: Armen
May 17, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Hi Marko.
I am glad to cause thinking. It is my goal.
Your example makes sense. A lot of what we see is more difficult than we give it credit for. All it takes is one try to get a sense of this.
One other example is a person in a management position. We often don’t feel what it is like to be in their position. They are constantly weighed down by one responsibility or another being passed to them from an employee, and that takes a toll. We never know what a position is like until we are in it.
Twitter: cheryl_paris
May 18, 2010 at 8:20 am
Hi Armen,
The grass of the other side is always green. We feel that vow that is so easy but it is not…. The persons reaching that level has put in efforts to be successful.
I have a friend who is Project Manager and when he was a developer he used to feel that life of Managers is good…But now since he is Manager he realizes each job is difficult and requires 110% efforts to improve and be successful.
Bye for Now,
Cheryl Paris
The Acorn Coach Blog
.-= Cheryl Paris´s last blog ..Act Now: Why You Should Never Wait =-.
Twitter: Armen
May 19, 2010 at 11:14 am
Hi Cheryl.
The other side sure is always green. Human nature is entertaining in that way.
Good example there about your friend who is a project manager. We usually first see the good of a position, and don’t feel the responsibility of it until/unless we are in it. David Allen once said this about how a new hire to a company said “If only I was manager I wouldn’t have it so hard”, or something similar to that, not understanding that the position would require more work.
Hi Armen,
Great blog. It is something that people just don’t think about. It is also true of athletes who are paid millions of dollars to play a sport. It is so easy to say that they are overpaid. The reality is if they were not worth millions they would not be paid millions. I enjoy sports and think it is a celebration of the human spirit, an expression of our authentic nature… and that is what they are paid for.
Anybody in a high position is there because they are marvelously obsessed with what they are up to.
Twitter: Armen
May 19, 2010 at 11:35 am
Hi Rob.
That makes sense about the high-paid athletes. They are at the top of the competition pyramid, and so their salaries are not what would be expected by a person not familiar with the size of the competitive field, and the profits from fans.
Obsession, or real concern, or having no hold-ups toward a task-set is certainly what is required to maintain a high position.
Hi Armen,
I found your article interesting, but wasn’t sure about the point you were making and wanted to ask a few questions,
Why would I want to focus on the difficult part of people’s job?
Is it so I can do the job better or so I can appreciate what they do?
Does it apply to all jobs, or is it aimed at the jobs listed in your tags?
In regards to some of the comments that suggest a person’s icome relates to the difficulty of the job, and their competancy. I disagree. A person’s income generally relates to how much value they create and not their comptetancy or the difficulty of the job.
Twitter: Armen
May 25, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Hey Martin.
For that first question, I would say that focusing on the difficult parts of a person’s job is partly useful in order to appreciate the complexity of what they do, and partially to better realize which parts you yourself would be suited to do. A person that didn’t pass the 10th grade in high school will always wonder about if they could have done the hard parts. In the same way, people look at certain jobs and tell themselves they couldn’t handle part X or Y, when this is usually not true.
About the income portion, some propped up positions have an income not related to the value they provide, but you do have a point in that value is a big part of where funds come from. At least, we would hope that income would be attached to value, or it would not be a good sign for people.
Hi,
Just want to clarify my last part of my comment. I meant to say profit, not value. It should have read-
“A person’s income generally relates to how much profit they create and not their comptetancy or the difficulty of the job.”
Btw, I appreciate the complexity in authoring this blog, it must be hard just finding the time, let alone come up with all the ideas. Keep up the great work.
Twitter: Armen
May 26, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Martin,
Oh okay, that is good that you cleared that up. I would agree that profit relates to a person’s income. Sometimes it is a very direct relationship, like when 1/3 of profit goes toward income, and sometimes it is less clear.
Thanks for the kind words about the site. I am glad to put my ideas out there.
I think about the rewards. This is just a way to get me going and not focused on the difficulties.
Twitter: Armen
May 25, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Hi Kilanko.
That is a smooth way to go. I think some people do just this, and it works wonders for their energy. When you just think about the rewards, your mind is always on what will arrive, and so you think less about the past.