Have you ever been given a piece of advice that made you really mad?
Let me take you back to pre-mom Lauren. Pre-married Lauren even.
Back when I was a recent college graduate just trying to figure out where I was going in life. I had just moved to Arizona with my then-boyfriend now-husband and we were working at a bank.
And I hated it.
First of all, it didn’t lend itself to my strengths or interests at all, so I was probably bored. Moreover, I was a relationship officer (i.e. banker) and was no more qualified for that job than the lamp on my desk.
Nevertheless, I poured myself into it (high achiever that I am).
I worked super hard at building relationships with our customers, learning the programs and bank lingo, even volunteering to serve on the marketing committee.
We had this manager named George, and he was obsessed with our numbers. It turns out, a big part of my job wasn’t just calling my customers about their overdrawn accounts or making sure they were happy with their merchant card services.
I was actually expected to go out and find new customers for the bank.
I ended up working really long hours – constantly squeezing in networking events at lunch or after the bank closed. On the one hand, I felt like such a grown up walking around with my fancy business cards and simultaneously I was absolutely mortified passing them out to people who clearly didn’t care what I had to say.
Each team meeting with George began with everyone sharing their numbers of current accounts and new accounts for the week. Almost every meeting turned into a discussion about how I could increase my account numbers, even though I was clearly networking the most.
I was putting in more hours than anyone else. I was working so much harder than the story the numbers told. Not only was I not getting affirmations for my hard work, but I actually felt like I was constantly reprimanded.
One night after work, Justin and I were venting about the bank at my future father-in-law’s place. I was complaining about how unfair it was to be working circles around my peers without any recognition.
Not really a part of the conversation, my father-in-law interjects:
“No one cares how hard you work, they care about the results you get.”
Um, rude.
How dare his dad say something like that to me when I was putting my blood, sweat and tears into this awful job?
Except, he wasn’t wrong.
I’m not going to lie to you – it took years for me to realize how right he was.
Thinking about the conversation still stings, because we are taught from a very young age that hard work and dedication equal success… and that’s not entirely true.
I was working really, really hard, but I wasn’t successful as a relationship officer at all.
I have a few theories about why:
1. I didn’t believe in what I was selling (and the people I talked to could tell).
2. I felt like hours spent doing something should translate into results (they didn’t).
3. I was focused on the wrong things, which stole a lot of my time, energy and motivation.
Working at the bank totally sucked, but this valuable lesson has transformed me into the business owner that I am today.
Because of my years freelancing and how I run The Free Mama Movement today, I spend substantially less time working than I did those years at the bank, yet I’m making over 28x what I did as an employee there.
Don’t get me wrong, hard work and dedication are ingredients in the recipe for success (however you define it), but they aren’t the only ones.
Results matter, and to get results you have to be intentional and strategic. You have to use effective tactics and eliminate what’s not working.
To put it simply, it’s about working smarter, not harder.
If you need help figuring out how to do this, hit reply and let me know. I’d love to see how we can work together to help you get the results you want |
