Get Boiling

 I like slow growth and I love rapid growth. Most growth is slow, but surges can make a real difference in momentum and motivation.

If I want growth, my instincts tell me to work harder, work more, and work smarter.

Experience teaches me that busy work achieves few results, but it also takes little thinking, or planning.

I have come to believe that both increased effort and intelligent direction of that effort are vital to increased results.

"Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world; whereas nothing rises quicker than dust, straw, and feathers." - attributed to Augustus Hare and to Lord Byron

There is a slow rise and a rapid rise. To these we must add, there may be no rise.

Fluff floats and then gloats in its meteoric success, but may not sustain under stress and testing.

Fame can make its name through crisis, accident, or blame when opportunities are seized.

But it is the long haul, the consistent call, the persistent hope and labor languishing in the heat of many days that produces steady growth in character and success.

Those who stay and stabilize their work for others to continue, stand and climb.

Those who rise quickly, must quickly act to build a foundation in the empty space beneath their feet, lest their decent be as rapid as their rise.

With far less fanfare and flair, others build their foundations step by step and step on the next step as they move toward their objectives.

As their circumstances change, they may not be aware that the greatest changes are within them. As they grow, their work grows.

So many times it is that one extra degree of effort in business and in life that separates the good from the great.

At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils.

Boiling water produces steam.

Steam can power a factory.

Can one degree always make a difference? Does it only matter within a certain range or once you get to a certain level?

Sometimes it does. Will it for you? Try for yourself and find out. y own experience informs me that effort matters and increased effort matters more.

Smart effort, which is the right activity at the right time for the right reasons is a fine tuned laser, concentrating energy where it will get the most results.

Step back and do a little analysis. Answer some key questions.

1. Are there areas in obvious need of more attention, effort and refinement?
2. Are there areas where I have observed increased effort making a positive difference?
3. Am I receiving feedback from observers, customers, partners, or clients that suggest a deficit of effort holding back progress or satisfaction?
4. Is there a nudge inside me that maybe I should put a little more effort in this area or that?
5. Are there metrics and instruments in my industry that I can better utilize to inform my allocation of energy?
6. Am I wasting time on non-productive wheel-spinning?
7. Am I willing to make changes to my work style and habits?
8. Can I find a little more time to invest?

Perhaps, one of the hindrances in our personal work or organizational work product is the difference between busy work and busyness (business) work.

Busy work is wasted time and is certainly a place for tuning up the production engine that is our daily work.

Let's dig into the difference a bit.

Busy Work or Business Work

B - Boredom's symptom

We often do mindless, thoughtless work to relieve our boredom. Yet, it takes us nowhere.

U - Useless

Busy work is undirected, unfocused, and unproductive. It is just filling time. It makes us think we are working, but we are not working purposefully.

S - Sucks you in.

It is easy to get sucked into busy work. It is easy to become over-focused, absorbed, and lost in it.

Y - Yielding to distraction

Busy work is often attributed to chasing rabbits in our minds. We lose our attention to the goal and follow a distraction.

Success in overcoming these things is to be aware of them and try to avoid them

Business, Spelled as Busyness

B - Boredom buster

Rather than reacting to boredom, the way of being busy with busyness or business is a remedy to boredom. It is not temporary. A sense of purpose keeps us engaged.

U - Useful

Rather than useless, the efforts directed toward our busy businesses are useful They are aimed at a worthy target. They make a difference

S - Seriously Significant

Rather than frivolous, this kind of work is serious, even if we are having fun. It is serious because it reinforces the significance of itself. It is leading somewhere. It is accomplishing something.

Y - Yawn breaker - or if you like :"business," "intensive."

You will get tired less often, fatigued much less, and seldom be frustrated with purposeful work that is producing results. Your stress levels will be more manageable. Raising the temperature a degree will seem natural.

N - Navigable

This kind of business activity will have a logical course and outcome. There will be measurable units of information. You can track them from the perspective of where you have been, where you are, and where you are going.

E - Energizing

Meaningless busy work saps your energy, drive, and ambition. Meaningful work gives it back in exponential ways

S - Success-driven

Business busyness takes you to the next level. The rewards are intrinsic. The benefits to you are psychological and physiological energy.

S - Specific

No one will be baffled as you try to explain what you are doing. More important, you will not be confused. You will be doing specific things for specific reasons.

Now, let's examine:

Three Ways to Spell Work

Work will always be:

This is all work, good, bad, everything.

W - Weighty

Work will always be harder than doing nothing

A - Active

Work will always involve activity. You will be moving.

R - Risky

Work will always hold the possibility of failure or poor results. That is the way life is, risky.

K - Kaleidoscopic

There are many dimensions, manifestations and expressions of work. Those are not what we measure to differentiate effective from ineffective.

Where then, is the differentiation?

Frivolous work may be:

W - Wacky Work

Sometimes, it does not make sense no matter how hard we try to view it creatively. It is just wacked, wasted time.

O - Obstacle avoidance

Sometimes, we find a job and start doing it as a way of taking ourself out of the job pool. We are running from the kind of work that makes us really solve problems. We place ourselves on an assembly line, but we are not assembling anything of value.

R - Retreat at worst, recreation at best

It could be just going through the motions. It is similar to the last paragraph. It is work to keep us from having to work.

K - Kangaroos

Actually, kangaroos are more purpose driven than we are when we bounce from here to there accomplishing little or nothing,

Successful and purposeful work is:

Here is where we get down to business.

W - We work

It is "WE" work when we build and utilize a team to do what we cannot do alone. When our work is meaningful and directed toward objectives, it can be communicated and shared. with the team. Everyone can then do their part. It is a force-multiplier.

O - Opportunistic

In high degree, 212 work, with focused energy and intent, opportunities are seized and new opportunities are created. We benefit from moving from 211 to 212 is that we can concentrate on the best opportunities and open new doors in multiple directions.

R - Reasonable

In this level of work, where we are busy and getting busier, there is no question as to why we are doing what we are doing. It makes sense. It is trackable. It is reasonable. It gets results.

K -Knowledgeable

The mind is fully engaged in reasonable work. Knowledge drives the process and drives a desire for more knowledge. There is no hint of "trivial pursuit of information for the sake of conversation . We acquire and use knowledge to take us to the next level.

Hopefully, that factor is what has brough you to this article today and will bring you back for our next edition.

Hopefully, it will also prompt you to add your perspective in the comments for the benefit of the larger community and knowledge base here.