A few things to keep in mind

By, Bob Peters || November 14, 2021

I wanted to share a few things to keep in mind.  Each of these topics could easily be expanded but I thought I would get them out there to start a conversation.

Embrace Failure: Celebrate the effort, not the outcome

Trying to accomplish a goal requires lots and lots of practice which means lots and lots of failure.  Accomplishing a goal requires a lot of attempts.  Here’s the punch line:  Embrace Failure:  Celebrate the effort, not the outcome.

Just imagine if every time you tried to do something to get you closer to a goal you celebrated the effort of your attempt even though your attempts fall short of your goal. 

OK, so you sit down at the chessboard and you play chess against someone who is more skilled, and you find you lose every game.  Instead of lamenting that you are consistently coming up short you give yourself a high five!  You (reasonably) ask, why in the world would you give yourself a high five if you lose every game?  Well, because each time you play and lose you see something.  Sometimes you know you see it and sometimes it’s invisible, but it is still there to be unconsciously seen.

Over time…and yes, it takes lots of time…you get better and better. Imagine how great you would feel if every time you lost the match you were happy.  Happy because you know how each failure gets you closer to the goal.

The quicker you can embrace the effort and not the outcome the happier you will be.  Besides being happier, you will have paved the road to getting closer to your goal.

Marshmallows:  Your treat for waiting will be much greater than the treat in front of you today

“Your treat for waiting will be much greater than the treat in front of you today”

In the early 1970’s a Stanford University professor by the name of Walter Mischel and his graduate student, Ebbe Ebbesen performed a series of tests to measure delayed gratification.  There were a number of iterations of the test but in one of the tests they put 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers in a room and offered them the option of eating one marshmallow or waiting for 15 minutes to have two marshmallows. The upshot is that kids who could resist the immediate temptation and exhibited delayed gratification had better outcomes as adults.

Subsequent to this initial study there was a series of delayed gratification research done on adults.  A couple of takeaways:

• Adults were much more likely to delay gratification if they knew the timeline in order to get a reward (McGuire and Kable 2012). Adults that knew how long it would be to get the ultimate reward were much more likely to delay gratification.  For example, Financial Security is achieved over 30-40 years by regularly Investing Wisely.  It’s not done by speculating in tulips, crypto or any of the “hot” investments of the day.  If you believed that Financial Security could be achieved by speculating and you lost your capital you may “give up” on the pursuit of Financial Security.  Rather, by knowing that the Investing Wisely timeline is 30-40 years you are more likely to stick to delayed gratification.  

• The higher the probability that the ultimate reward would be met the more likely that delaying gratification to reach a goal would result. Said another way…set realistic goals.  Financial Security is achieved by earning sufficient income that exceeds your Basic Needs and allows you to regularly invest wisely in appreciating assets. Your ultimate Financial Security goal is simply a function of how early and how much you wisely invest over time.  If the amount of money you are able to regularly invest based on your age and long term returns would likely generate $750,000 then don’t expect to accumulate $4,000,000.  If the goal is unreasonable you are more likely to give up.

Not all education will give you the same economic opportunities

People pursue careers for many reasons beyond the ability to maximize their potential income. Thank heaven.  The world is a better place because of these folks.  A teacher, a social worker, an employee for a non-Governmental Organization (i.e., Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, etc.) are likely to earn less income than someone with a degree in Computer Science or Engineering.  Our community is better because we have adults who teach kids and help those suffering from stress and economic vulnerabilities.

Competition in our society can be both good and bad.  It encourages and rewards people for hard work.  On the other hand, the competitive spirit can create a warped view of where you sit in the world.  The work that you do, the public accolades and/or income you receive from your work, does not define you or your worth as a person.  Serendipity often is under appreciated for those who have fame and fortune.

There is a long list of great people who have ignored the path of maximizing their financial opportunities by making our community a better place.  People choose to work for non-profit organizations, leave the paid workforce to raise children or care of elderly relatives.  Regardless of which end of this spectrum you are on your north star is based on your personal values.  Values give you sea legs when you go through difficult times.  Some of mine are honesty, sincerity, integrity, humility, empathy, work ethic and a respect of others.  I know I will never be perfect but I try to keep these as my north star. 

Your north star is defined by values like honesty, sincerity, integrity, humility, empathy, work ethic and a respect of others

Trade skills, Certificate Programs can give you a path to Financial Security

In a prior blog post I referenced the Social Security webpage that showed the correlation between lifetime income and education.  I am a big believer in education and continuous learning but you do not need to get a four year degree to achieve Financial Security.

When I was in junior high school I took a woodshop class.  I remember it well because my teacher, Mr. Hindman, had a “salty” vocabulary and my mom still has the chess board I made.  In high school, I took an auto shop course and took apart and rebuilt a transmission.  To be sure, you would not want to hire me to do finish carpentry work or repair your car.  Many of my peers pursued careers in the trades because of our introduction to them in high school.

Beginning in the 1980’s, many of the high schools started to pull back teaching trade courses.  Fast forward to today and we have a crisis in the lack of skilled trade labor.  The older workers are retiring and there are not enough younger workers coming into the trades.  With demand for skilled trade workers high and the supply of these workers low the result is that their pay is going up …and up.

Pursuing education in skilled trades (i.e., electrical, plumbing, mechanical, etc.) can provide sufficient income for you and your family to cover your Basic Needs and money necessary to Invest Wisely.  You do not need to pursue a bachelor’s degree to achieve Financial Security and many community colleges are building out courses and helping students find good jobs.

Another alternative to a four-year degree or an education in the trades are certificate programs offered by online learning businesses like Coursera.  For years, technology companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM have struggled to fill open jobs due in large part due to schools not having the capacity or the courses to teach students the skills necessary to fill these jobs.  While community colleges are now adding these certificate programs it was evident these businesses needed to find ways of increasing the number of skilled workers and have expanded their reach to firms like Coursera.

What are employers looking for in employees?

I have hired many people over my career and I have observed many more.  I’ll throw out a few things that were memorable and then I’ll conclude by sharing what I heard the other day from Dr. Julie Ragatz. 

–Show up on time, ready to tackle the job of the day with a passion to do your best.  A manager can immediately see if someone is going through the motions without an energy to do the best possible job.  It’s simple, if you are going to get paid to do a job you might as well go with an attitude to do your best.  If you don’t, you will be uninspired/uninspiring and your manager will likely need to find someone else.

–Learn and keep learning.  Employers want to hire people that they believe can do the job.   Managers want employees with the character to continue learning and help the organization deliver its mission.  Be a voracious learner and don’t let setbacks cause you to stop learning.

–Be respectful of others.  When I graduated from college there was a 10% unemployment rate.  Jobs were hard to come by and I took a job delivering mail in the international department of a bank.  Back then, the bank had a numerical scale of jobs starting at Grade 6 and moving up from there.  I started as a Grade 6 clerk delivering mail, wire requests, SWIFT messages throughout the day.  I had a metal basket and knew within a couple of minutes where I would be in the building.  There were folks that treated me very respectfully and there were others that treated me disrespectfully.  My advice:  treat everyone with the same respect regardless of their role.

–Be a great listener.  Thanks Mom.

–Regardless of your job, you are selling…don’t sweat it.  In restaurants they call it “front of the house.”  In many businesses there are “inside sales” and “outside sales.”  In banking they call it “relationship or client management.”  In health care they are doctors and nurses.  But when you cut through it, ALL jobs have a sales component.  Whether you are in the “back of the house”, accounting, parts, service, IT, operations you are interacting with customers.  Those customers may be internal customers in another department, third party businesses buying a product, a patient in a hospital or a family buying a dinner.

Your first reaction may be…UGH.  I am not a salesperson and this is not good news!  But alas, it is nothing to sweat about and here is why.

People want to “do business” with, and be served by, people who are respectful, empathetic, trustworthy, and competent.  It’s not more complicated than that.  Some of the best “sales” people I worked with were folks that you might consider introverts.  They did not try to be a stereotype of an aggressive, extrovert salesperson.  They were “themselves” and the customers felt their authenticity.  The customers admired that they were respectful of their time, were competent in their subject matter knowledge and trusted their recommendations.  Anyone with a sound north star can do this using his/her own personal style.

Now the thoughts from Dr. Julie Ragatz who was interviewed on Standard Deviations Podcast.  Julie was speaking about the characteristics she valued in young people seeking a career as a Financial Advisor.  I think these traits are valued in many positions.  Here goes:

-Experience.  “Someone who has had experiences that make them reflect on differences in human beings.”  To reflect on differences in human beings you need to be in the present, fully aware and honing your sense of empathy.  This speaks to being a great listener.

I credit my mom for telling me how important it was to be a great listener.  Really, listening.  Not active listening where you are thinking about what you will say next but just listening and, when the person is done talking, there is a break.  It’s ok that there is not a rapid-fire response back.  People want to be heard and being a great listener is a wonderful skill that builds true understanding.

-Curiosity.  “Curious about people, themselves, their work, they are relentlessly curious about the world.  I would take this (curiosity) over almost anything.”  Curiosity leads to empathy.  Ask lots of questions.

-Empathy.  “Curiosity creates the space for understanding.” 

There is a lot to say about how best to build trust.  Showing mutual vulnerability is helpful.  Another is empathy.  You are more likely to feel and show empathy to others if you can reflect on the differences of people.  If you have personally struggled, you will have the ability to be empathic to others and they will feel your authenticity.

In the future, I will seek out the views of other managers and business leaders to add to this theme of “good employee” characteristics.  While the skill sets needed for jobs are different it might be helpful to reflect on voices of those hiring workers to help you think about how you can be a better employee from the perspective of your manager.