You Have Control Issues and Your Employer Knows it!

We all have control issues, and your work's office building confirms it. That's right, a lot of those "I'm in charge" buttons are just for show! But when it comes to overall satisfaction on the job, your employer has a trick or two up their sleeves.

If  you arrive at the job site and need to cross the street between parking and work, that button for the street crossing sign may very well be inert. Though, it's not the case in all areas, New York City did admit years ago that when they upgraded the pedestrian crosswalk signs to timed circuitry, they left the old buttons on the sign poles. The reason; it made people think the light would change for them sooner and discourage jay walking.

You then head inside the building and enter the elevator a little late because you had to wait on a fake street sign. After selecting your floor, you reach for the "door close" button. You know, the one with the two arrows facing each other. Again, you've been duped. Though elevator manufacturers insist the buttons do work, they generally don't engage without a fireman's key. So why install a push button at all? To help alleviate the frustration of waiting a whole 2.3 seconds. In short, it allows you to feel in control of the situation.

But the manipulation does not stop there! When you finally arrive at your desk, a crossing light and 2.3 seconds late, you may feel the need to adjust the temperature controls to create just the right working environment. It's estimated that over half of the free standing thermostats in larger office buildings are completely FAKE! Why the elaborate sham? If you are cold, more than likely someone down the hall is hot and vice versa. However, your company doesn't want to have to reconcile physical comfort concerns of an entire company based on whose cubicle is nearest a large window and gets the sun. To put a lock box box around a functioning unit would only elicit more complaints. The actual degree setting is generally the exact same for a particular season, but the phony dials create a placebo effect that will allow you to get back to work.

Almost a hundred years ago, research was conducted at a factory in Cicero, Illinois. The study was to see if affecting the variables such as light, temperature, humidity and even music in the work environment would increase productivity. All of these adjustments had a nominal effect on overall output. The biggest factor in the study was not the adjustments, but the fact that they were conducted at all. Workers assumed that their employer was making the changes to please the employees, and therefore... cared. Known as the Hawthorne Effect, this was a groundbreaking study indeed. That simply the attitude of employers toward their workers would in and of itself increase productivity.

Going through life pushing buttons and making tiny adjustments to EVERYTHING adds stress to our lives, robs us of our joy, and blinds us to the opportunities to see the world in a different way; as it truly is. We cannot choose with whom our children fall in love, if we will be in an accident on the way home or whether we will even have a job next week. My advice; slow down, draw a deep breath, take a placebo (tick tacks work pretty well) and understand you are not in control of most things in your life, especially on the job. Admitting as much is half the battle. Relinquishing the need for control allows you to shake off stress, clear your mind, and do what your company really wants; get back to work.  

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BlaineSpeak@gmail.com

You Are Out of Control!

This past year, a recurring theme in the Sunday School Class of my wife and mine, has been that of “control”. At no point have any of the lessons contained the word in its title, but in analyzing the root cause for relationship issues, lack of humility, unhappiness at work, or just plain being a curmudgeon, the “C” word keeps popping up.   

I’m a self-confessed ‘control freak’, just ask my wife, or the other two people in my family to which I issue commands. It’s not that I think everyone should use their turn signals each and every time they change lanes, but rather that they just need to stay home if they don’t intend to do so. That makes perfect sense to me; freedom of choice. Abide by my way of how things should be done, or stay at home! In fact, the world would be a much better place if every inhabitant subscribed to my rules of the road, believed the way I do, joined my Political Party, and enjoyed Indian cuisine. Yes, six billion clones of Blaine Little would make the world a better place… for me.

Awakening from my dream-state, I realize that will never happen. I will never have the honor of issuing an edict providing for the backs of hands to be smacked by a ruler should they not pull the little lever on the steering column. Children will never stop doing things that embarrass their parents, and parents will never stop doing things that embarrass their children. Though, I do savor the opportunities to make my kids cringe.

What we are all chasing, that to which we all feel entitled, is control. Control of society, the political process, our family, our work, and even from time to time, God Himself. Oh yes, we like to espouse what God would or would not do. Well, it’s a good thing none of us are Him. Corporate CEO’s, Generals, and Doctors all look good in their respective articles of clothing, but none of them are in control. They just want you to think they have it all figured out, which is the reason for suit, uniform, and lab coat. The harsh reality is none of us are in control. We never were. I will not even go so far as to say we are only in control of ourselves… because we’re not.

Attempting to gain control is a futile exercise which ends in anguish. It’s a workshop on self defeatism. Putting our hands on those things in our environment in order to change the course in which our circumstances lie is like teaching a cat to fetch a stick. Well, have you ever tried it? All you do is wind up aggravating yourself; I have the blood pressure pills to prove it.

What we really want is; peace, love, happiness, and a certain amount of satisfaction in our work. Here’s the irony; we don’t need control for ANY of those things! We can find peace by knowing God is in control, and living the way He would truly have us to live our lives. We can start by “loving our neighbor”. Some will even love us back. We can find happiness in our family, so long as we are willing to accept all their imperfections. We can feel satisfied by taking the right attitude into work with us.

Good things will inevitably come our way, but if we hold on so tight to things in our present, we will completely miss the opportunities of the future. The sooner we stop trying to gain control, the sooner we can just start living. Perhaps they just didn’t make turn signals on that model of car.

www.MomentumSeminars.com



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