REINFORCEMENT, PUNISHMENT AND PERFORMANCE

It doesn’t matter where you work, your boss wants you to be productive.
You may or may not be as concerned as he is about your productivity, as long as you get paid.
You may have a love/hate relationship with your job – you love the paycheck (or maybe it’s not enough) but you hate the work. But, you need to be there to get the aforementioned paycheck.
Some people love their work so much they would do it even if they were not getting paid. There may be very few of those folks, but they are out there.
Others may be saying to themselves, as is imprinted on some coffee mugs, “I Went To School All Those Years To Do This?”
Author Bill Sims Jr., in his first book, “Green Beans & Ice Cream,” talks about the power of positive reinforcement in the workplace. He quotes a statistic that says 68 percent of workers have never heard the words “Thank You” from their bosses.
Though we all work for a paycheck, cash may not be the best motivator. Acknowledgement and praise for good work may be better at improving productivity. It comes down to this: as a worker, what choice are you making on the job when no one is watching? If you like where you work, and are getting the right positive reinforcement, you’ll choose to always be productive, Sims says.
In any relationship, what choices do you make when no one is watching? Are you always faithful to your spouse? Do you always eat the right foods? Do you cheat, even a little, on, say, your taxes?
Some choices may be “wrong,” on their face, but at the time, you may not see the harm. Many of us go a tad over the speed limit when we are driving. Many of us take our personal documents to work to make “free” copies. As humans, we are not without sin, and we don’t cast the first stones, but these things just seem “OK.”
But on the job, are you working under the duress of your consequences for NOT doing what you’re supposed to, or are you recognized appropriately for doing what you should, when you should. Sims cites the firefighter who instinctively goes into a burning building to save a life, without regard for his own safety. That’s the ultimate in making the right choice when no one is looking.
Think about why you do what you do, not only at work, but in other life situations. It’s rare for many people to ALWAYS make the right choices, but if you are choosing correctly most of the time, give yourself a pat on the back. Or, as Sims calls it, “Self R+.”
If you are continuing to work under duress for a pittance of a paycheck, don’t fret. There are other ways to make money that may allow you one day to fire the punishing boss. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It may not be a quick solution to the problem, but it may give you reason to dream of the day of dumping your dumb job and helping others do the same.
Meanwhile, though, don’t give up what is putting food on the table. As long as you are there, find ways to motivate yourself to make the right choices when no one is looking. You’ll actually feel much better about yourself. Having that “Self R+” will help you in all your future endeavors, inside or outside of work.
How cool would it be to become so confident that you’ll do the right thing that no temptation will steer you to the wrong path? Sims’ mother wanted him to eat his green beans, She offered ice cream as a reward if he did. Over time, he learned to like green beans, even as his mother gradually backed off the amount of ice cream he ate.
You, too, can learn to like the green beans of your job – or at least tolerate them. It certainly would help if your boss offered you acknowledgement and praise for doing the right thing, instead of only punishment for mistakes. In the meantime, if your boss is unkind, be open to other avenues. They may lead you to the right path of acknowledgement and praise.
Peter

WORK, INSURANCE AND THE FUTURE

The media is abuzz with stories about employers cutting full-time workers back to part time because they believe health care reform will be prohibitively expensive.
If you are in that situation, there is a silver lining.
The time your boss has freed up for you is time you can use to find other ways to make money.
Now, you may say you are just a working stiff, and you need all the hours your boss can give you – not to mention the insurance benefits he might be taking away.
You also might think that this is temporary. Your boss will see what a penny-wise and pound-foolish decision it was to cut your hours back, and the extra hours you would give him will more than cover what it’s costing him in salary and benefits.
After all, if he didn’t need you for 40 or more hours, he wouldn’t have hired you for 40 or more hours. He would not have been that stupid, would he?
It’s tough to call this decision by some employers a knee-jerk reaction. It’s been talked about for a long time. But it may indeed be short-sighted. Your boss may just complicate his life more than he realizes if he does this.
For example: he’s probably going to have to hire another part-timer to cover the hours he is taking away from you. That part-timer may not be as good at the work as you are, or have as much experience. He’s going to have to allow for time for the new guy to get up to speed. How many sales, or how much productivity, will he lose by that? How much is that worth to him, in the overall scheme of things?
Retired syndicated radio talk-show host Neal Boortz talked about this Monday, Aug. 19, 2013, while filling in for his replacement, Herman Cain. He says that temporary employment agencies might find an opportunity in this tumult. Temporary workers would be great at filling in the gaps left by cutting back full-timers to part time. Well, bosses, good luck with that!
Good, long-term employees have a value that you can’t measure entirely with salary and benefits. Some years ago, there was an adage among employers: in the first three years of an employee’s tenure, that employee was giving you more than you were paying in total compensation. After three years, as benefits and salary increase, the employee was suddenly costing you more than he was giving you back in labor.
But the intangibles that a good, long-term employee gives his employer can be overlooked. For example: the person who’s been in the job for a few years can usually do it with minimal direction and supervision, presuming he is a good, loyal worker. He might even see things in the job that the boss doesn’t , and create efficiences he doesn’t even realize.
Yes, employers, this is real money thatmay or may not be obvious – until that person is gone for a time. So why would bosses do this to those folks who have made them prosperous?
As for the employee, the unintended gift your boss may be giving you is time to check out other ways to make money. There are many, but to look at one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It’s been said that some people work full time at their jobs, and part time on their fortunes. If you now are working “part time” at your job, here’s your chance to gain time to work on your fortune.
One day, your boss may be surprised that the good person he’s had for years is leaving “to pursue other (more prosperous) opportunities.” All this, because of pre-hyped fear of insurance costs. Let’s hope the temporary worker he hires works out. Good luck with that, bosses!
Peter

WHAT IF …

Do you ever ask “what if?”
Chances are, if you do, you have cultivated the ability to dream.
If you don’t, you probably either don’t believe your life could change, or you accept things the way they are.
Ask yourself this: if you don’t believe your life can change, why do you feel that way? Do you believe your life is the way it is because of circumstances beyond your control? The better life goes to someone else because they were either born into it, or have lucked into it? The stars were aligned to benefit them, not you?
If you accept things the way are, are you happy with the way things are? If not, why do you accept them? Do you believe you don’t have the power to change them?
You DON’T have to accept things the way they are if you don’t like them.
You HAVE the power to change things, as long as you are open to change.
Perhaps your situation is not what you want, but it’s comfortable for you, or it’s all you know.
If you have a job you hate, but you can’t just quit, there’s a way out. It requires you to look at ways to make money other than working at a job you hate. Don’t quit your job yet, if you can’t. Just consider the many other income options available to you during some of the hours you are not at your job.
Some of those income solutions may appear uncomfortable at first, but if you really want to change your life, you may have to move outside of what’s comfortable. As you do that, the initial discomfort will slowly disappear.
Remember, too, that something worth having sometimes requires some discomfort. It might also require some extra effort. Laziness is not an option.
Do you think that some of these income options are not for you? Perhaps they aren’t. But just know that these options are available if YOU have the desire to change your life.
Don’t have that desire? Perhaps your life is not that bad. Perhaps your life might even be quite good. Perhaps you love what you do.
Here’s the rub: Some they love what they do, but it’s not paying the bills. Having a second income option could change that. They can do what they love, and still pay their bills — even boost their lifestyle.
So what are these income options? There are many excellent ones. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. Perhaps it will encourage you to ask yourself, what if?
Perhaps you’ll be encouraged to dream. Perhaps you can do good, once you do well. Perhaps you can help others find and achieve their dreams.
There may be some discomfort. There may be some uncertainty. Perhaps there will be some extra effort required.
Soon, though, you’ll start to see that it was all worth it. You can dream, and help others dream. Soon. you won’t accept things the way they are.
Soon, your life WILL change.

Peter

SHIFTING PARENTING GOALS

You’ve heard the stories. A kid grows up in a great family with wonderful parents, then, for some unexplainable reason, gets into trouble.
Perhaps it happened because his parents had a somewhat misguided goal: to raise a good kid.
Andy Andrews, author and storyteller, talked about this when he spoke to the Team National convention in Orlando in July 2013.
He says that parents should not have the goal to raise good kids. Instead, their goal should be to raise kids that will become great adults.
What’s the difference? Look at it this way: a parent tells the story of how their child went wrong when he grew up, and they say they did everything right. But did they?
Some parents believe that if they can keep their kids isolated into their own world for as long as possible, they will have values so embossed into their being that they will never want to stray into the world of drugs, alcohol, crime etc.
Some parents want to influence kids to the point of having a say in whom they marry.
But sometimes, restricting kids can create pent-up demand to explore the outside world. They may want to meet people who are not like them. They will want to see places they were never allowed to see, or do things they were never allowed to do.
Some parents don’t want their children asking questions. They’d prefer to give them only information they “need to know,” and on their terms.
No parent can stop curiosity. No parent can stop the natural feelings children may have for others as they grow older. No parent can keep a child in a bubble for life.
What one hopes for as a parent is that the child grows to make good choices. Sometimes, that might mean exposing them to people who’ve made bad choices while they are young.
In the movie “The Jazz Singer,” Neil Diamond’s character grows up in a very conservative Jewish household. His father tells him that he has to know where he came from to know where he is going.
Instead of being a cantor in a synagogue, Diamond’s character grows up to be a singer who performs pop music in front of huge audiences – like Diamond in real life.
Being a successful performer is not what his father wanted for Diamond’s character. He wanted him to use his talents as a servant to the synagogue. Eventually, the father came to embrace the son for who he is.
Children will become who they are, no matter the circumstances in which they grow up. A parent’s goal is to see their child become a great adult – one who helps others, who has humility, integrity and generosity.
If you raise a child like that, you are a successful parent. The child may get there via a path you did not design for them, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the result on the other end.
Raising good children is fine, but it doesn’t stop there. Watching them make life choices can be painful to you, but you have to love them for who they are. If they get in trouble, help them. If they pursue a life path of which you don’t approve, just look at the result. If they have excellent personal qualities as adults, you did a great job as a parent.
If you have grown to adulthood and are looking to make good choices, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It could be the biggest life-changing choice you could ever make. No matter what you do in life, choose wisely and make your parents – eventually – proud.
Peter