The year was 2011 when my wife and I learned that we were going to be parents. I was ecstatic! My head almost hit the ceiling, which was 6’5” where I stood in our basement apartment at the time. We were very excited. We were feeling good about our situation. I was working, she was working and we both made enough to support a family, pay our bills and buy a house in about 10 years or so. I remember going into my workplace and telling my boss the news so they would be prepared for doctor visits or calls if there was an emergency that caused me to leave work. Things were looking up for us until a few weeks later when I was called into the office and let go.
The news was unexpected and came just a couple of weeks after we found out we were going to be parents. I was determined to ensure my child would be taken care of in every way. I started working on promoting myself as a basketball trainer and built up a client base that was bringing in income, coupled with a labour job I picked up from an agency. Although I was out for many hours in the day I was able to net more than I did at my previous job. I was a hard worker when things needed to be done. I didn’t mind the work but when there was nothing to be done I did my checks to ensure there was no other work to be done. After my checks I would mingle or take a seat and wait for work to pick up again. I learned that day that my effectiveness in doing the work was appreciated but not that I am sitting and doing nothing when there was nothing to be done.
My Supervisor assigned tasks to me that I had already been done in efforts to make me look busy. I went along the first couple of times but hated doing work that was already done. It simply was not productive. I understood where he was coming from with the idea that doing something relays to the boss that I am a good worker and my response was a good boss knows the work that needs to be done and pays attention to the work, not the business of the worker. I told him that I would much rather be productive instead of busy. Busy people may be productive but busy people can also be full of it and busy themselves doing things that really don’t matters.
Effective on the other hand says that I am productive in the right areas. A productive person may produce but if they produce ice cream and you ordered a burger what good is their productivity? An effective person produces the right product, where productive and busy people may not. My aim is to be highly effective in developing people by helping them lead themselves first and then others, hence, this blog page. If you find what I write helpful, apply it to yourself and share it with others.
Any questions you have for me can be forwarded to info@daynepilgrim.ca
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