Do your work hours seem to be getting longer and longer? Do you find yourself working at home at night and on the weekends? Have you found that it’s just harder and harder to wake up on Monday morning to head in for another long week at the office? If so, It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson is a book you’ll want to read about Basecamp, a company that focuses on making the workplace calm. The team here at OSP has emulated techniques learned from the Co-Founders at Basecamp. These folks have been in the software game for over 20 years and know how to run an exceptional business, all while having a good time. Let’s compare notes with our tired workforce.
T is for Time
Do you seem to have an ever-growing list of tasks to be done? As soon as you get a handle on one project, another one shows up on your desk. It’s never-ending. Why? It’s not because there’s actually more-more-more. It’s because often we don’t have even an uninterrupted 15-minute span of time. Because of that, many work when no one else is there – before everyone gets there, after everyone leaves, or worse yet – on the weekends. A work week used to be 40 hours on the clock. What happened?
I is for Insane
The stress is rising. People have more ailments thanks to fatigue and tension. Officemates become competitive, snarling at each other, about each other, against each other. Going to work can seem like a war zone. How can a company turn that around? By enjoying their employees, providing them with an environment where they can think creatively and work uninterrupted. Have fewer meetings! Make the workplace more efficient! Help those who keep the company moving forward stay sane and on top of their game.
R is for Rehash
Often companies will head at turbo speed in one direction only to make a hazardous U-turn. They’ll sit around the board room table, hashing, dehashing, and rehashing. What if? Could we? Should we? Maybe not. Over and over again. Round and round. These folks reinvent every wheel in the house. Too often after endless hours of stamping around, they end up right where they were. This book’s authors tell us – stay clear of the craziness. Keep a company small and friendly; management needs to steer the ship into the calm by making more out of less emotion and commotion.
E is for Enough
At some point, we need to consider ourselves. Stress and tension can do some serious frying inside us. The brain pops, the body breaks, the spirit sinks. Nothing is worth that. Enough is enough. We need companies that cherish their employees – that encourage them to scoot out at the end of the day and to forget about work until the next morning. Companies should put more time, effort, and money into those who keep them afloat. Buy this book for your boss to spark the inspiration to keep the craziness out of the workplace. Share with management what this company does.
D is for Diseases
Research shows us that craziness does not benefit us in any way. The stress and strain of the gruel and grind – especially if it goes unappreciated – can eat away at you from the inside out. Robs us of our sleep! Makes us tense and tempts us to act outside of ourselves! Slows us down and until we get to a startled stop. Quite frankly, we can go berserk when we lose focus – when we aren’t given the time to concentrate – when we are forced to waste time. Companies nowadays breed the diseases that cripple us before old age. Businesses that will survive the 21st century are the ones that flex so that employees can relax and enjoy work – and maybe even stay onboard for longer than the typical four-and-a-half year stay.
So, that’s why too often the working force feels TIRED. Most people are. Inspire your business to follow the ways of Basecamp, a much calmer company. Their employees are so much happier working there. Who wouldn’t be? This tech company is far from the madding crowd with employees working remotely from 30 different places around the globe. Let’s move American businesses into the 21st century so that we can all have much calmer days! A calm mind allows you to focus on being productive and accomplish what you set out to do that day.
Not for you? You’d rather not be part of the crazy world of work out there? Perhaps you’d like to be your own boss. Use the OSP platform and simple mobile app to get more leads for your business. Work from anywhere. Manage your business and lead generation – all from your phone. Come join the Online Sales Pro (OSP) family. OSP can be used to promote any business, to market any service – we’ll share with you how it can be done.
