SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How much control over your work do you believe you have?
- Total — I decide everything I do or don’t do: 6.61%
- Significant — I control most of what I work on : 65.23%
- Some — Most of my work is dictated to me: 22.99%
- None — I have no control over the work I do: 5.17%
Control is a matter of perspective. While most respondents feel they control most of what they work on, there’s still a substantial number of you who feel your work is dictated to you. And for those who feel they control most of what you work on, that still means there’s work you feel you don’t control. But control is a matter of perspective. With a simple, small shift in your thinking you can go from being a victim of your work who is out of control to being in complete control over all of it. You just have to look at your work as a choice rather than as an obligation. Try changing your view to that perspective and see what happens.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”