Cal Wilson / April 19, 2023

We all have a choice when we are not happy or fulfilled. We can wallow in our misery, or we can choose to make a change. We can continue to feel trapped, diminished, and overwhelmed, or we can choose a road travelled by those we admire.

Call it following your dreams. Call it taking a leap of faith. Call it whatever you want – there’s a moment when pursuing your goals where, to change your life, you need to step past the point of no return.

That can be a scary prospect, especially for those of us who are calculated, thoughtful decision makers.

However, sometimes the hesitancy to take that fortuitous step forward can be the stumble that gets in the way of your success. That hesitancy, called ‘your comfort zone’, keeps you where you are right now.

In this article, we look at what it takes to really change your life. We will challenge you. Are you serious about your own complaints, your own unsettled concern for your future, your own need for accomplishment before you’re dead? Ouch, that’s blunt.

No Risk, No Reward

Renowned Louisiana painter, Walter Anderson, once said, “It is only when we take chances, when our lives improve.”

Let’s break this down. You’ve spent long hours thinking about what you want out of life. You’ve weighed the pros and cons, done a lot of self-reflection, and attempted to settle on a path forward you think would best suit you. Rather than work for the same boss, the same company, and the same old routine that, albeit stable, isn’t serving you anymore, you have choices.

The risk you need to take to change your life may not be reckless, but rather, fulfilling. Like Anderson suggests, it’s time to take that chance on improving your life, if you really do want to change your future and your fortunes.

Everyone Experiences Fear

Chances are that the hesitancy holding you back from changing your life is rooted in fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Humans are often powered by a survival instinct that lends itself towards the known and the stable, causing a fear of anything that might shake up our existing routine. Even if shaking it up is exactly what we really want and need.

So, the question is, ‘is our dream just a dream, or do we have the courage to make it reality’?

Some of the factors that cause fear when considering career options include:

• Fear of the unknown/uncertain.
• Fear of the cost.
• Fear of failure.
• A lack of trust in your own judgement.

Challenge Those Fears

You’ve probably heard the moniker, being brave isn’t lacking fear, it’s acting in spite of fear. And that’s true. But it’s easier said than done.

The important part of acting in spite of fear is challenging your thoughts and applying logic. First, to the situation. Then, to your own self-doubt. If you’ve done your research, and judged your own skills and strengths objectively, it’s likely that logic will dissuade most, if not all, your fears.

Ask yourself questions like:

• What risks do I face?
• What are my plans if those risks come to pass?
• What is my exit strategy?
• What do I stand to gain?
• Am I willing to sacrifice to achieve my goals & dreams?
• Can I see the road to prosperity, happiness, control, and fulfillment on my current path?

Once you can answer these questions, you’ll find the risks a lot less frightening.

Purpose defeats fear. Find Purpose. Decide.

There Are Others

A second method of dealing with fears is to think about other people you admire. Write down five people you look up to, or where you aspire to be similar. Then reflect on each of them, one at a time. Did they go for it? Did they bust through their fears? They had them too. Did they knock down barriers? Did they take the risk? The answer will be a resounding yes on all counts.

They are no better than you. They just decided. They just went for their quest.

Is Your Dream Worth the Bet?

What is your quest – more money, freedom, security, time for yourself and family, control of your future?

Most of us spend our lives working for other people’s gain. That’s usually not our dream. Often times, we are living something less than our dream to create a stable income, when our families depend on us, when loans need paying off, and so on. However, if you are serious about changing your lot, and if you’ve reached a point in your career where you have the means and the path to make a bet on your dreams, you owe it to yourself to try. Maybe it’s even your duty.

That is, if changing your life really is important to you.

Cal Wilson / April 19, 2023

Two-thirds of full-time workers experience burnout on the job. While our typical image of a worker suffering burnout might be a doctor, nurse, or therapist, this is a big problem in the corporate world as well. As it turns out, mismanaged corporations are a huge cause behind workplace burnout, and there is little the professional working for them can do if they choose to stay.

What is workplace burnout?

According to the Mayo Clinic, “burnout is a special type of work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.”

The World Health Organization calls it a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:

• feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
• increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
• reduced professional efficacy.”

Burnout is not considered a medical diagnosis, but an “occupational phenomenon.” Meaning, while certain people may be more likely to become burnt out, the fault does not lie inherently with the person, but is connected to their work.

The opposite of burnout is engagement.

UC Berkeley psychologist and the world’s foremost burnout expert, Dr. Christina Maslach, describes the antithesis of burnout as ‘work engagement’ or “a persistent, positive affective‐motivational state of fulfillment…”

Think of a job you’ve loved in the past. It didn’t necessarily exclude stress or working long, tiring days – in fact, some of the best positions require all of that. However, the measures taken by your management or employer to keep you motivated and engaged in that work were likely much more successful than a job you’ve hated.

What causes burnout?

We can understand burnout by thinking of everyone we work with, and ourselves, as having two sliding scales; one for satisfaction, and the other for dissatisfaction. Rather than satisfaction and dissatisfaction being opposites, they can work alongside each other, building up quite the reserve of frustration in an individual.

So, while a person’s passion and motivation to do their job well (satisfaction) might be high, the lack of their fundamental needs being met – lack of sufficient salary, personal time off, safe work environment, etc. – (dissatisfaction), might eventually overwhelm their motivation, leading to burnout. With burnout, it’s often a case of being a frog in a slow-to-boil pot; the employee might not notice their dissatisfaction all at once, because it’s a gradual, building process.

This begs the question, what are the main irritants that lead to the pot boiling over? A Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees sought to answer this exact question. It found the following to be the five most common causes of workplace burnout:

1. Unfair treatment at work.
2. Unmanageable workload.
3. Lack of role clarity.
4. Lack of communication and support from manager.
5. Unreasonable time pressure.

The biggest takeaway from the Gallup study is that burnout is not inevitable. The findings emphasized that leaders “can prevent – and reverse – burnout by changing how [they] manage and lead [their] employees.” Meaning, if you’re suffering from burnout, and the onus is completely on you to change and get better, without any consideration from your workplace as to its role in the matter, you likely won’t find the relief you need in your current position.

Burnout treatment needs a different approach.

Unfortunately, most treatment for burnout is aimed, ultimately, at getting the individual to return to the workplace with successful performance.  This is not always congruous with what is best for the individual or what will prevent burnout from recurring.

If you’re suffering from burnout, and you find that your organization is unwilling to change, the hard truth is that you may not find relief. Leaving may be the best option for your overall health and wellbeing. Until corporate culture can adjust to meet its employees’ needs, businesses will continue to see turnover and burnout impacting their bottom line.

Joe Weppler / April 19, 2023

The term “recession proof” refers to industries and companies that are well insulated from the negative impact of an economic downturn. Traditionally, businesses that are least impacted by a recession are those dealing in essential services. Health care, grocery stores, senior care, maintenance – critical services that you just can’t do away with when trimming the fat.

There are plenty of steps that any business can take to help guard against recession, and one of the key ones is the concept of pay as you go. In other words, tying your business expenses to matching sales. If your business needs supplies, you pay for them from the sales generated within the same period the supplies last.

In a pay as you go model, lower overall expenses means fewer required sales to stay in the black. That’s why Schooley Mitchell is recession proof: Our services are just as relevant – if not more so – during a recession as they are in times of plenty.

Schooley Mitchell reduces business expenses for our clients, and there is no fee to do so. There is only a share of the savings. When business is good, our clients are focused on sales, growth, expansion – and expansion isn’t cheap. We help them optimize their expenses so their money can go towards building their business instead of in the pockets of their vendors.

When business is tough, they’re focused on weathering the storm. The most critical tenet in the recession proofing handbook is to carefully manage your expenses. After all, expenses come off the bottom line, which means a dollar saved is worth more than a dollar earned.

There are many cost-cutting initiatives that have negative impacts on the sustainability and growth of an organization – reducing product development, laying off staff or increasing prices of goods and services can be detrimental to the long-term health of a company. However, by reducing essential business service expenses, businesses are able to increase their profits without affecting the revenue-generating aspects of their business.

In other words, Schooley Mitchell’s services are critical during recession because they give businesses room to breathe. They save jobs, keep prices reasonable, and help maintain continuity. Schooley Mitchell is 100 percent elastic to economic conditions. Businesses will always want to reduce their expenses and save time dealing directly with their vendors. Schooley Mitchell also provides critical decision-making knowledge directly to our clients, and the security that comes along with knowing an independent business with marketplace clout is on their side of the table.