Here you are, minding your own business, doing a great job, then someone asks you to perform what amounts to a professional miracle. They have no idea that what they want will require the [insert your job here] equivalent of leaping through flaming hoops, doing backward flips while juggling three apples and eating one of them in mid-air.
The good news is, you come through. You make it work and you deliver the goods, on time and just a little over budget. The "not so good" news is that, just as you're about to exhale and recover from the job-gymnastics routine, three other people call or come over to you and say: "Hey, you're pretty good! Can you come over and do that for me, too?" Only, I need it a little sooner and a lot cheaper."
There is a phrase in Spanish that loosely translates: "By mistake, I killed a dog once-- Now they call me a dog killer." They don't have a phrase for when you work a miracle once. However, if you find yourself in a quandary of how to think about this, Lao-Tzu had a phrase: "If it doesn't kill you first, it will make you stronger."
If you are time-crunched and have to go work another miracle right now, the quick-view, bottom line solution is, pick one of the following choices:
1) Do it superbly, name your price, including number of days off to recover and recharge.
2) Decline it, just say no, you can't do it under any circumstances and maintain personal and professional integrity.
3) Deflect it; don't automatically take their bait. This is to make them look good - not you!
Or
4) Let THEM delegate it to the three other people who should be doing it, even though they aren't as good at it as you are.
Thanks, it's been great. Call me if I can be of any support in the mind/body department. See ya--
If you have a little time, let’s have a deeper discussion about this phenomenon of being a miracle worker.
Deciding to Do the Miracle
Most of us like to do our best work every time, no matter how much time and money it takes. However, often, we find ourselves challenged by time, money, talent, technology or all of it. Here is where you say to yourself, "This is an opportunity for me to grow and learn. Working through this will get me closer to self-mastery. And that's good.
The key to this step is: Just do it –but on your terms, at your price. Then reward yourself for what you learned and accomplished. Take quiet time to self-reflect, for it is in the quiet spaces that the inner self recharges and re-calibrates itself for great contribution next time.
Declining Opportunity.
Don’t do it. If you're having trouble with this part, it may imply that you're new in your career and you're not sure if this one time is going to be the opportunity that could make or break your career, reputation or both. The bottom line is "just say no, can't do it. You don't even have to give a reason why.
If your commitment is to excellence in your work or your job, to say "yes" to this opportunity is also a vote "yes" for mediocrity at your expense. The more you exercise the "no" muscle, the better you will get at it.
Deflecting Opportunity.
Your colleague comes to you and begins to moan and whine about how they're so busy and so swamped, or so professionally challenged that their life is being made miserable because they don't have what it takes to do as good a job as you could do in the amount of time they have. Woe is them…..
That's your cue to say, "Aw, gee, that's too bad. I'm sure that something will work out for you. Thanks for the conversation. See ya later." This opportunity is to make them (your whiner) look good. It's rarely a good clean chance to make you look good no matter how much of a hero they make it sound like you will be if you rescue them our of their predicament.
Lastly, Let THEM delegate this project to the three other people who should be doing this job, even though those other people are not as good as you are or as experienced as you are. Don't make the mistake of agreeing to make sure it gets done, which only means that you have now accepted work that got dumped on you that you either have to do poorly at your expense or delegate it.
Consider the possibility that the reason why more opportunities exist is so more people can take advantage of them, not so that highly competent people can be taken advantage of. If you are a miracle worker, when you do say "yes," make sure it's on your terms for doing excellent work, including your requests for preparation time, ample talent & budget resources, time to do the job, and the opportunity to recover and rejuvenate yourself after a job well done.
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