We are living through a time of shortages. As a salesperson for restoration and environmental contractors, I experience this challenge every day. Early in the pandemic, the shortages were relegated mostly to PPE (and toilet paper, for reasons I’ll never understand), but now it’s almost everything––from chemicals, to surface protection, to replacement parts for your drying equipment. Of course, you don’t need another reminder of how broken the supply chain has become. If you’ve been to the grocery store recently, you’ve seen those gaps on the shelves where your favorite food items used to be.
Don’t worry, I’m not here to join the chorus of whining about our nation’s supply chain issues. I want to talk about a different kind of shortage––the shortage of you. If you’re reading this post, you are someone who cares about the work you do, which means you’re likely very good at your job. When you are good at what you do, demand for your services is invariably high. I think we can agree this is generally a good thing. Until it isn’t.
I work in Western Washington, where we’ve endured one of the harshest winters in our history. Record rain and snowfall, freezing temperatures, and mudslides have created an overwhelming workload for area contractors. When I speak with clients about their businesses, their number one concern is universal––We don’t have enough people. The recent surge in COVID cases has only worsened this frustrating problem.
What do you do when you don’t have enough people? If you’re anything like me, you grit your teeth and do the work of several individuals. As I said, if you’re reading this, you are probably very good at what you do.
With modern technology, you might even be good enough to do the work of four or five people, miraculously turning a twenty-four-hour day into thirty-four, your community’s own Superman or Wonder Woman. I imagine some of you have been playing the superhero role for quite a few years now. And I imagine some are like me––after receiving much-deserved kudos from your clients and high-fives from your peers, you fall into bed at night (after staying up too late catching up on paperwork), and you think to yourself, I am exhausted. When will this ever end? I have good and bad news: it will never end.
I recall a conversation I had with a mentor several years ago. I was lamenting my crushing workload, and he responded in a way I’ll never forget: “There’s so much opportunity out there, you could work twenty-four hours a day if you had the energy.”
The implication of his statement was clear––nobody can actually work twenty-four hours a day. Money doesn’t sleep, the saying goes, and it’s true, but it doesn’t change the fact that you and I need to sleep. We need to do something besides work all the time.
I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m not getting paid to write this. In fact, the time I spend writing is time I could be selling stuff, which means in a strange way, I’m paying to do this. So why do it? I write because it soothes and recharges me. It’s a brief escape from the mayhem I endure each day as one who operates in a twenty-four-seven, emergency response industry.
When was the last time you sacrificed potential earnings in favor of something that recharges you?
Here is where one might feel obliged to insert a list––Five Simple Ways to Keep Workaholism From Wrecking Your Life––something like that. I’ll spare you such trite material. The fact is, you probably know what you could be doing to improve your health and peace of mind, but you’re afraid to do it. Do you ever get a call for a job, and after speaking to the potential client, a little voice whispers inside you, Warning! This job is trouble! but you decide to take the job anyway?
That’s a fear-based decision. After all, you never know if this could be the last time your phone rings for a while. How often have you regretted not listening to that little voice? How often have those trouble jobs haunted you for months? I know from personal experience that it happens far too often.
Learn to trust in yourself. Trust that your talent and work ethic is enough to guarantee your phone will never stop ringing. Some of the happiest and most profitable business owners and managers I know are ones willing to make concise decisions about what type of work they will and won’t do.
Narrow your focus, constrict your territory if necessary. Consider networking with other contractors in your area who share your values and are willing to return the favor if you refer a client to them that you’re unable to service yourself. Do whatever you can to prevent your occupation from becoming a soul-sucking preoccupation.
Author Stephen King writes in his memoir, “Life is not a support system for your work; your work is a support system for your life." That’s a striking statement from one of the most prolific novelists of our time. May you embed those words in your mind and consider them the next time you’re tempted to put work before your own health and the health of your loved ones.