Dissatisfied with work? Guess what? You’re likely the cause.

I’m wondering what has changed in the last 22 years. A new survey by The Conference Board (www.conference-board.org) found that only 45% of us are happy with our jobs. This is down 16% since their first survey in 1987. But wait. A 2005 survey by the same firm shows these recent stats to represent only a 5% decline in job satisfaction (U.S. Job Satisfaction Keeps Falling) during the past 5 years – and we’ve had a tough economy to deal with.

What I found very interesting is that The Conference Board’s 2005 report cited rapid advancements in technology and employees’ changing expectations as the culprits behind the 2005 results. In their 2009 survey, the why-and-wherefores of the decrease are a bit more vague with John Gibbons, program director of employee engagement research and services at The Conference Board, stating: “Challenging and meaningful work is vitally important to engaging American workers.” This, I presume, means more workers are not finding their work meaningful or challenging, hence the dissatisfaction. Sounds a bit like the rationale behind the decline in job satisfaction for their 2005 survey.

In this era of amazing technological creations, new ways to produce and distribute goods and services, and nearly every company in the world competing on a global basis, it just doesn’t make sense that workers are not “feeling” challenged. (I will get to “meaningful” work in a minute.) More than at any time in history, organizations are challenged. In fact, there are so many challenges and threats it is a wonder most of ‘em just don’t shut the doors. So, how can it be that workers don’t feel any challenge in their work?

Here’s what I think is the answer: The workforce is simply not up to the challenge of solving problems.

In the old days, machines needed to be invented to do work that was being done by human hand or animal (read: printing presses, cotton gin, automobile, telephone, assembly line, locomotive, and so on). Once they were created, someone needed to figure out how to get it out to the masses. No viral videos, tweets, or Facebook testimonials to help spread the word; just a legion of people, going from place to place, in an attempt to sell their products.

Contrast this with Lauren Luke, the 27 year-old single mum from Britain whose YouTube make-up application instruction video that received 4.1 million hits granted her instant fame and her own cosmetic line. Were we without the Internet, it probably would have taken her as much time to launch her cosmetic line as it did Max Factor to get his brand off the ground and running. (In case you were wondering, it took Max Factor 16+ years to launch his cosmetic line, from his first sale at the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904 to launching his brand in the 1920’s.)

No, the difference today is that, as a workforce, we just don’t know how to solve problems. We rely on someone or something else to do the thinking, marketing, and selling for us. When those things fail us, instead of rolling up our shirt sleeves and finding ways to solve the problem, we point the finger at others. On the flipside, we are also “helicopter” parents and prevent our children from learning from their own mistakes. We guide, cajole, and coddle them until they are completely bereft of any critical thinking or problem-solving skills. We then turn them out into the workforce and expect them to excel in a world that needs critical thinkers and problem-solvers. Come on, people.

As for not having meaningful work – well, that one is also on you. If what you want is meaning in your work, you need to find work that means something to you. Trust me that the work an organization does mean something to its owner, shareholders, or Board of Directors. If your company's work doesn’t hold any meaning for you, find some place that does. End of your dissatisfaction.

Attract money and everything else you want in the New Year

There is something miraculous about demarcation points, where some things are left behind and new things are on the horizon. 2010 is one of those years where fantastic things are now in the process of becoming a reality – provided you believe they are. This notion may run counter to what we read and hear about in the news. But as the saying goes, what you dwell upon expands. Consequently, if you dwell upon the bad, it becomes larger just as when dwelling upon the good also enlarges. So, if what you think about is your lack of love, money, or a great career, guess what? You will continue to attract more lack of love, money, or a great career. Want to attract love, money, or a great career? Then you must think about how one or all of the things you want are currently being drawn to you. Keep that thought in your mind. Banish, completely, any thoughts that bad things will happen or that something stands in the way of you getting what you want.

In 1963, Dr. Joseph Murphy’s groundbreaking book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, offered the timeless secret of how to attract everything you want into your life. Today, this secret still holds true. He wrote:

Whatever thoughts, beliefs, opinions, theories, or dogmas you write, engrave, or impress on your subconscious mind, you shall experience them as objective manifestation of circumstances, conditions, and events. What you write on the inside, you will experience on the outside.

Like me, I am sure you know people who have it all – health, wealth, and happiness. Are they really that much different than you? The answer is: likely not. The only difference, then, is that they expect the best to happen and it does. Remember always: What is written on the inside will be experienced on the outside. You have a choice of what you write on the inside and once you do, your subconscious takes over and makes certain that what you ask for appears. I wrote about this in my last blog but as we enter a new period, it needs to be stressed now more than ever. As you think about what you want, not what you don’t have, you will begin to see miracles. People and things will show up exactly when you need them to have them realize what you envision. It is then especially important that you are careful for what you wish because as you dwell upon something, it will come into realization. Here are some helpful tips for guiding your subconscious mind to attract what you want:

1. Be specific in what you want. If you want a new job, write out exactly what you expect from the new job. The act of writing will help you better formulate the work you want to do and the things you do best. Review it, amend it, and when it reads exactly how you want, spend 3-5 minutes a day envisioning how you feel in your new job (or a living in a new city or home, or being handed that award). Feel it as it is happening.

2. Concern yourself only with the fact that everything is currently coming into alignment to produce the results you want. Do not worry about the details as to how it will come to be but dwell only on the fact that what you want will be.

3. Pay close attention to chance meetings, a statement someone makes, or something you read or hear about. These are opportunities that are leading you in the direction of your desires.

We are the brink of a new year and a new era. You have, at this very moment, the power to attract what you want into your life. When you allow your subconscious mind to do the heavy lifting in your life, you will begin to see the miracle that is your life.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Mind your thoughts: You’ll get what you think

I’m often struck by how much energy one person will put into their thoughts of doom and gloom and then watch how doom and gloom are repeatedly manifested in their lives. At the same time, and under the same life conditions, another person will see only the best that life has to offer and those expressions are realized and without any other rationale as to why these things should come to pass except they believe they should; no evidence to support their thoughts, just the belief that good things will happen to them.

Why, then, if the key to getting what you want is rooted only in your belief you should have what you want, more people don’t believe?

One reason is likely that many of us live with falsehoods told to us by others; falsehoods told not out of maliciousness but of beliefs ingrained by others. When the bad invariably happens because we have always believed they will, we then have the evidence to support that the belief was, in fact, true and, since it happened to us, we can now confidently pass this “truth” onto others. However, the counter is also true.

Many years ago, I took a commission-only sales job with a company that just felt right despite there not being a set salary. I asked a new colleague what I could reasonably expect to earn in my first year. She said I would earn $80,000/year without breaking a sweat as she had done in her first year. In less than 6 months, I was earning more than $9,000/month and having a fabulous time. At my former employer, I was earning $36,000/year and everyday was a struggle.

Did I learn some new sales techniques, have a better product to sell, or did the company do a better job of promoting itself than my former employer? Nope. We sold the same products, I managed customers in the same way, and the company did not do any more or any less promoting than my former employer. The difference was that $80,000 per year was the new starting point. I could no longer see $36,000/year as being realistic earnings and from that, everything flowed. Whatever was needed – contacts, introductions, meetings – to produce this outcome was materialized. I can offer no other explanation as to why this happened except that I was told I would earn a minimum of $80,000 per year and to do that, other things had to happen and they did. It was pure belief the goal would be achieved.

We are shackled by the falsehoods of others. Their limitations, their beliefs, and their worries are passed onto others as “truths” with their poor outcomes proof of what is not possible. Often this is because they don’t feel they are worthy of what they want. This unworthiness, however, is created by another person’s belief they they, themselves, are not worthy so that this must be the state for most humans. Do you see the pattern? But worth is not founded in some universal lottery where there are winners and losers. Everyone is worthy of achieving whatever they dream possible. The “trick" is in believing whatever you want is already yours. There is nothing more you need to do.