ThinkingNectar

Over at jackcheng.com. there is this very well written article about work. Simple and easy to relate to. I will not take the credit away from Jack for the introduction of the concept. Go read his article before continue read this post.

Maxing out your triangle

When you are done and back.

In short, there are 3 main parts of a job or work. And is gracefully illustrated by a simple diagram.

The Love Growth Cash Triangle

There are 3 components in under taking a job. The love of the work, the opportunities to learn and the cash it generate. Pause for a moment and consider what is your current state of Love Growth Cash Triangle (LGCT).

For me, at this very moment, or for the matter just a couple of weeks back, it was:

Drone Trangle

I called it the Drone Triangle. Drone as in 9 to 5 Drone. Work was not terribly exciting and the love of it was netural at best. The money was acceptable.

Compared to what was experienced when I was in the previous startup:

Startup Triangle

It was all love for the task at hand, with reserved love for my family. The opportunities for growth was everywhere. Technical, coding, user interface, server admin, security database, marketing and SEO. Every hour was about learning new things and there are always more things to learn. Lastly, the moola was not that attractive. Decent to cover expense, not left nothing much left.

And looking at the current economy situation, where consumer, corporate and employees confidence are low, I believe it is time for us to consider more beyond our comfort zone. Which brings me to the next LGCT:

Crisis Mode Triangle

Here, the moola remains the same. Be contented that the job is still intact. Maybe with a smaller year end bonus. What is important are the area in green. The Crisis mode is an extended Drone Triangle.

Where for the Love portion, defined your purpose of being. Why are you at your job and what value do you bring? What addition value can you bring? It maybe hard to be passionate or enthusiastic while the department or team does not play along. It also a good time to stock check what you value and if the current job can provide for and match.

For growth, it is a good time too to learn stuff beyond day to day operation. Maybe have a chat with your colleagues from other department. Even talking about local news (think TOC) will give some good returns in knowing more about things happen around you. Read some finance stuff if you are technical like me and understand why things are so. Wikipedia is a good place to start.

If learning about none work stuff during office hours is not your style, go check out how people work and what they working on in the office and understand the problems they have. Getting to know people is the first step to know more problems. And with problems come learning opportunity.

If you work alone or just cannot find any nice people to talk in the office, volunteer for projects to do that will cost the company little or no money and value add. For those running websites, volunteer to make your site IE8 compatible. And to top it off, build Webslice and Accerlerators for your site.

In summary, the LGC triangle varies from people to people. And also changes with working environment and stages of the professional life. It is a simplistic model that anyone can start using and gauge their current job.