Welcome to BetterAtWork! The place where I explore anything and everything having to do with how work gets done.
Hi, I’m Garth Reed. I founded ExperienceBetter LLC with one thought in mind: a job should make your life better, not worse. That’s what we’ll be exploring each week. Not what we do or why we do it, but how we go about this stuff we call “work.” Because how we do things creates our experiences — and people usually prefer to repeat the enjoyable ones and avoid the unpleasant ones.
(Almost) everyone comes to work with positive intent. They want to do good work, be compensated for that work, and feel like they accomplished something at the end of the day. Unfortunately there are forces working against that — sometimes within our control, sometimes not. The rut you can’t seem to get out of. The boss who’s in your business more than you’d like. The chatty coworker who shows up exactly when you have 50 things to do. The presentation you keep putting off preparing for. These aren’t character flaws. They’re the friction of real work. Sometimes we have the tools and forget to use them. Sometimes we just need better ones.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your to-do list, this is the place for you. If you’ve struggled with a difficult conversation, or wished someone would just talk about the “real issue” during the meeting, this is the place for you. If you wish the people on your team would take initiative instead of waiting, this is the place for you.
Each Tuesday we’ll explore a topic, philosophy, or tool you can use to work better and lead better. Because when you work better and lead better, you live better.
One more thing you should know. Levity is a key part of making work better. Just because work is serious doesn’t mean it has to be heavy. I try to approach work and life with that view — so if you think “work is serious and you should be too,” this might not be your place.
In the words of Van Wilder: “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out alive.”
What do you want to improve about how work gets done for you?
Here’s how you can help me out. This space isn’t intended to be “here’s what Garth thinks.” I want to know what you’re struggling with at work, what you wish you knew more about, or something interesting you’ve heard about how we work and how we can work better. Reply to this message or email me at garth@experiencebetterllc.com. I read every one.
Together, let’s make work better for everyone.
Work Better. Lead Better. Live Better.
— Garth
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