"One might think that the money value of an invention constitutes its reward to the man who loves his work. But speaking for myself, I can honestly say this isn't so... I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success." Thomas Edison, Inventor
If you ever wonder why certain things do or don’t motivate you, what you are actually internalising are your core values; these are the things that help you live a happy and fulfilled life. When what you are doing directly meets with your values, you will undoubtedly be happy and fulfilled. On the other hand, when your values are not being met the opposite will be the case.
The mistake people often make is in assuming that money or possessions will make you happy – they probably won’t!
Now, if you are sitting there thinking “he’s wrong”, let me prove it to you.
Imagine you love to be creative and have lots of ideas on ways that you can positively impact the company you work for, and the team you are part of. To that add the fact that you love interaction with other people and like your input to be recognised and acted upon. You also need some form of regular feedback and, when appropriate, some praise. You don’t like to work alone and have a strong preference for variety. You also like to be well rewarded for your time and skills.
Now imagine I am going to pay you £1,000,000 a year BUT, you must work alone all day in a room with no windows. The work is menial and completely repetitive, you have no interaction at any time with any colleagues. You will never receive praise or feedback as there is no need – the work is a simple task and you are expected to just get on with it. The lure of the money would quickly wear off and I suspect it would be much quicker than you might imagine.
My advice is that you spend time to work out what your core values are, and then do everything in your gift to ensure the work you do plays to, and delivers, those values.
All round you I suspect there will be people who moan and complain about their lot in life, and invariably it is because the values they have are not being met by what they do. Equally, you will find a lot of people who are poorly paid, but who wouldn’t swap what they do; these are the people who have found the roles that meet their values, and they will not sacrifice that for more money and a miserable existence.
This is also why you sometimes find people who win the lottery going back to work, and equally people who simply can’t be happy with the money they have won.
If you are currently sitting waiting on the years to roll by until you retire what you are basically trying to do is get away from what you are doing now because it is not playing to your values. People who are happy and fulfilled, of which I know many, are not waiting to retire; indeed, many of them never retire.
From the perspectibe of a GP Federation, when it comes to appointing the Board of Directors and the key amangement roles e.g. Business Manager, I would encourage you to explore the values of the people coming forward in order to ensure you don’t end up with very quick turnover in these crucial roles because people are not having their values met.
There are simple steps you can take, which will help prevent that from happening that will save time, money and completely wasted effort.
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do." Amelia Earhart, Aviator
If you are thinking about forming a super practice or federating, and would like more information on how BW Medical Accountants can support you, or to arrange to speak to one of our experts please contact enquiry@bw-medical.co.uk or call 0191 653 1022.
Additionally, if you should have questions for us please email Rachael Mackay rachael.mackay@bw-medical.co.uk and we will do our best to answer these within the blog.