How to Become Indispensable
Separate yourself from the pack
Over the past three years, I’ve worked in four uniquely different industries. I’ve held a majority of these jobs during my college years while I was simultaneously a student and a collegiate athlete. Balancing my various commitments was a balancing act.
I strive to be extraordinary, so I hate to admit it, but my initial years of the workforce, school, and collegiate athletics were far from exemplary. As I challenged myself to take on more, and my schedule became full to the brim, I started to notice opportunities passing me by.
I learned this lesson the hard way: The only person to blame for my mediocrity was staring at me in the mirror.
Let me walk you through the three fundamental steps that took me from mediocre student, athlete, and employee to the dean’s list, first-team all-SEC, and employee of the month.
Responsibility
“What remarkably stupid things are you doing on a regular basis to absolutely screw up your life?”
- Jordan Peterson
Ask yourself this question and write down what comes to mind.
It’s easy to point our fingers to external factors as the culprit of our demise. The uncomfortable truth we must confront is this: When good things happen to those around you, it’s usually because they put themselves in a position to succeed.
At school, I barely paid attention in lectures and elected not to take notes. At practice, I gave myself a pass when I arrived 5–10 minutes late because “everyone else was doing it.” At work going through the motions was my default setting.
My life was on cruise control, and I had the results to prove it.
I nearly failed a class, was passed up for a better position at work and was overlooked as team captain for the season. What did I expect? If I wanted to change, I had to accept responsibility for everything in my life, failures, and all.
The next thing I did was I printed out a list of questions that I placed on my “Accountability Mirror.” (Special thanks to David Goggins) If his website intrigued you click below to get a sample of what Goggins is in a nutshell.
Below is my list of questions I’d ask myself daily. Ask yourself the following. Honesty is your best friend here.
Accountability Mirror Questions:
- Are you showing up to work on time?
- When you are working, are you measuring by the progress you made or time spent?
- What level of effort are you putting in?
- Are you actively trying to better yourself?
- If someone is in a better position than you, what are they doing that you are not?
- Are you putting yourself in a position to succeed? If not, what actions could you take today?
Self-Management
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
- Benjamin Franklin.
Merely hoping things get done is not a sufficient option. Often we overestimate our ability to maintain and keep track of all the tasks that need to be completed. Don’t rely on simple brainpower in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It is easy to get swept up in multiple projects, emails, and events life throws at us. No plan to combat this constant bombardment of things to do will not only drain you but make you less effective.
The goal here is to make your life, well, bite-size. Segmenting your time throughout the day to enable a more specific focus will ensure you tend to what is essential. It might seem robotic, but it makes you the act of managing your day actually can become your most significant asset as typically; we do not realize that the action of bouncing from task to task is too time-consuming.
Planning was the crucial element to turning my luck around as a struggling student. I began by scheduling my week in advance Sunday at 5 pm. It would look a little something like this.
5 pm-6 pm: Plan week, ie. Scheduling class times, study sessions, practice, work, and meal plan.
6 pm-7:30 pm: Meal prep and in between cooking email tutors and schedule sessions.
7:30 pm-8:30 pm: Schedule assignments and align them by day. Also, contact professors and schedule office hours.
I set dates, deadlines and held myself accountable for what I wrote down Sunday. At the time, I used an old whiteboard and a piece of paper. Archaic, but this three and half hour time span of planning gave me the space to win the week. I saw it as being a general going into war. By getting a layout of the battlefield, I could best align my resources to win the battle that was my week.
If you want to change, plan accordingly. I’d suggest starting with some organizational software like Notion, Trello, Asana, etc. My personal favorite is a tool called Trello. Click here to see how I manage my tasks today!
Consistency
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
- Aristotle.
Consistency is the element that ties all three together. It makes no sense to be responsible half the time and even less to plan a partial schedule. Do exactly what you say you will do.
People progress in life because they show up and get the work done day in and out. It might not seem important, but the consistency of showing up on time and being a person of your word makes you indispensable.
If you are like me and have allowed yourself the excuse of being late 5–10 minutes, how quickly did that consistent act turn into 15 minutes or more? Now you’ve become the person known as the tardy guy/gal. Others now see you as unreliable and untrustworthy.
I learned this first hand. On top of being a student, I was also an athlete and the top-scorer on the team. I got comfortable in my role as the top player. I went from showing up 15 minutes early to 15 minutes late. Little did I know this lackluster attitude trickled down to our newly acquired teammates.
Half the team started showing up late. It affected our performance in practice, games, and an overall dedication to being the best team.
You may be saying, “I mean, but it’s only 5–10 minutes? What difference does it make?”
A big one.
If you are willing to shortchange your teammates, employers, and coworkers 5–10 minutes, is it wrong to believe you will cut other corners? Probably not.
No one wants to be a failure outright. I know I didn’t.
Now, I accept total responsibility for everything that is within my control. I give myself the opportunity to win the small battles in life by managing my time effectively! Last, and I believe to be the most important. Trust and believe that my word is my bond. I am the person that shows up and gets the work done day in and out.
Adapting these three core concepts has not only made me respectable amongst co-workers, teammates, and family. But, I started to earn respect from the man in the mirror.
Results:
First-Team All-SEC + After my season, I received a merit-based scholarship for being the person on the team people could rely on to help the team in any way. Read more about it here.
Becoming comfortable and complacent is like stepping into quicksand. If not careful, bad habits immerse themselves within your work routines. You become a sliver of the stand-up employee/athlete/student you were on your first day.
What will separate you from the pack is the self-imposed ownership and responsibility for your life and work — the consistent and meticulous self-management and drive to strive for goals and show up every day to progress.
Take these lessons as a personal challenge, and you will truly be indispensable.
