Is this your last day on planet Earth? Probably not, hope not. And yet you never know.

There is no guarantee how long we get to go around this planet. But the reality is that we can make every day we live on this planet our masterpiece by creating opportunities and seeing possibilities and living vivaciously as if this could be our last day on planet Earth.

Yet many people plod along, they wake up in the morning, they make coffee, they drive to work, they punch in, they do their job, they punch out. They drive home, they watch television, they eat dinner, they go to sleep, they wake up, they make coffee, they drive to work, they punch in.

They’re not making their life a masterpiece.

We have one chance every single day to start from scratch, to create opportunities that could change our life forever.

Decide to make today your masterpiece.

The Games People Play

Whether it’s conscious or subconscious, many people play games in the workplace. When I say “play games,” that isn’t exactly a compliment. I’m not referring to workplaces that have bean bags and foosball tables.

For instance, if your supervisor asks you to get something done, and you pretend later not to know about the assignment, and at the time that it’s due, you start to ask questions? That’s not going to go so well.

When bank employees play games in the workplace, it isn’t a good thing because what they’re doing is basically pretending not to know. It’s also called passive-aggressive behavior. Pretending not to know you are engaging in passive-aggressive conversation and behavior is not attractive in adults.

Get Conditions of Satsifaction

Instead, whenever you are unclear about something, get your conditions of satisfaction that we discussed before. And if it looks like you might be missing a deadline, negotiate well in advance and let your boss know well in advance that…

1. there is an obstacle
2. what it is
3. what you’re doing to get around it
4. and what your new intended deadline would be.

Ask if that is acceptable, because sometimes just because you’ve negotiated for it doesn’t mean that it’s automatically going to be a “Yes” answer from your boss. Maybe you have to reprioritize something else to get it done.

That cleanliness in how you have that conversation makes a big difference in the relationship and the outcomes of your job. Be very thoughtful about keeping your conversations clean, make direct requests of people, fulfill on those, and if you blow it for whatever reason, just say these beautiful words, “I blew it.” It’s that simple.

Everybody knows that everybody makes mistakes. That part’s okay. Granted, that obviously can’t happen every day, all day long. But when you make a mistake, how you handle that mistake defines who you are to everyone around you. It is a sign of your character. So, next time you blow it simply say these 3 words, “I blew it.”

Here’s my massive corrective action plan:

Number one, make sure it never happens again.

And number two, make sure this gets corrected and caught up.

We all know those people who just basically do the core things required of the job. And yet, when we put ourselves in a state of assuming that we will do nothing short of excellence, we stand out. Not only that, we make a difference in people’s lives, we get noticed, we feel good about ourselves, and we go home. And yet, most people are trying to figure out how can they get away with the least amount possible, as opposed to, “how can I be a standard for excellence going above and beyond always, “plus-oneing” everything that I do, always making sure everything is accurate and perfect and above and beyond.” It’s an interesting way to live, isn’t it?

People never exceed their belief systems.

If you don’t believe you can get premium pricing over what you charge in your company, you’re not going to get premium pricing.

It’s not because somebody else can’t, it just means you’re never going to exceed your belief systems.

You’re never going to exceed your belief systems in terms of your capacity to be successful at work. If you believe you’re only capable of so much, you will fulfill your promise to yourself, sadly.

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What part of you are you projecting on others?

Carl Jung taught us that what we love about other people we love about ourselves. What we dislike about others, speaks highly of the work we need to do on ourselves. Okay, I know you didn’t want to hear that. And yeah, I know you don’t believe it. And yet, psychologist after psychologist has proven that we project our disowned parts of ourselves onto others.

Look around and decide what you don’t like in other people that you work with.

If you had a problem getting along with your boss, it might not have anything to do with your boss, and you might not have had a good relationship with your previous boss and perhaps the boss before that.

If that’s the case, I’ll bet they all look the same. Why? Because these kinds of things are archetypal. In other words, we repeat the same patterns we had before; patterns so foundational to ourselves that we keep seeing them. So, as you listen to people complain about others in your workplace, notice that oftentimes, what people are really complaining about is their disowned parts of themselves.

Own the parts of you that are the ugly

So instead, ask people for what you want directly. Own the parts of you that are the ugly little part of you; that evil twin that comes along to work every day.

As you own that and look at that, it gives you the ability to say, Hmm, okay, I could be doing some work on myself. I’m going to stop making it about others and instead, step into it and realize that it’s my job to decide to love everybody with whom I work.

We still have our lines in the sand asking for what we need, but we can do it with kindness and gentleness, and just create a better awareness as opposed to being upset by it, and then we can stop projecting our disowned parts of ourselves onto others.

I bet we’ll be a whole lot happier being ourselves and being with the people that we’re around.