Think about how you approach your work.
The blog I'm currently writing has a title or a theme in mind, and I write based on that.
Up until now, I've been writing about interior design, so I've been able to write down exactly what I think about on a daily basis quite smoothly.
However, this time the topic was about my own approach to work, and writing this blog gave me a good opportunity to think again about my own attitude and way of thinking towards work, and to wonder what kind of attitude I have had towards my work up until now.
I am currently the manager of an interior design shop, but to begin with, I am not really the type of person who wants to move up a level (get promoted) or anything like that.
I was the type of person who liked to have fun with myself and a few friends, thinking about how to improve the tasks I was given, or working hard on things that I found interesting.
When I joined my current company, there was nothing that I absolutely wanted to do, so when I was told that I would be in charge of miscellaneous goods from today, I thought, "Okay, I'll do my best," but now I think that the person who entrusted me with the job must have wondered if I was really okay.
Gradually, I began to understand the content of the work I was assigned, my tasks became clearer, and when I found something interesting within it, I began to do it thoroughly.
I had a line in my mind, and I couldn't really feel like this was good enough.
80 points is fine
However, I think something changed for me after I started having junior colleagues. I realized that it's not good to push the staff around me to the point of exhausting them.
In times like these, I've come to think that it's okay to go a little below what I'm aiming for.
This is because we realized that it is more important for a store for each staff member to be able to shine at work than to create a perfect sales floor.
Even if I feel like I'm only 80% accomplished, I learned that in the long run, the most important thing for achieving my goals is for the staff around me to be able to shine and serve customers on the sales floor.
I was just starting to think this way, and my manager helped me grow a lot.
I still believe that that store manager is the kind of person I should aim to be.
He was not the kind of person who immediately made me realize, "This person raised me! I'm so grateful!"
He was someone who taught me how to reach out to others and taught me different ways of thinking, so that I could feel like I was thinking for myself and growing through my own efforts.
What I mean is, when I think about it, I realize that my growth was largely due to the efforts of my manager at the time, but he didn't let that be known. I felt like we were all growing together, with the cooperation of myself and my colleagues.
What's great about this is that you don't feel like you're being forced to do something by the manager.
Work is fun
I found the work interesting because I felt like we were thinking for ourselves and moving in the direction we wanted with our own efforts, and I was constantly trying out different things.
I want to increase the number of people who think that their work is interesting.
This is quite difficult... Sometimes when I see how they communicate, interact with others, and how they act, I end up making them do the work.
This has become an issue for me. However, my boss didn't tell me to increase the number of people who find their work interesting; it's something I want to do, so I think it's one of the guidelines for how I approach my work.
The final goal you should aim for should be clear, but it is important that the process is fun, that you have something you want to do, and that you can become absorbed in.
Just now, I was transferred in April, I was given more responsibilities at more stores, and I was also involved in a new business venture, so I was on the verge of being even more overwhelmed than ever before.
However, I was able to overcome it because the work was interesting, I felt that people had high expectations of me and entrusted me with tasks, and I had good colleagues around me.
I think it would be difficult to overcome this unless you have someone who shares similar values towards work.
If your values are different from those of those around you, I think it would be very difficult to continue working at that workplace.
After thinking carefully about it this time, I realized that the three things I consider important in my approach to work are something that is interesting enough to draw me in, something that I can share values with, and something that makes me want to live up to someone's expectations.
It might be interesting to take this opportunity to think about it.
(text: Shimazaki)
SHIMAZAKI AYAKO
I loved redecorating and constantly rearranging my room as a child, and before I knew it, 12 years have passed since I started working in interior design. I am the manager of two different interior design shops, and I've recently started working in the e-commerce business. I'm a bundle of curiosity, and although I have a high level of concentration, my persistence is quite low, so I'm secretly worried about writing a blog.