How long has it been since you’ve had a physical? A year? Two years? More? When you got your results, they probably listed how well you did in a number of categories: blood pressure, cholestrol, EKG, fitness assessment, executive coach assessment.

Executive coach assessment? Wait a minute—that probably wasn’t included.

Well, if you went to Executive Medicine of Southlake, TX, it was.

During your comprehensive physical exam at Southlake, you’ll receive a complete battery of tests, including an evaluation of your professional health. The staff at Southlake believes that your professional and physical well-being go together and have a deep affect on your work performance. Read the entire article here.

According to a recent survey by The Conference Board, 50% of American workers are unhappy with their jobs. More telling, at least to me, is that, of the 50% who say they are satisfied, only 14% of those say they are “very satisfied”. Read the whole report here.

But what can we do? We have to pay the bills. And anyway, everyone complains about work. Don’t they?

Well, according to the survey quoted above, 50% of your fellow workers aren’t miserable. What do they know that you don’t?

For starters, they’ve learned that it’s possible to earn a living while enjoying themselves. But how can you get there yourself? Try this little exercise:

1. What do you want MORE of in your life? (make a list)
2. What do you want LESS of in your life? (make a list)
3. If money wasn’t part of the equation, what would you want to do with your life?

Spend a little time with these questions and see if you can’t direct yourself to a better place.

If the questions stir up a few things for you and you want some more help, keep an eye on this space for a special e-course, coming in early August.

In the meantime, remember that you’re not your job. Celebrate the other parts of you that bring joy and meaning into your life.

News came late yesterday of the passing of author Evan Hunter (AKA Ed McBain). McBain/Hunter was a master story-teller. His 87th Precinct police procedural series brought us inside the daily workings of a police department way before Hill Street Blues, Homicide, and NYPD Blue. He was a genius at weaving character and plot development together so that the reader cared as much about the characters as about the crime.

As Evan Hunter, he wrote The Blackboard Jungle, Come Winter, Lizzie and many, many more. He worked with Alfred Hitchcock to write the screenplay for The Birds.

He is the last of a breed, I’m afraid, up there with Lawrence Block for sheer volume of work. His influence on modern mystery writing has been enormous and his voice will be greatly missed. He’s one of my personal favorites and I’m going to back and re-read some 87th Precinct books in his memory.

See what the NY Times has to say.

Are you happy with your job?

According to The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center, more than half of all Americans are unhappy with their jobs. Of those who say they ARE happy, only 14% rate themselves as “very satisfied.” So you’re not alone.

Job dissatisfaction seems to be running rampant in our world. We’re a workforce of over-worked, under-valued, stressed-out, raving lunatics.

And being unhappy at work doesn’t just affect you during those work hours. It also has a major spill-over effect on your whole life. At 40 hours a week, 49 weeks a year, for 45 years, the average person spends over 88,000 hours at work. That’s a huge chunk of time to spend being miserable.

So what do you do?

Well, there’s several things. First, decide what you want to be when you grow up. If you could do anything in the world, what would you do if money wasn’t an issue?

Decide that, and then go from there.

More later.

I can’t let this day go by without wishing everyone in the U.S. a very happy 4th of July!

I’ll be back in a day or so with some career thoughts.