Act like a new employee every day

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My wife started a kickass new job today (more on that later). This weekend we discussed new employees and the energy they bring to a workplace.

  • New employees are psyched about the opportunity – they see the glass half-full, brimming with potential. 
  • New employees don’t yet know “that’s the way it’s always been done here” – they see processes and limitations with fresh eyes. 
  • New employees aren’t aware that “it’s been tried before and failed” so they are able to surface the things you should be doing but struggled to execute.
  • New employees introduce themselves to everyone, because, well, they’re new and there’s no social stigma to it at all.
You get the picture. 
But why wait for the new employees to show up or let them have all the fun? What if you behaved like a new employee all the time? What if you dedicated the first day of each month to refreshing yourself for the next 30 days by saying “what am i going to do differently than i did last month?” What if you put yourself through your company’s orientation program once a year in order to immerse yourself in the energy, optimism and nervousness of the new hires?
The best way to stop being an old employee is to be a new one.