Once during a Management training program, a team of Managers were given an assignment to measure the height of a flagpole. So these Managers went out to the flagpole with ladders and tape. They're falling off the ladders, dropping the measuring tape - the whole thing is just a mess. An Engineer comes along and sees what they're trying to do, walks over, pulls the flagpole out of the ground, lays it flat, measures it from end to end, gives the measurement to one of the managers, Re-erects the flagpole and walks straight-away. After the Engineer has gone, one Manager turns to another and laughs … "Isn't that just like an engineer? We're looking for height and he gives the length!" Moral : No matter what good you do, Some managers can always find fault in you.
Is your manager or boss a fault-finder (and dumb)? You can [anonymously] curse him/her on the comments section below.
Sometimes I find it hard translating my feelings into words and as far as my personal blogging experience is concerned, I find it impossible to completely convey exactly what I feel – I can’t totally overcome blogger’s-block I guess. And although my written expressions might be improving, the more I write the more I am discovering how difficult the task of laying down words really is. I’m writing a draft of a personal e-mail right now and I don’t know why I find it so hard.
Evidently, I’m having a hard time conveying the frustrations I’m feeling right now. Thinking about your career and what you really want in life is really a huge everyday burden – especially if you suddenly realize that somewhere along the way, you took a wrong turn.
Eventually, at some point, I feel the need to be on the right track. FEAR always keeps me from moving on and over time it disguise itself as HOPE.
I accept that I'm not guaranteed anything in my life, but rather I am given the opportunity to go after what I believe to be a worthy pursuit. Because there is no guaranty of success I will appreciate it all the more when I've achieved what I have set out to accomplish.
Through hard work, keeping my end result in mind, and applying ample stick-to-it-ness I know I will achieve what I really want in life.
Today is the third day of my 5-day work suspension – yes, you read it right, I’m suspended for five days – without pay – due to tardiness.
We’ll I guess every organization have their own policy on tardiness, and I violated ours. It’s a policy and I’m aware of it. I know whether intentional or by misfortune, being late for work is, in itself, a visible sign of disrespect for the organization you are working. So I accepted all the consequences, even though they didn’t serve my first and second warning memo which is also part of the policy.
The absence of those warning memos makes me think that the company is considering those extra working hours I’m spending without filing for overtime pay – silly me, I’m goddamn wrong.
According to an ABC News report in March 2007, there are 4 types of chronic tardiness among employees:
1) Rationalizer type: Blames outside factors
2) Absent-minded Professor type: forgetful or disorganized
3) Deadline or Producer Type: Adrenaline addicted junkie. Gets a psychological high on having a jammed schedule
4) Rebel type: Defies authority and gets a high in keeping people waiting. Feel so important that feel people are willing to wait.
But let me add another one:
5) Bastardy Type: Intentionally being late due to lack of motivation.
Well, I am being “bastardy” lately. I was acting like Nobita lately, looking for a “Doraemon” to produce a futuristic gadget out of his pouch to help me fix my motivation problem. But of course, I’m damn wrong. Only Me can motivate myself – but hey, when was the last time I heard “Nice work, keep it up!” I think it was decades ago.
I’m not into HR business but I think to make sure these controls actually work, they must be communicated to employees. I mean, we must know what our attendance standards are and how it will affect our advancement, performance ratings, salary increase or promotion (if there’s such a thing.)
Also, many times when my co-employee calls in sick, they are not really ill, they are just taking a "personal day" off, we all know it, and even managers do it. My suggestion is why not consider the concept of "personal days" -- give us 2-4 "personal days" after we’ve been on the company for 5 years -- we can use the time for personal business, family, whatever. I think it doesn’t cost much in return for loyalty - (aside from that symbolic wristwatch as a reward for a ten-year service)
Anyway, there are of course the good sides of my five days suspension - more good than harm, I guess. I'm already enrolled in a gym, which is in my To-Do list for about two years now. I also catch-up on my reading and finished two good books and attended other personal stuff. It’s a nice vacation actually.
I'm not saying bastardiness is good, but if you can't help it... go for it. Being always nice and good is boring sometimes.
Today is the day I am contemplating about what I’ve been thinking for roughly three months now – handing over my one-month notice. I’ve been with this company for six years, going seven this coming February.
I’ve been thinking of handing my one-month notice to my boss and put this experience behind me. I’ve left a company before for a better opportunity. In this case am just leaving.
Sure the uncertainty is troublesome. Like anyone, I have bills that need to be paid. However, the fear of the unknown is better than the reality of the known with this job. On to better things… It’s time to move on to better things.
I don’t think it matters what one does for work, but what does matter, for me, is that the work is able to sustain an ever-increasing interest; that the work leads in unexpected directions; that it unveils me unto myself. I can tell I am heading on the right path when my work brings me closer to a valuation of life in all its forms. When it happens, I feel accountable for the work I do. It becomes more than me and I feel responsible to it. When I feel responsible, I sense how much I’ve yet to learn. And I burn to continue.
In the end, I am like all the other individuals. I must find my own work, a work that is greater than myself. When I find it, I know I will suffer. When I suffer, I will seek for answers, and I will grow. When I grow, others will grow along with me.
Maybe I should leave the corporate world and pursue my dream of becoming a full-time teacher.
Follow your heart and the money will come. Do what you love. It’s all the great advice and I love hearing it. Everywhere I go, it seems like the conversations always turn to “What do I really want to do?”
Jim, my officemate was recently promoted to assistant manager but I guess he couldn't reconcile himself to his new office and position.
Before 5:00 p.m., Mr. Swabe (not his real name), our senior manager, used to drop by at every office on his way out for a little chit-chat. Yesterday, I saw him heading to Jim’s office, so I warned Jim in advance.
To show how important and busy he was, he picked up the phone and then asked Mr. Swabe to have a seat. Jim kept talking on the phone, nodding and saying, "No problem, I can handle that," “Yes,” “Yes, everything is being taken care of, don’t worry.”
After a few minutes he hung up and asked Mr. Swabe what he could do for him. Before Mr. Swabe could reply, somebody from the building maintenance office suddenly came in and said, "Sir, I'm here to connect your phone."
Jim suddenly excused himself and ran to the CR and stayed there for an hour.
While trying to finish my usual 2-page To-Do list today, I suddenly stopped, gave a deep frustrated sigh, stared at all the papers in front of me, and thought of quitting... yes, resigning from this job... I don't know but I'm contemplating on this idea for almost a week now.
Like a choreographed emo moment, the next song played by my player was "I Will Get There" by Boyz II Men...
I will get there, I will get there somehow, Cross that river, Nothing's stoppin' me now, I will get through the night, And make it through to the other side
But...
How can I be sure that "there" is a better place than "here." I know myself, when my "there" has become a "here", I will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family in Diatagon.
He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.
When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house, he said, my gift to you."
What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.
We all know the story of David and Goliath. There was a giant who was bullying and harassing the children in the village. One day, a 17-year-old shepherd boy came to visit his brothers and asked, "Why don't you stand up and fight the giant?" The brothers were terrified and they replied, "Don't you see he is too big to hit?" But David said, "No, he is not too big to hit, he is too big to miss." The rest is history. We all know what happened. David killed the giant with a sling. Same giant, different perception.
Our attitude determines how we look at a setback. To a positive thinker, it can be a stepping stone to success. To a negative thinker, it can be a stumbling block. Great organizations are not measured by wages and working conditions, they are measured by feelings, attitudes and relationships.
When employees say, "I can't do it," there are two possible meanings. Are they saying they don't know how to or they don't want to? If they don't know how to, that is a training issue. If they are saying they don't want to, it may be an attitude issue (they don't care) or a values issue (they believe they should not do it).
I used to believe that life was a journey that grows the self. Have I fucking grown? I don’t know. Sometimes, I’m having this hollow feeling that I don’t even know who I am anymore. All I know, all I believe is that there’s something I have to do.
Nevertheless, I know there were lots of good things that came out of this journey: funny friends, loving family, education, job. Yet, previous chapters of this chronicle was not totally the way I wanted it written – it is full of lost opportunities, regrets, regrets… hundreds of it and there’s always this urge to do something.
But what is it?
Should I change career? Should I go abroad? Should I finish my thesis? Should I resign?
Damn it’s pathetic holding on to a promise that were never made.
I looked at the same watch. It’s 8 in the evening. A few hours from now, I’ll be sleeping, feeling like this day never happened – or just a duplicate of all those previous crazy Mondays.
I suddenly realize, I must remember those best times I have felt in my life, think back of a time when I were my happiest; for me to find the answers…
…and make this day, the day of my final indecision.
While sipping a nice hot tea after lunch, hoping to calm down my angry stomach – which is planning a major revolution via a deadly gas attack after I stuff it with an unknown fish soup, banana cue, ampalaya and other for-the-glutton-like-me stuff during lunch, I suddenly notice our company bulletin board. Weird because nobody ever seems to notice it – one of the most ignored thing in our office. Posted on it are the smiling faces of all the employees, forming a pyramid – a typical hierarchical organization chart, telling all the visitors and reminding all the employees who are the gods and the slaves.
My mind, which hates doing mental calculation, tried to calculate how long I’ve been here in this company. Whoaaah! Six years. Double check… Double check.. Hmmm February 2003… Oh my gums! Six years and five months? That long? Whew!
I found this company in Jobstreet, a ship crewing, crew management and shipping agent here in the Philippines. I started as a recruitment & training assistant. After a few years, my boss noticed that I’m bored to death – always going to work with a terrible hang-over, always staring at my computer monitor doing nothing and always having the don’t-fucking-disturb-me look. The trick is, I make them rely to me in almost everything so that they can’t just fire me – from e-mail correspondence to file management to guest and trainee relations, hence instead of firing me they transferred me to the Training Division as a registrar and computer instructor.
I few years later I found myself fighting the Peter Principle, already reaching my level of incompetence. Fighting routine work, highly convinced that I’m underpaid and overloaded by tasks not listed in my job description. So I decided to quit. Hoping for a greener and fresher pasture in the academe.
When I’m about to submit my resignation letter, I was offered the rumored-to-be-challenging job as the Executive Assistant of the Chairman of the Board and President.
I accepted the challenge, therefore here I am – learning bits and pieces of business bureaucracy, learning the importance of business protocols as mundane as handing a business card to a Japanese, e-mail etiquette and various business correspondence and the most exciting – observing how managers perspire during the monthly committee meeting.
It’s already a year and a few months – time passes by, continuously learning a few tricks here and there, but the academe has that drawing power over me. I’ll have to wait I guess – hoping for another round of company reorganization.
It was just a regular chat – nothing serious, nothing so important, just catching up with an old friend.
Then he casually said, “You know what, I can’t imagine myself doing other work other than what I’m doing right now. It is my life and I will be in this field for the rest of my life.” He uttered it with full conviction and enthusiasm.
I don’t know, but I suddenly feel a wave of envy and wish I could say that too. Like a terrible itch I cannot scratch, that feeling got stuck in me, making me feel uneasy for days.
Do I love my job? Am I happy doing this?
There are times when I hate every moment of it. I fill myself with dislike, wishing it was over. I want to be in any place but here. Doing other things but this. A feeling of being like a piece of a tangled yarn – always trying to untangle it, afraid that I will go on doing it for the rest of my life.
Then I end up miserable. Realizing that I waste part of my life to bad feelings.
I then realize that by hating my tasks, time slows to a crawl and I sentenced myself to prolonged suffering. I have to understand and accept the law of cause and effect which forces us take responsibility for our circumstances. I realize that I am where I am as the result of the choices I made, choices that maybe wrong or maybe right, but choices I made nonetheless.
I learned that I can make even a really boring job interesting, if I assert myself. And that I can build relationships & learn things at work that are as valuable as my paycheck, or more so.
I have to remember the Zen adage about “loving the ropes.”
Two people are tied up in chairs with ropes. One person struggles to get free, and ends up bruised, bleeding, and frustrated – and stays just as tightly tied as ever.
The other decides to love the ropes – and the ropes fall right off.
During high school & elementary days, we are forbidden to take in any food or drinks during class or it is not encouraged to eat while studying. But, I came across this learning theory called intake learning in a Manila Bulletin article last May 14 by Henry S. Tenedero entitled “The Stomach – Brain Connection.” He said that intake learners are those who learns best while munching something or doing some mix of eating and learning.
Well, this is not my learning preference during my school days – maybe because it is forbidden, but now, at work, I noticed that I usually get the job done when I have some picka-picka at my computer desk. I easily got tired and usually lose focus during long hours of continuos concentration over some task.
Some do their tasks while listening to their favorite music. In my case, I usually have some peanuts, banana and a cup of coffee to survive a toxic day – which usually falls on Mondays.
Whew! I really hate Mondays - always so toxic. It’s a good thing I can just munch, munch, and munch it away.
Well, today is just another boring routine day, another SSDD (Same Shit, Different Day). Struggled to wake up, have my vegetable & fish breakfast & a cup of coffee to wake up my still sleeping nerves.
Part of my job is to act as the company-communication-whatever-goddamn-it-is. The company has this centralized e-mail & fax communication protocol. Meaning, all incoming and outgoing operational e-mails should be monitored and checked and must be properly forwarded – and the person responsible for that is no other than ME! Sometimes I love this part of my job because you got know almost everything about the company, I am always updated about crew matters, what the hell is going-on in other departments, some gossips and a truck load of nonsense – which bored me most of the time. My policy is “IF IT’S NOT MY CONCERN, I DON’T CARE.”
Therefore, every morning, I have to check a hundred e-mails, not addressed to me of course, read some of its contents and forward it to its intended recipients. Oh My Gums! It doesn’t excite me anymore. This and other nakaka-bobong work terribly bored me to death…
But I must face it. If I want to truly excel in life and discipline myself, then there are tasks that I simply must do. Some of these tasks strike me as just plain unpleasant, even painful.
Unfortunately, we are wired to avoid pain. This means that unless I change my perspective on certain Peak Performance behaviors, I will avoid them, and sabotage my own self.
On the other hand, perhaps I will do my necessary tasks, but complete them with clenched teeth, furrowed brows and irritation coursing through my body. That state is not very pleasant, and will seriously hurt my productivity.
What happens when I need to speak in that mood? I say ugly, unproductive things! Call center agents offering credit cards and other crazy unsolicited calls easily irritated me, plus some bullshitting office visitors and other obnoxious co-workers - a totally goddamned bad day.
Hmm, I realize that, to avoid this terrible day, the only solution is to LOVE THE TASKS THAT I HATE.
I must remember, it is not the task that makes my mood. It's what I tell myself about that task.
I am making the decision to look at each task for what it truly is -- the means to a greater end. I remind myself that through the accomplishment of each and every task I am moving myself closer and closer to where I want to be in life.
I am making the decision to steer my own ship rather than simply allowing life to move me from one thing to the next like a ship lost at sea. The simplest of actions, taken on an ongoing basis ensures that I will arrive at the destination I have set for myself.
My co-wokers, belonging to generation X and Y, decided to have some barkada night out tonight in Cuba Libre, a cool bar near our office building. It was supposed to be just a casual dinner in SM Megamall but the group thinks that it was too boring so we decided to have some videoke gig and a few bottles of beer instead.
It was nice to have some chill out gig occasionally because monotonous work routine can cause boredom that leads to un-productive mindset. A few bottles of beer, videoke fun and barkada kulitan after work is worth like a week vacation for me.
This is also one thing I learned in my working life – if you do not love your work, love your co-workers. This will make your life easier.
Once during a Management training program, a team of Managers were given an assignment to measure the height of a flagpole. So these Managers went out to the flagpole with ladders and tape.
