Great quote

"When work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery."
Maxim Gorky (1868-1936), Russian novelist, short-story writer, dramatist

New beginings

I am just over 3 months and the current job and yesterday finally had the feeling that I am coming to grips with it and can start laying my rules!
Basically 2 things drove this feeling:
Yesterday we had a category review meeting, basically all the categories were presenting their grwoth plans for the next 3 years to the board, for discussion and ultimately resource allocation.
1st, I felt totally confortable presenting the stuff I am managing and it was great seeing that the comments from the board were exactly in line with what we me and my team have been discussing! Also, I felt in my depth in all the discussions that were happening. I remeber my first meetings in this new job, where half the conversations I did not get at all!!! It's a great feeling now.
2nd, I was in a chat with a group of people in one the breaks and found myself strongly defending arguments in a couple of subjects. Meaning I was confident and new enough about the subject to be doing this. Knowing myself, I only do it when I know what I am talking about, no point in making up just for the sake of shining a bit.

It's a great feeling.
And a learning too. It's easy to put ourselves under pressure in the begining of a new job, but there will always be a need for time to soak in all the information and the new reality.
You need to give yourself time! Plan for it. Plan time to adapt.

Competence

I was reading yesterday a book from an entrepreneur, where he said (about one of his first jobs) that he was enjoyinng because he was good at it.
And I couldn't stop thinking how true this is.

You enjoy doing something when you are competent at it. It's good to be and feel competent at something. It's good to have people asking for your help and advice or admiring what you are doing.
It's good to feel that you are doing a really good job.

Obviously there are passions as well, things that you get easily engrossed in and as you do them, time just flies without you noticing. These are the things that you should be doing to be on purpose!

But it is also great to do things you are competent at.

The learning for me is that it is absolutely normal that when you start a new job, the 1st months will be difficult. Because you will be dealing with people that are doing it for years and are much more confortable. Because you are in a learning curve, and are not competent yet. Because people expect a lot and it will be difficult in the beggining to meet and even more so to surpass expectations.
But that is normal.
When changing a job, it is important to plan:
- what you want to achieve on the 1st 90 days; detailed plan of what to do, who to go out with, what things to understand, who to meet
- where you will be (what level of knowledge do you want to have); what things you expect to have achieved by then

It's important to do this plan to put things in perspective.
It's also probably a great idea to share it with your boss, to set his expectations as well.
But most of all, it's important to you, in order to limit the pressure you put in yourself!

Keep going strong

Hey, it's now Sunday and I've been doing the early morning exercise for a week!
It's great as it gives me the feeling that I am doing something that is good for me, and straight at the begining of the day.
I do short cardio and stretching exercises, just to get the body moving, to get the body to wake up and start burning calories.

A good start

Since 2 days ago, I am waking up a bit earlier and doing a very short exercising routine in the morning! I drink water in the middle of this very short workout and I also have a bit more time to eat breakfast, prepare clothing and leave a bit earlier avoiding traffic.
The 1st day was absolutely amazing! I got to the office and without even realising I was much more energised and got huge ammounts of things done.
The fact that I exercised got my body and mind to wake up a lot earlier and be sharper earlier on.
Also, most of the times my mind was negative from the early beggining 'I'm late!', 'I've got shit loads to do', 'I'm having a shit breakfast'... but with a bit more time for myself I feel I am treating myself, taking good care of me. I feel valued and this generates positive thoughts.
Definitely a better way to start the day that can have an impact throughout the rest of the day.

It's important to start the day well

Do you know those days when you get out of bed and smash your toe against a door and then... the all day seems to go badly from there?
Or when you wake up feeling greatly restored, have a really nice wholesome breakfast and you feel great up for the rest of the day (never minding the traffic or the mad demanding boss at the office)?
Sometimes a good start of the day can have an impact on the rest of it.
A good idea is to wake up 20 minutes earlier and do something for me, something I really want to do for myself and that gives me pleasure, something I like to do...
It surelly makes a difference from waking up late, eating breakfast on the go and cursing through traffic as you're running late into the office.

Continued

And what I've learned from that book is linked somewhat to what some now very popular books like 'The Secret' from Rhonda Byrne are preaching... What you think is what you attract, focus on positive thinking.

Interesting, the insight is quite simple, be aware of your thougths! If you are aware, you will often realize that most of the negative thougths are quite unrealistic! Sometimes we paint some negative scenarios in our minds that are high unlikely to ever happen!
On the positive side, these thoughts are useful as their purpose is to protect us from hurt, from wrong decisions, etc. But on the other side, most of them are unrealistic and will only prevent us from doing things, taking action, taking control of our life and moving it forward!

Practical benefits of meditation

I am reading the book 'The leaders way: business, budhism and happiness in an interconnected world', by the Dalai Lama and the business consultand Laurens van den Muyzenberg. Quite a good book, exploring the touching points between budhism and business and how business leaders can benefit from budhist learnings.

I took out quite an interesting learning yesterday from this book, that helped me see meditation in a more practical way. Meditation is presented as a way to reach more mindfulness. Mindfulness meaning greater awareness of your thoughts. And if you are more aware of your thoughts, you can acknowledge the negative ones and therefore begin to erradicate them. Negative thoughts are damaging.

I find it pretty cool as it gives meditation a practical spin. I am quite motivated by objectives, and having this awareness of how meditation can practically help is really helpful for me.

The Power of Thinking

Thinking is powerful. Thinking are the lenses through which we see the world.
I have been a bit down lately, letting things get to me and feeling demotivated at work. But in the last couple of days, everytime I notice a negative thought, I replace it immediately with a positive one, I repeat inside my head something positive about me, or something that I am grateful for. For example 'I appreciate myself and I am doing a good job'.
And after a couple of days I can tell you that the impact is absolutely powerful! I feel happier, lighter and more self confident. Life seems easier as I don't let the bad stuff just run around in my mind creating havoc.
The only requirement is that you do need to be aware of your own thoughts, so tat you can identify the negative destructive ones. Probably meditation can help you become more aware of your thoughts.

Great quote

"Dream as if you'll live forever; live as if you'll die tomorrow."
James Dean