3 Things I Wish I Knew (or Did) in My Earlier Career
Time flies too fast, it has been (almost) my 13 years of corporate life. It was fun (in some ways) with tears between that — really grateful with where I am now. I am trying to recall back the journey and I think I can share you some points. Some of them are things that I wish I knew from day-1; Others are things I wish I could accomplished without any excuse to delay it. If I could turn back the time, definitely I would do it. But, we can’t change the past, we only can learn it and change the future.
So hopefully this writing will be reminder for myself and may give insight for anyone who read it ;)
1. Attitude to get things done!
I am the kind of person who has a lot of energy (at the start), trying all those new things, but over time, I’ll lose interest, and then stop halfway through.
Fortunately, it doesn’t happen for work-related, but it impacted my personal goals. I missed a lot of opportunities, because I didn’t finish what I started. Here are some examples of things that I started but not made it done: the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) class, data scientist class, and python class. If only I could complete them, I can’t imagine how cool I am now 😂
I realized I had commitment issue, and I learned! I have to be fair to myself (since mostly they were related to my personal goal)! Don’t take it for granted, just because those are for my own sake. I also learned that I need to limit myself from making a promise. Before decide to start something, I have to convince myself and get a full commitment to do it.
Now, I do these steps before over promising something:
Provoking myself by asking these:
* Why is this important for me?
* What will be the benefit for me?
* If I do it, who else will get the benefit?
* If I don’t do it, what will be the loss for me?
* If I do it, what will be the actions plan to complete it?To keep me on the right track, I break down the action plans into monthly/quarterly activities. shorter the period, lesser pressure. Regular review is a must, to check what are working well, what should be stopped, and what things are need to be done with different approach/view.
Sometimes, I rewards myself if I can complete the goals, it works to motivate to accomplish goals. I hold to buy things, and I will get it if the action plans are completed. If failed, then I need to delay it, until things are done.
“The secret of getting things done is to act!” — Dante Alighieri
2. Assertive
Back then when I worked as an IT Business Partner in Unilever Indonesia , for years I always got same annual feedback from my (different) line managers. “Chichi, you have to be brave to say no if it is not your responsibility. Don’t entertain and do all requests that are coming for you”, they said. Somehow, it was a bit difficult for me to say ‘no’, since I knew I could do it. I believed at the end it would help the company. Plus, I could increase the engagement with business, get new insight, and improve my skill. But then I realized, I was just avoiding conflict. I didn’t dare to challenge the request and not brave enough to say ‘no’ — since I assumed it would be a problem later when people won’t rely on me anymore.
After years and I got more responsibility, I struggled to allocate time since lot things need to be done (e.g.: daily job, managing team, and these kind of entertaining business — which sometimes creating less impact for me). I knew, I had to be assertive. I learned to know my own limit that I can’t do everything and please everyone.
Now, I try my best to empathize to any request coming, try to understand how my colleagues see the situation, then after that in a good way, I will respond. If I can’t help them, I will tell them why I can’t, and I will give some advice — what they can do to get the solution. For example, I ask them to contact the related team who actually has responsibility/accountability to do that, or I give some direction/big picture how to do it by themself.
I learned that it is not only about the art of saying ‘no’. Being assertive is about how we can express what we want and ask it in a right way. Even though, I don’t get all I want, but at least I try to ensure it has been communicated. Practice makes it better, and yes, it takes time 💪
“Say NO to all meaningless activities, so do not need a calendar to remember when is the next really fulfilling event in your life.” ― Rodolfo Peon
3. It’s Okay for Asking Help
I thought, at work I had to solve every problem by myself, no matter what’s happened — else I was not good enough. When my line manager was promoted to headquarter in UK, we had our last one-on-one session. I told him I was stressed and burning out (and spilled out all the stories). He responded me by saying that he knew that I got stuck, but he was waiting me to knock the door. “Asking help is not a sign of weakness, everyone do this. You are surrounded by great people, why don’t use that chance to get support. You can come to me anytime, but you don’t”. I got my ‘AHA’ moment, but a little bit late 😓 Right now, if I really need help, I do and find support. Knowing the right time to get help actually make me working effectively and efficiently.
“You Can’t Go It Alone! If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.” ― McRaven: Make Your Bed
