Monday, November 28, 2016

Working

I'm still working hard!

I had been doing a good job of working out weekly, but the start of cold weather has discouraged me a bit. I'm trying to get back into it. I've been eating well -- lots of good home cooked meals with veggies or delicious comfort food. Taking vitamin C and eating broccoli has kept me safe from the perils of colds at the start of the fall students return. I've also gotten the office a supply of anti-cold defense: cough drops, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes. Working hard takes a lot of strength so I want to build that up and preserve what I already have.

I'm taking a class at Boston University. Completing the homework is hard some weeks, but I'm trying to focus on studying rather than just vegging out.

Still, it's a long process. The adjustment to working after work is hard! I didn't realize it, but I do put a lot of effort in during the day. I'm hoping that pushing myself will pay off.

Also, I'm going to try my best to work towards a promotion. I took a training on personal branding! We did an activity of coming up with 3 adjectives that would describe the unique way we tackle the tasks in our job. Mine were:

  1. Proactive
  2. Straightforward
  3. Innovative
I based these on a lot of the ideas that I bring to the table. The fact that I volunteer my ideas and ask questions is part of being proactive. My proactive skill is that I like to sit in the chair of another role, trying to understand what they need, and then actually ask a person in that role (or with insight and experience) if that idea would really be helpful. Usually I approach new tasks with a lot of background research and I bring new ideas with a specific example in mind to help both myself and others evaluate the use of my idea. 

I also thought that my place at the start of my career should be turned into a positive. I think that my youth can lead to me being straightforward. Sights seen before are new to my fresh eyes; I'm willing to suggest things that have been overlooked or dismissed but now are tenable. Sometimes I am unaware of the bureaucracy that make new ideas difficult, making me ideal for the bravery needed to bring up new ways of doing things. Once I encounter the challenge of entrenched protocols, I can be honest and straightforward about why I want to change things.

Finally, for innovation: I love to read lots and lots of things. I take a little time each week to try to combine my ideas, fluttering about based on my reading, experience, and frustrations. Maybe it's the upside of laziness, but I am always looking for ways to make my life easier. If I can streamline or automate a process - oh that is the best! By taking ideas from many places but grounding them in my experience, I'm able to come up with new ideas. Better yet, I keep up with the innovation that others in my field are pursuing. I apply my own engineering thought process to them in order to find areas of improvement and matching areas of implementation. 

Truly, I'm working hard. I am trying to downsize the junk in my life and upsize the joy. That does take work, but I feel that it pays off. Already, I'm amazed by how far I've come in just a few years. 

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