Shit…Another Mistake

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

Made another mistake…

Last time I made such a mistake, it cost me the promotion.

I thought I learned.

I was wrong. I over-estimated myself.

I clearly took the easy way out and committed a logical flaw.

More sanity check may have captured it.

Clearly, I did not think it was necessary.

Seeing the huge numbers did not alarm me enough either.

I did not really check with people either and even pushed people away to avoid more work.

This is all wrong.

Even if there was no mistake, what I did is still dangerous.

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Maybe I could have handled the after-math better.

For example, I could insist that those were the assumptions made previously.

I could combine the impact with the next round of refinement so that it is less obvious.

….

But it could also lead to the impression that I am over-defensive and not willing to admit mistakes.

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I did my best to rectify the mistake. 

I need to be extra careful not to make any more mistakes again.

Last time, it cost me my promotion.

This time, it wont because I do not have any promotion to begin with.

But this is something I need to be worried about, being in the reputation business.

Till next time!

Quick Update

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Dear readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Here is another quite update post.

1.The work

I have started an additional commitment this week and it has quickly proven to be a bit overwhelming.

Partly it is because I have been idle for too long.

Maybe partly also because it has just started and I have not got my head around it.

But I clearly feel the stress, to the point I feel very tired at end of the day, even though not much has been accomplished.

But I believe I can adapt.

And once I do, I know the stress will ease and productivity will go up.

I hope that day comes sooner.

So for our own sake, do not allow ourselves to stay idle. 

It is hard to pick up the speed once we lose it. 

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2.The blog

The stress has got me struggling what to write for this entry.

I thought of two options:

• A “Minor Update” to let you guys know that I have this overwhelming commitment and my updates might be a bit behand in the next one or two months.
• A “Quick Update”

The first option would mean a heads-up that the cadence below, which I have been following for this year, might be broken.

I have stuck to three posts a week, on afternoons/evenings of Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that you can read them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The second option would allow me to complete this entry fast and at the same time, would not grant me excuse to break the cadence just yet.

I decided to go with the second option. 

After all, the building of a cadence is not easy. I should not just give it up so easily.

And I believe writing is good for me, even for the current commitment and the bigger thing that is coming.

And I believe I can still manage for now.

And most importantly, I do not want to disappoint and lose you!

So regular update it is!

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3. The award

My wife got a promotion and three salary increments this year.

It seems a lot, but really depends how you look at it.

She has not changed job for the past 10+ years and her salary has not been much higher than a fresh graduate.

She started work with a higher salary than I did, but she has been making far less over the years.

So this is like her company making it up to her.

But of course, her current manager (Female) is very supportive and works very well with her.

Otherwise, she might still be drawing the fresh-level salaries.

But still, this is great news. 

I can see she is happy and I am really happy for her. 

I am happy for myself too because I also get to spend that money…haha

So in a way, life is fair.

We never really lose what is ours or own what is not. 

Just that it might come later.

But later is always better than never.

Till next time!

"If only one flower grows on the branch, it must bloom"

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Life goes on and shit jumps in all the time.

All the while, I have had no problem delivering work, but I have been really bad in caring about how people think about me.

I think that is the reason why I get frustrated and repel away the promotions that seems so rightfully mine.

However, recently I got feedback that I was too nice to push through certain things. 

Though it came as somewhat a surprise, the feedback made total sense.

I have been too passive in certain meetings just to avoid conflict. The potential cost is slow progress. 

I say “potential” because I really cannot be sure about the outcome if I have pushed aggressively. 

Possibly, things get done. 

Also possibly, I encounter greater push back and the relationship gets affected, which results in even slower progress, or worse, things going in opposite direction.

From my assessment, the probability for the latter to happen is bigger.

However, it does send the message that I am not actively pushing. And being passive is definitely not the way to get promoted.

There must be a way to achieve all of below:

• I push actively
• Progress is improved or not negatively affected at least
• Working relationship is not affected

I know people who have done it.

I do not believe I am less qualified than them. 

But I was not even trying.

And that could be the difference between people who get promoted and people who do not.

There is a reason behind everything after all. And the reason might be more justified than we think.

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I have been reading a novel which describes a batch of pioneers who made great things happen in different fields during the open-up of China. 

The tricks and conspiracies involved there were simply eye-opening and at the same time totally believable. 

If I could not handle the relatively less competitive environment here, maybe here is where I should stop and rightfully so.

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I was once involved in a discussion on why people read novel. The point that stayed with me was to observe other people’s life and learn to deal with those situations including what to do and what to say and how others would feel in those situations.

In this sense, novel could be closer to real world than biography. Novel will always come from real life while biography tend to exaggerate the good aspects and hide or rephrase the other aspects.

In this sense, I have read too little novel and need to catch up.

Till next time!