Stay efficient at work

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here! 

Staying efficient at work is a key factor in achieving success and job satisfaction. In today’s fast-paced work environment, it is more important than ever to be productive and focused. Here’s why and how to stay efficient at work.

Why Stay Efficient at Work

1. Increased Productivity: By prioritizing tasks and streamlining processes, you can get more done in less time. This means that you can complete projects faster, freeing up time for other tasks or personal pursuits.
2. Better Time Management: Efficient work habits can help you better manage your time and reduce stress related to tight deadlines. When you focus on what’s important and eliminate distractions, you can work smarter, not harder.
3. Improved Job Satisfaction: When you are able to complete tasks quickly and effectively, it can boost your sense of accomplishment and job satisfaction. This can lead to a more positive outlook on your work and a desire to continue to improve.
4. Better Work-Life Balance: Being efficient at work can free up time for personal pursuits and improve your overall work-life balance. When you are able to get more done in less time, you can reduce stress and improve your quality of life.
5. Increased Opportunities for Growth and Advancement: Efficient workers are often seen as valuable and reliable team members, which can lead to new opportunities for growth and advancement within the company.

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How to Stay Efficient at Work

1. Prioritize Tasks: Focus on the most important and urgent tasks first and work down your to-do list. This will help you stay on track and avoid wasting time on less important tasks.
2. Time Management: Use a timer or scheduling system to manage your time effectively and avoid distractions. This will help you stay focused and on track throughout the day.
3. Eliminate Distractions: Reduce distractions like social media, email notifications, and other interruptions to increase focus and productivity.
4. Take Breaks: Regular breaks can help you avoid burnout and stay focused for longer periods of time. Take a short walk, do some stretching, or just step away from your desk for a few minutes to recharge.
5. Delegate Tasks: If you have team members, delegate tasks that are not your core competencies or that can be done by someone else more efficiently. This can help reduce your workload and free up time for more important tasks.
6. Use Technology and Tools: Utilize technology and tools like task management apps, time-tracking software, and productivity plugins to streamline work processes.
7. Streamline Processes: Look for ways to streamline processes and make tasks more efficient, such as automating repetitive tasks. This can help you save time and reduce errors.
8. Continuously Improve: Continuously evaluate your work processes and make changes as needed to stay efficient. This will help you stay ahead of the curve and continue to improve your work habits.

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In conclusion, staying efficient at work is critical for success and job satisfaction. By prioritizing tasks, managing time effectively, reducing distractions, and using technology and tools, you can get more done in less time and achieve your professional and personal goals.

Till next time!

$5 noodles vs $500 red wine

From Author

 

Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

$5 instant noodles and $500 red wine do not usually mix.

As a matter of fact, their mix is only made possible under rare and specific situations, which cannot be expected to repeat.

Now that we cannot have them both, the question is which one we choose and at what price.

That is a choice that is more important to some than others.

That is a choice that is more difficult to some than others.

The importance and difficulty of that choice even changes to the same person in his/her different stages of life.

Nevertheless, it is still a choice that many will need to make.

I am at the cross road.

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Till next time!

A former member of my team quit and I am happy for him

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

He messaged me and updated me his decision to move out of the firm. I am happy for him.

He was the team member that got me struggle whether to keep him on.

He tried so hard…

• He worked late almost every day
• He tried his best to deliver within timeline
• He took every opportunity to go extra miles to impress me
• He did not mind re-doing the staff over and over again
• He was really cooperative and took whatever tasks that came his way
• He asked for work whenever he had some spare capacity
• …

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But he just could not hit the nail…

• He made repeated basic mistakes, like excel formulas and basic formatting requirements
• He lacked logical sense, messing up previous work
• He completed 2/4 tasks and came telling me he was done
• …

As a result, I had to check everything he did, redo much of it and could not trust him with any critical tasks.

I ended up spending much time doing his job…

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When the time came to decide whether to keep him on, I really struggled.

I really wanted to help him, but I could not afford to keep doing his job on top of mine…

So I let him go, after giving him honest feedback and telling him that he needed a hard re-set before he could make it work and trying harder would probably not be the answer. 

(To be honest, project leadership wanted to get rid of him to save budget. I was definitely affected by that also.)

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He took some time off and updated me that he had decided to quit.

I am honestly happy for him.

Apparently, he tried his best and the firm gave him enough opportunities. It did not work.

But with his commitment, I am sure he would do well in a different environment, which would give him the re-set he needs as well.

I am happy for him and Who knows, I might join him.

 

Till next time!

There will always be Fucked-Up people in life

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Encountered a guy in work, who is so fucked up.

He hides everything he does, so that people cannot learn from him.

He either does it in secret and only say he has done it afterwards.

Or he plans so carefully that he would do it when no one is in the room.

Completely dishonest, even in front of facts.

He treats everyone as a thread, refuses to share and takes advantage of every bit information advantage to show he is superior.

…

But I have to say he does this pretty well, given he has been working in the same domain for 2 years.

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What I can understand is that he wants to protect his dominating position. But honestly, I have no intention to share this domain, not even something I like.

What I do not understand is why he would not rather spend the time and efforts somewhere else.

Even if he is dominating in this little domain (which is not even his), I am sure he has his own battle to fight in other domains.

Can only say it is a perspective.

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Ok, enough complaints.

The next question is — Will I do the same if I were in his position?

To be honest, I am pretty confident that I will do some of those (not like I have never been in dominating position before).

I would want to protect some of my advantage also, not giving that away so quickly.

But I am also confident that I wont do it to this extreme.

Maybe that is why I wont climb very high in my career.

Lets see.

Life isn’t perfect and this is expected.

Let me think about how to handle this.

 

To my Readers: if you have any suggestions on how to handle this type of persons, I would really appreciate if you could leave a comment or email me directly @ t.minds1987@gmail.com.

 

Thank you and till next time!

No one really gets away from anything

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

What goes around comes around. No one really gets away from anything.

Any shortcut taken will be repaid with more work and stress later in life.

Any lessons skipped will be made up with more time and efforts later in life.

Any changes taken will burden us with more opportunities lost later in life.

…

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And trust me:

We would want to take that work and stress, time and efforts when we are still young.

And we do not want to miss the opportunity we have been waiting and preparing for, just because we took some changes earlier.

At the end of the day, only good and solid work pays off.

To us all!

 

Till next time!

Result Oriented — Not moving forward is a waste of time

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

I say I am result oriented in almost all interviews. But I never knew what it really meant.

Recently, my understanding got into a deeper level, under the pressure of work.

Result oriented means getting things done no matter the cost.

This means Not moving forward effectively is a waste of time.

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To me, among many things, it means leaving behind all “enjoying” or “self-appreciating”aspects of work.

Sometimes, my interests would push me off the tangent to look at something not directly related to work at hand. I need to stop that.

Sometimes, I stop to appreciate my work, be it a great slide, a smart idea, or just some words I said. I need to stop that.

Sometimes, I got into tasks that are not important and spent too much time on it, just for “completeness” or “perfection”. I need to stop that.

Sometimes, my mind is absent on a task, even though I am physically on that task. I need to stop that.

But worse of all, sometimes, I convince myself I have enough time to do this slowly and I can afford to invest my spare time into work. I need to stop that.

It is critical to get rest and recharge if I am to stay for the long term. Or at least, that time can be spent on more important tasks.

• Learning new things and skills is more important than getting the minor formatting correct
• Thinking about what else we can do to further our proposal is more important than thinking back and forth on whether a slide should be included or not
• Talking to people is more important than getting some unimportant work done. They are best left undone anyway.

…..

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So be result-oriented means getting things done! 

Done, not necessarily perfectly, not necessarily using up all the time I can squeeze out, not necessarily on paper, not necessarily making myself feel good.

Think about the end goal and go directly at it. And then get some rest and recharge, or continue the next task or learn new things which will be invaluable in the future for me.

 

Till next time!

Slow is Fast — never just do something when asked

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Past week has been stressful for me at work.

Not only because of the work itself, but also because of the additional hours resulted from my failure to understand before actions.

One typical example:

• One partner asked me to do something and I thought it would be a quick change so I just did it to get it over with. I did not care about that change and did not bother to find out why.
• Then another partner asked me to undo the change. When he asked why I did the change in the first place, I looked like an idiot who could only respond that the other partner asked me to do it.
• Most of the time, I had to undo the change and needed to explain to the other partner
• …

Another typical example:

• I was asked to do something and I thought that was a lot of work with not enough benefits.
• I became very reluctant to do it and I showed it. And I pushed back using that.
• The partner explained and even argued why it had to be done. 
• I just would not listen and just could not get myself out of the thinking that this would be a lot of work and now I would need to protect myself and push back.
• Most of the time, I had to do what I was asked anyway after spending the time “arguing” and sometimes irritating the partners.
• …

This resulted in iterations of work, which are never a good thing, especially under high-pressure situation with tight deadline.

And I looked like an idiot, which are never a good thing either.

And I gave the negative impression that I would avoid work, put myself before the client and team, and therefore, do not have enough commitment to client, project and team. Definitely not a good thing.

And I do not learn why the partners would ask for or reject the change, which is a good reflection of the way or work and also his own experiences. Absolutely a bad thing.

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When I reflected, the key element missing in the process was my own judgement based on the right rationale.

Without my own judgement, I could not prove or disprove the merit of the change, to justify or defend the action to either make or reject the change.

Without my own judgement based on the right rationale, I appeared selfish and could not get my point through.

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My lack of judgement based on right rationale could be caused by a few underlying reasons:

• My lack of commitment — I did not care enough about the client, team and project
• My failure to understand the reason and significance of the change — I did not know the reasons why partners asked to do something or not do something. Neither did I see the implications of the change to the client and project.
• My under-estimate of the value of my ideas — These guys have their skin in the game for many years. Why would my ideas or judgement even matter?
• My laziness to just complete something for the sake of completing it — I am more concerned about ticking the box, rather than focusing on the impact the box would bring. This is actually laziness.
• My wrong inclination to accept or push back a change request based on the amount of work I perceived — if I thought it was easy to do, I will just accept the request and make the changes. Why wasting the time to discuss? If I perceived more work was required, I would push back. This was wrong. It should only be based on merit of the change first and only then discuss implementation.
• My wrong perception of work needed — sometimes, the change was easier than I anticipated and other times, it was harder and took longer time.
• My lack of enjoyment and motivation in the work — I did not really enjoy the work and did not really appreciate the meaning of the work
• …

None of these is good. I need to work on all of them.

If not, why would I step out of my comfort zone and take this challenge anyway?

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Going forward, when I am asked to do something, I will follow below 5-step process until it becomes a habit:

Ask—Discuss — Judge — Decide — Act

1.Ask

I will force myself to ask why and understand the reason behind, so that

• I learn
• I do not look like an idiot when asked
• I do not feel frustrated when doing the work
• I increase my investment in the project and become more committed

2.Discuss

Voice out my reasons and concerns and actively discuss with an open mind on why or why not the proposed change might help the client and project.

• I learn even more
• I practice my discussion skills
• I understand what I am doing and why I am doing it.

3.Judge

This is purely my judgement after discussion. It could be:

• This is the right thing to do
• This is just his preference
• This is the wrong thing to do

4.Decide

My decision. It could be:

• Agree and do it
• Disagree but do it, to be a team player
• Disagree and keep pushing back on merit of the request; need to immediately go back to discussion

5.Act

Act accordingly, knowing very clearly why I am acting the way I am.

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Breaking an old habit is hard. But it can be done if we have the commitment and right way of dealing with it.

To us all!

Different level of conversation

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here. 

I witnessed a different level of conversation recently.

A consultant in my team got very high-level contacts with the client.

From Day 1, people have been saying that he has good client contacts. But I never expected the contacts to be so high-level — literally at the top!

So in our daily meeting, a senior partner, a partner and a consultant were discussing who should take who (the few top executives of client) out for lunch and validate what key hypothesis on their strategic directions.

The rest of us, especially me as the manager, pretty much were clueless. I could not even attach each name to a face.

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All my career up till now has been focused on doing the work. And I believe it will continue like this for quite a while. And I believe it should.

But the conversation was no doubt a very clear reminder for me to start thinking about the shift:

• Not necessarily doing a lot of work myself, but leveraging the team and control the quality of the work
• Start building on client relationship
• Start to be more strategic and directional

All in all, I need to be part of that conversation when it happens next time.

But I am not there now. 

Worst still, my current train of thoughts and mindset does not allow me to put enough focus on that either.

This needs to change. I need to worry less about what I am worrying now and start going up.

Till next time!

Relationship building takes time and heart

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here.

I have been meeting a lot of people lately, virtually and face-to-face.

From the interactions, two things become really clear:

1. Everyone is where they are for a reason
2. Everyone is unique in pretty much every aspect

That infers two findings:

1. There is opportunity to learn from everyone
2. There is no one-fits-all approach in relationship building

That further infers two conclusions:

1. Relationship building is important 
2. Relationship building takes time and heart

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In some cases, a follow-up email takes half an hour or longer to write, because a summary of that specific interaction is needed and some certain aspects needs to be highlighted and we need to decide which ones.

In some cases, a chat could use up all the spare time we have.

In some cases, emotional benefits needs to be provided, at the cost of acceptable quality loss

… …

It is easy to argue that none of this is necessary and we could better use the time and energy on work.

This could be very true and this could also be the biggest misunderstanding.

What use is work if it cannot solve the problem or it solves the wrong problem.

It is also easy to just skip doing this when under pressure and time constraints.

I need to make sure I do it constantly.

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However, at the same time, there is no need to overdo it.

There is no need to proof read an email 20 times even if it is to the big boss.

There is no need to always worry that the summary is not good enough and it will show our incompetency.

There is no need to always be formal. Maybe a quick WhatsApp message would just do the job.

…

The other party is people too.

The key is that we keep doing it.

Only after we get comfortable with doing it, we start to worry about how to do it better.

To us all!

 

Till next time!

VR Update

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

This is going to be a quick one.

The work right now is a bit overwhelming. But I also fully recognize that I could have been more efficient and effective in many areas.

I guess productivity recovery just takes time, probably longer than I thought.

So really, try not to allow yourself to be idle.

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Waves of VR headsets incoming

From today till Oct 28, there will be 3 VR headsets to be announced/released. Unfortunately, we are talking about US time.

• Oct 14 — HTC
• Oct 21 — Varjo
• Oct 28 — Facebook

Right now, I am really just looking at stand-alone VR headsets. I do not plan to get a PC just for VR. 

Also, simplicity in set-up will also take a lot consideration.

Right now, it is really just Oculus Quest 2 that fits the requirements.

Hopefully, we will have more options after this month.

Looking forward!

I really see myself taking the first try at gaming and exercising at the same time!

Stay tuned!

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!

How to be a good employee (10 times the salary in 10 years) - Part 8: Let the bullets fly…

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

Two things happened recently at work where I could have delegated better. 

I felt quite bad about them at first.

But they turned out to be right decisions after a week.

Therefore, as a manager, try to delegate properly, but more importantly, do not feel bad.

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1.I could have delegated

In drafting up a deck for the client, I discussed with the team and agreed on the storyline.

There were 5 slides that needed major work and 1 slide that needed adjustment.

3 of the 5 that needed major work would be hard to delegate, because I had all the information and background.

So there were 2 slides that needed major work and 1 slide that needed adjustment that I could choose to delegate.

There were 3 other members in the team.

I only delegated the 1 slide that needed adjustment to one team member and took the 2 that needed major work upon myself.

I guess I was partly trying to continue the work I had done on the 2 slides that needed major work and partly did not want to load the team more as I knew they were involved in other engagements too.

But afterwards, I regretted.

If I had delegated the 2 slides to the two other team members, there would be at least 4 benefits:

1. I would have less to do and could focus more on the 3 slides.
2. The workload of the team would be more even, at least from the perspective of this engagement. The team member that got assigned the 1 slide that needed assignment might feel a bit unfair in the current arrangement.
3. The deck would be more of team work, instead of my storyline and my deck.
4. If there would be needs for further changes to the deck, we could split the work more easily and deliver the update version faster.

I regretted over the weekend multiple times and could not help thinking about the benefits of better delegation.

In the beginning of the subsequent week, I managed to find time to complete all the slides. But I still felt bad.

However, after a few days, I found out that that could be the right decision.

One of the other team member got assigned to another engagement entirely. If I had assigned to him the one slide, I might have to take it back anyway, which would cause more interruption.

The other team member was entirely occupied on another stream of the engagement and she did not even bother me with it, probably partly due to that fact that I left her out of this stream to allow her more time to work on the other area.

Therefore, that decision could be the best one, in term of completing the work effectively without interruptions.

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2.I should not have delegated

The 2nd incident was even more straight forward.

I delegated some analysis to an intern and it turned out to be a bit complicated for her.

I had to spend more time training her than doing the analysis myself.

I regretted also. Why didnt I just do it myself?

However, I later found out that she could catch up much faster on the other analysis after the training. 

I guess the training enabled her to understand the methodology and my train of thoughts.

This is good and she is able to help me with more analysis, which definitely saved more time for me.

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Summary

Delegation is as much science as art.

As a manager, try to delegate properly.

However, if some seemingly less ideal decision is made, do not feel bad.

Let the bullets fly…

You never know how it would turn out.

And we can always learn to improve!

Till next time!

A quick update

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

It has been a while since last time I did something like this.

I am really tired today. 

For the first time in a long time, I did not have time to eat or drink or think. I just moved from meeting to meeting and from deliverable to deliverable.

Here I am, exhausted with a painful throat.

For the first time in a long time, I did not have time to do anything else because of work. 

I guess this would happen sooner or later since the moment I decided to take over the scope of a colleague who was leaving.

I did not like the scope and I did not expect anything in return. 

I did it simply because it would help my manager out and I was the best person to do it.

Still, I do not like the scope but I know I am doing pretty well, probably better than anyone else in the team would.

In a way, I asked for today to happen.

Do I like it? Let’s just say I know what I am doing and I do not hate it yet.

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So enough with the crap. Here is the update.

1.Never slack at work

Because it will always come and haunt us.

Really dig into the details and understand. 

Think ahead what problems we might face or what questions people might ask.

Do not be affected by people who keep telling us “just somehow do can already”.

Do not think anyone else is stupid.

Only hard work yields results.

Even if we are very very demotivated, maintain the standard of work. This is not for the company or anyone else. This is for us. 

Once we compromise our standard, there could be no return.

Of course, workplace is complicated and we may need to play “tricks” sometimes. 

Then do it strategically and maintain standard even when playing tricks!

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2.Pay raise

I got a small pay raise, because I am doing two persons’ job and I just passed probation.

It feels good to know your manager realizes what you have done for him and is willing to show appreciation.

Moneywise, I am willing to give up this increment to get rid of the work load anytime.

Again, I did not do it for the money.

3.Painful reminder

Just as I received the pay raise, HR sent me my old contract, the one with higher salary.

Not sure what that was about because I have not got back to them yet as I have been so busy.

If their goal is to remind me, well, they have succeeded.

4.Loss of a friend

The NP hard problem I complained the other day. The outcome was also hard.

He did not appreciate my help at all and he has not replied my message since then.

So I guess there goes a close friend.

He has done a lot for me and I have done a lot for him.

But, after all, the friendship is just that fragile.

Reality hurts, but we got to live with it.

Till next time!

As a business owner, are you really working for yourself?

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

If your business makes money, are you really working for yourself?

This seemingly obvious question may have a different answer, if we take a different perspective — whether we are enjoying the trend, getting paid for our work, or making real profits.

Let’s say we discover a new demand and we are the pioneer to enter this market and build it up.

We make good money. We are really enjoying the benefits of the trend because we are the first.

More players will enter into competition naturally. And making money will be harder.

So maybe after a few years, our revenue can barely cover our expenses. 

At this point, we are basically getting paid for our work.

We are working for the society to satisfy a certain demand and the society pays us “salary” for it. 

However, if we innovate to reduce our costs and provide better solutions, we are making real profits.

When the cost for everyone else is 10 dollars, we are able to reduce to 5 dollars and no one else can do it. We can price anywhere between 5 and 10 dollars.

What we have done is build a moat and we are making real profits. The money will be much better compared to the work we put in.

Real profits comes from no competition because we are always in the lead.

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Summary

In every industry, competition will consume all the inefficiency and over-paid players, and as a result, we are just taking “salary” from the society.

Only continuous innovation and improvement can create room for real profit.

Therefore, as a business owner, you might think you are working for yourself. You could as well be “working” for the society.

Till next time!

Quick update

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

This will be a quick update.

Work

This week has been the busiest one for me for a while.

Both my work and my side project reached the peak in workload in this week. 

I took over new responsibilities at work and am now in the handover phase. And my side project is reaching a major milestone.

I am also involved in some other activities. Though they do not take much time currently, they are still sources for stress. I need to manage it better.

And I found myself struggling to cope, especially when I had to attend two meetings at the same time, both critically important and both cannot be moved.

Hopefully, things will improve next week.

Compared to when I had my previous job, I am much busier now but earning less money probably. It takes time to recover from a set-back.

There are a few important meetings lined up. Opportunities to test out my Gravitas. Yay!

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Life

Life goes on!

Till next time!

Quick Update — Things are Picking Up

 

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Dear Readers,

Thank you for coming here!

It feels that things are picking up.

Work is picking up. I literally just sent out the last email I needed to send out today (Yesterday). 

It feels good to accomplish something I have never done before and add value to the team and of course bag the rewards when the time comes. 

It also feels good to be “Busy”. I had to make use of every minute between meetings to get things done. 

It has been a long while since I last had this feeling. I guess I just do not enjoy doing nothing or being idle. Fate!

If there are parallel universes, maybe there are multiple versions of me who do.

Finally, stock market is picking up as well. I am back in the green today and the night is still young.

Things are picking up and that is a good thing.

Good night!

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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!