A Millennial's 6th Working Anniversary Celebration (Part 2 of 2)

It's me again! And I'm here to discuss the remaining three indispensable lessons I gained throughout my six years in the corporate world. If you haven't read Part 1 of this write up, you still have time to catch up.

If time is not on your side though, I've summarized the lessons I shared in my first post below:

Lesson 1: Salary is not everything (well at least, for me)
Lesson 2: Avoid micromanaging. It’s disgusting.
Lesson 3: Why work hard when you can work smart instead?

Now you are ready to learn some more! Let's keep going! ❤️

Lesson 4: Get a life outside work.

Don’t make your work your one and only life.

Perhaps, this is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way. Yes, you read it right. I just learned it ALONG THE WAY.

Way back in college, I always dreamed of acing my first work. I’ve always imagined rushing through morning traffic with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand, be in my workstation before eight (8), spend the next eight to twelve hours facing a monitor I later called my best friend for always listening to my rants and never saying a word back. And every college fresh grad would find this idea tremendously exciting. Come on, give me some support here. I can see you agree to this! Haha 🤣

We fell in love with the idea of spending most of our time at work. I fell in love with it, too. But luckily I had this weird goal back then. Can you believe that during my first year of working, my ultimate goal was to not save a single penny? (I know my financially literate self now is not so happy with this decision but no regrets!😁)

I realized I’ve been such a nerd for the past twenty (20) years for not having explored any routes aside from the dictatorial home-school-home route. So I started adding “Travel the entire Philippines” in my bucket list. Year after year, I was able to dream and pursue things outside work. I was able to travel to more than half of the country alone. I was able to establish and maintain a fitness journey. I used to do mountain climbing before my spine got injured. I’ve been a photography addict once in my life. I tried freediving (I hate reminding myself that this pandemic put on halt all freediving goals this year until recently when we were able to freedive again). I love running, too. I’m currently doing yoga (still a beginner but nonetheless still yoga). I sometimes write poems and articles like this in the middle of the day or night. Lately, I’ve been attracted to baking and cooking a lot. I read non-fiction/fiction books (I try my best haha). I allot a portion of my daily routine to nourish my spirituality as well. For two semesters, I taught kids the importance of understanding customer behavior and its impact on quality and marketing. And I’ve been constantly learning new things through materials available online. And finally, I watch Kdrama before I go to sleep. Annyeong!😍

How do I balance everything? Interesting question right there! 🤔

All these things are possible just by recognizing that life outside work is necessary to be truly happy. It’s necessary to breathe in a new set of learnings other than those you learn by experience at work.

Nobody on her/his deathbed ever wished they had spent more time in the office. Remember that. If you are a father, your child is waiting for you to tuck her in. If you are a mother, your husband is waiting for you to cook his favorite meal after a long tiring day at work. If you are a daughter, your mother must be so excited to catch up on weekends. Maybe share some news about your new lover over a cup of great tea.

We are given limited days. That's so unfortunate, I know. But with this knowledge, we must be careful and intentional about how we spend our days and who we spend our days with.

Lesson 5: Find a great boss, not a great job.

I remember Jack Ma mentioned this — that a great boss is better than a great company. Well, I guess this is true (in my case).

I’m not so sure why I ended up in this job. But with God’s grace, I was trained and still being trained in a working environment that acknowledges that mistakes are vital in order to succeed. My boss will remind me from time to time that: We have to try to know if things will work or not. If after trying, things won’t work, we move to the next big idea”.

This has always been the driving force to do things on my own with full accountability. I’d be left with tasks, responsibilities, and projects and it’ll be all up to me how I manage it. It’s scary at first especially when you’re like me who doesn’t want to fail. I’m grateful beyond words for a mentor who makes sure that there’s always room to continually make mistakes, learn from these mistakes, and grow to be someone who can handle more responsibilities and duties in the future.

Right now, I pay this forward to the people that I'm also handling. As a leader, I make sure that I grow and that my team grows with me. No one's going to be left behind - that's the mantra! ❤️

Lesson 6: Be brave, stand up for what you believe is right

My work isn't easy, just like any other job. Mine is just a bit complicated given the organizational structure and the practices that have been in placed for the longest time.

I once heard a manager say upfront that "It can't be done" without even giving the idea a shot. It tormented me for I know deep inside it could be done. If you only think about doing it step-by-step, it could be implemented in no time. Not to mention the team who will be working on this big idea is tremendously skilled and talented.

No one believed in me, so I have to prove to everyone that what they thought is impossible can be done by one person not even overnight. Your brave fresh grad fella in here took the liberty of emailing the proof and guess what, we ended up with an amazing result - the implementation of that one big idea.

I won't disclose the details here as that manager might be reading this. LOL! 🤣

What I'm trying to say is, culture and tradition and even people (not necessarily your immediate head) in your company will try to challenge your beliefs even statistical data, but what if it only takes you to say things out loud and a little work to prove that you are right?

I am not being rude here. I am not telling you to be rude. All I want is the best ideas to be implemented for my team and the company in general. And if it takes being brave to defend what I truly believe will be beneficial in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, I'd say it loud. And yes, I've done my number crunching. My decisions and suggestions are backed by data.

Is there something you badly want to change or improve at your workplace? What if it only takes one single email or one single phone call or one single meeting to do so?

I hope you take that challenge; the results will surprise you! ❤️

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In the end, this is just my six-year journey summarized in two posts. I can tell you more about leadership and those sort of things in the next posts. Let's see what I can share. 😊

You may have a different experience, too and if you’re not agreeable to any of the above, that’s okay.

Happy six (6) fast and furious years to us, Virginia! You will always be my number one! ❤️

Drop your insights in the comment section, I'd love to hear them! ❤️

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