There are valuable treasures available to you even now, that you have not yet discovered. There are many things that will someday bring richness to your life that you do not yet even know about.
No matter where you have gone, or what you have experienced, there is always much, much more to be lived. No matter what you may have once had and then lost, there is always much more to be gained.
What may seem like an annoying frustration at this time could eventually end up being an abundant blessing. For in each moment as life goes forward, you have the opportunity to make the best of whatever you encounter.
What might feel like weakness can be transformed into strength. What otherwise would hold you back can give you plenty of reason to push forward.
Even when much has been done, there is far, far more that you can do. Whether life has been full or whether it has been sparse up to now, there are countless ways remaining to fill it.
Whatever life may have already been, there is much, much more to be lived. And now is the moment to resolutely begin.
-- Ralph Marston
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Communicate
Talking, writing, sign language -- I don't care how you do it, just communicate. I have a friend who was venting how women don't communicate -- don't tell whether they're happy or sad, can't talk about feelings. I have to inform him, it's not just women.
It's not a man / woman thing. It is a relationship thing - family, friend or romantic. If you care about someone, it suddenly becomes difficult to tell that person how you feel.
Think about it -- some stranger cuts in front of you in a line....suddenly your irritation becomes vocal (hopefully that's all). While your best friend or a family memeber does something that annoys you...suddenly you become very quiet. Real friends and family see the difference and wonder what they did or didn't do. Later when your annoyance goes away and you forget about it, they still wonder.
Or, something is really weighing on your mind. How many of us (I admit, I'm guilty of this one) will keep it inside and hope it goes away? Not exactly the best way to deal with things. Those close to us want to help, they want to hear from you.
Communication. Seems so simple until you care about someone. The people you care about are the ones you really need to communicate with.
It's not a man / woman thing. It is a relationship thing - family, friend or romantic. If you care about someone, it suddenly becomes difficult to tell that person how you feel.
Think about it -- some stranger cuts in front of you in a line....suddenly your irritation becomes vocal (hopefully that's all). While your best friend or a family memeber does something that annoys you...suddenly you become very quiet. Real friends and family see the difference and wonder what they did or didn't do. Later when your annoyance goes away and you forget about it, they still wonder.
Or, something is really weighing on your mind. How many of us (I admit, I'm guilty of this one) will keep it inside and hope it goes away? Not exactly the best way to deal with things. Those close to us want to help, they want to hear from you.
Communication. Seems so simple until you care about someone. The people you care about are the ones you really need to communicate with.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Thought for the Day
We have the power to to choose preferred futures through a very innovative approach - thinking the unthinkable - rather than having to suffer futures we do not want.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Evils of Corporate Life
It's time for PMP or Performance Management Process for those who don't work at my company. I'm convinced PMP is something evil thought up by top leadership way back when just to torment the employees. Don't ever let them use the same form twice! "They" said. Make as many pieces of paper as possible to complete! "They" said. Very evil indeed.
In my company we do Mid-Years in June and Year Ends in late October/early November (so predict what you’ll do for the last 1 to 1 ½ months and make sure you do it). The PMP process is: fill out your goals, complete your development plan and then condense it all into the mid-year or year end form so someone can claim to read it all. OK, to be fair, I've had leaders who do read it all. Then leadership has alignment meetings to discuss your rating. To really benefit from the alignment process, all leaders in your organization better at least know your name and/or your leader better be able to market you well After being read and aligned, your leader gives you input and the forms are filed away for eternity or until you quit, whichever comes first.
In a perfect world, each employee is keeping track of their goal accomplishment and leadership examples each month. If the employee is thinking, it’s tracked on the correct forms. This is not a perfect world.
Goals. This form has become so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore. On top of a cumbersome form, the goals are fed down from the very top of senior management with each level of in-between adding their piece. By time it gets to me (you know, the worker bee level) the goals, tasks and measures are so convoluted VP areas must have 4-8 hour meetings to figure them out! Hmmm...sounds productive to me. Each quarter we add our accomplishments to "our" form which is fed back up. Now really, do you think the SVP is going to notice MY project submitted the correct forms????? Last year my VP took the team's goal results and added to his leader's goals. I looked at the final form for Q1 while trying to associate Q2 with my department's accomplishments -- not a SINGLE result from my deparment in Q1 was on the form!! So why are we doing this???
Development Plans. The plan is supposed to be mine. Seems like a reasonable thought. My plan for my career. However, you must have it in a special format (again, one that changes every year or so) which is not the most user friendly. Wouldn't it make more sense for my career development plan to be usable by me in a format understood by me?? Go figure - that would make us happy and productive.
And then there are the dreaded Mid-Year and Year-End forms. Some groups go official and use each while some just use the Year End form (at Year End you just copy & paste from the mid-year anyway). How it's filled out depends on your leader. Some want bullet points, some want small novels. How many read it all? Isn't tempting to add something fun in the middle to see if they really pick up on it? Like all those reports we publish....wait, that's another blog :)
Granted keeping track of your development and your accomplishments and having goals is a good thing. Otherwise you just plod along day after day with no direction. However, does it have to be such a cumbersome process? To truly do justice to your PMP, be sure to slot at LEAST 8 hours to do it or hope you have a leader who likes to the point bullet lists!
In my company we do Mid-Years in June and Year Ends in late October/early November (so predict what you’ll do for the last 1 to 1 ½ months and make sure you do it). The PMP process is: fill out your goals, complete your development plan and then condense it all into the mid-year or year end form so someone can claim to read it all. OK, to be fair, I've had leaders who do read it all. Then leadership has alignment meetings to discuss your rating. To really benefit from the alignment process, all leaders in your organization better at least know your name and/or your leader better be able to market you well After being read and aligned, your leader gives you input and the forms are filed away for eternity or until you quit, whichever comes first.
In a perfect world, each employee is keeping track of their goal accomplishment and leadership examples each month. If the employee is thinking, it’s tracked on the correct forms. This is not a perfect world.
Goals. This form has become so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore. On top of a cumbersome form, the goals are fed down from the very top of senior management with each level of in-between adding their piece. By time it gets to me (you know, the worker bee level) the goals, tasks and measures are so convoluted VP areas must have 4-8 hour meetings to figure them out! Hmmm...sounds productive to me. Each quarter we add our accomplishments to "our" form which is fed back up. Now really, do you think the SVP is going to notice MY project submitted the correct forms????? Last year my VP took the team's goal results and added to his leader's goals. I looked at the final form for Q1 while trying to associate Q2 with my department's accomplishments -- not a SINGLE result from my deparment in Q1 was on the form!! So why are we doing this???
Development Plans. The plan is supposed to be mine. Seems like a reasonable thought. My plan for my career. However, you must have it in a special format (again, one that changes every year or so) which is not the most user friendly. Wouldn't it make more sense for my career development plan to be usable by me in a format understood by me?? Go figure - that would make us happy and productive.
And then there are the dreaded Mid-Year and Year-End forms. Some groups go official and use each while some just use the Year End form (at Year End you just copy & paste from the mid-year anyway). How it's filled out depends on your leader. Some want bullet points, some want small novels. How many read it all? Isn't tempting to add something fun in the middle to see if they really pick up on it? Like all those reports we publish....wait, that's another blog :)
Granted keeping track of your development and your accomplishments and having goals is a good thing. Otherwise you just plod along day after day with no direction. However, does it have to be such a cumbersome process? To truly do justice to your PMP, be sure to slot at LEAST 8 hours to do it or hope you have a leader who likes to the point bullet lists!
Thunder!
11:48pm. My dog is whining. Shhhh....I tell her. More whining. Quiet! More whining. Finally a thought penetrates my sleepy brain -- maybe she needs to go out again (she had been sick the other morning). OK, fine. I get up, go to get my glasses and see a flash of lightning. Crap -- she doesn't have to go out, she's just scared of thunder and lightning.
Back to bed. The dog is now whining and shaking - on my pillow! My pillow is not big enough for both of us. Move her off the pillow and next to me. Snuggle up. Nope, not working - she's still whining, still shaking and moving back to my pillow!
I give up. Down to the couch. Maybe downstairs she'll feel farther away from the thunder. Good - Office Space is on AMC. Something to amuse myself with. An hour later, I'm asleep anyway, the thunder seems to have moved on and the dog is quiet. Let's go back to bed.
Ahhh....comfy bed and my pillow is my own. BOOM! Oh great, there she goes again.....maybe she'll go hide in the closet this time :)
Back to bed. The dog is now whining and shaking - on my pillow! My pillow is not big enough for both of us. Move her off the pillow and next to me. Snuggle up. Nope, not working - she's still whining, still shaking and moving back to my pillow!
I give up. Down to the couch. Maybe downstairs she'll feel farther away from the thunder. Good - Office Space is on AMC. Something to amuse myself with. An hour later, I'm asleep anyway, the thunder seems to have moved on and the dog is quiet. Let's go back to bed.
Ahhh....comfy bed and my pillow is my own. BOOM! Oh great, there she goes again.....maybe she'll go hide in the closet this time :)
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
A thought for the evening....
"Better to be hated for something you are, than to be loved for something you're not."
Monday, June 13, 2005
Hitting the Wall
Did you ever hit the proverbial wall, hard, face first and get stuck? You know you need to turn around, get a grip and move forward in the next piece of the maze? Sometimes however, you have to peel yourself off the wall and, damn, it hurts. That happened to me recently.
I'm not stupid person. I know life is what I make of it. Sure, some things are out of my control -- say, like the weather or a natural disaster. How I feel, how I react, what choices I make are in MY control. But, you know, when plastered face first into that wall and slowly trying to peel away without losing too much skin, it's hard to remember to stay positive.
When you do turn around and start down the next piece of the maze, it feels good. Knowing you hit a new personal low and still came back is an amazing feeling. Starting over with some new scars and new knowledge about yourself makes you feel empowered.
Many thanks go to my friends who had to put up with me for a week, or two, or so. Especially if I had been drinking! (you know who you are). Friends are also very powerful and my life is richer with you in it.
I'm not stupid person. I know life is what I make of it. Sure, some things are out of my control -- say, like the weather or a natural disaster. How I feel, how I react, what choices I make are in MY control. But, you know, when plastered face first into that wall and slowly trying to peel away without losing too much skin, it's hard to remember to stay positive.
When you do turn around and start down the next piece of the maze, it feels good. Knowing you hit a new personal low and still came back is an amazing feeling. Starting over with some new scars and new knowledge about yourself makes you feel empowered.
Many thanks go to my friends who had to put up with me for a week, or two, or so. Especially if I had been drinking! (you know who you are). Friends are also very powerful and my life is richer with you in it.
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