Silver Jubilee !

February a month is not only for celebrating Valentine's Day, I celebrate my work anniversary. This year I embark on my Silver jubilee year at my workplace completed 24 yrs, I like to give credit to my near and dear ones and disclose my mantra for so far I have been. 

I am glad to mention my mother – Amma. She was very happy when I got into my dream company in 1997. I see her acknowledging and blessing me every day. She happily smiles, in one of the picture frames in my office room. 

 

The second one is my hubby. How can I forget him? Without his nudge, we would not have traveled the onsite US. He was so flexible in the first few years of my stay here in the US. Not that he is not flexible NOW J Every 5 to 6 months, my job assignments changed. Within less than 3 yrs we moved to 5 different states - CO, UT, WA, MI, and NJ. Although he came on a dependent VISA, he was authorized to work when we were in WA. So he had to quit his job, whenever we relocated. Finally, we settled down in NJ. 

 

Last my kids…. The amount of sacrifice they made - I owe a lot to them. Even though I work from home for the past 14+ years…. Mornings were not an issue, was able to comfortably take care of their breakfast and bid them goodbye in their school bus. But most of the time, when they return from school, I will be in crazy calls with a lot of cacophony going through XLS meticulously with the team. Cannot even hug them when they return from school - just only mime to have their snack and relax. Kudos to them…. Now too, they truly boost me up. My son as he is a junior in college, gives me encouraging official tips with his internship experience and my daughter asks me to indulge in my other desires like music…. 

 

My mantra for where I am today is a PEG. Cheers!

 

Are you excited about hearing PEG? It is not the intoxicating shot that you are thinking. 

 

PEG = Passion + Empathy + Good. 

 

Passion: what do you mean by this word….. Ardent affection, deep interest, strong liking /desire.

Eg of Passion -   

 

1. For some of us, cars are a passion…. 

2. For some of us, keeping our body fit is a passion...

3. For some of us, our day-to-day work is a passion - LUCKY!

 

Want to apply all of their skills and all of their energy into their passion. 

People who have seen/worked with me or know me very well might graciously acknowledge this characteristic. 

 

The best feeling in the world is getting paid to do, what you love….  

 

 Manage to make your job a passion….. or find one...

 

Skills are cheap, but Passion is PRICELESS. 

 

Empathy: meaning the ability to understand and share the feeling of another. This needs to be developed as we grow. But in the modern world, we have workshops to kindle, teach/preach this. Put yourself in the other person’s shoe. Human beings are less expressive, especially when they need help, their self-respect makes them express only hardly one-third of their problem or even less. So it is up to us to understand their situation and provide all possible aid within our limit. 

As we do our job every day we become more process-oriented than people-oriented. We need to change that aspect. 

 

Good: What is the definition for good… yes it means ‘Morally right’. We are all mature enough to know what is good and not. Yes, Good should be confessed by your heart and not by your brain. If the good comes from your brain, it is either manipulated or an adjusted one…. 

Do anything and everything without vested interest. Everything good that you do will have a happy ending. 

 

Let me complete this note with a small imaginary story narrated by my grandpa – Muthu thatha. Have you ever felt sometimes, in your official world, the work that you do/contribute, you are not getting the credit and it is taken by your manager or someone else? 

 

When constructing a new building/house in India, we use “Pine Tree – Savvukku Maram” to create props to build, plaster, and paint. Nowadays they use iron rods/pillars. As they complete the job they remove the props. On completion, these pine tree support, lie in the backyard. 

For the house warming/inauguration ceremony, we bring in a new banana tree for ornamentation to enhance the entrance of the new construct. All of us witnessing the great event see only the banana tree that just came in a day back, but everyone will miss /ignore the pine tree, which helped primarily in the construction. The banana tree after the inauguration gets shattered and fed to cattle but the pine tree is ready to get shifted to the next new place of construction. 

 

I know it is painful, but do NOT lose heart…. You are like a pine tree STRONG – get ready for the next new, adventurous assignment.

 

                                                             Good Luck!