Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously!Be it our successes or failures, our accomplishments and embarrassments. In our lives- we are the heroes- we tend to imagine everything happens to us and only us. I am no exception- I am equally guilty.
However, I am not sure if you have taken a moment to reflect upon such situations from your past. The other day, I was doing a mundane job that we usually get grads and analysts to do. Since I didn't have any juniors at my disposal, I thought I might as well do it and get it out of the way. As I was doing it, it opened a floodgate of memories- both good and bad.
To cut a long story short my first task was a disaster of sorts. Apparently the senior worked late night to complete the job and the label sort of stuck with me. Even when I did manage to do a good job afterwards, it was always this first mess up that I did that was in people's minds. After trying hard to prove that I can rise above their expectations, I came to two realizations a) first impressions are very important, you might be making one and you could be clueless about it, and b) office grapevine will always be abuzz with a person's epic fails than their success stories. I decided to move to another team to breakaway from these judgments. In less than a year into the new team, I worked on a similar job for another client, and got an appreciation e-mail from a senior manager from abroad- for the timely delivery and the precision of the work. Not only did I do it by myself, I managed a staff under me and got appreciated for the good work from senior manager who has never appreciated anyone in my office before.
The reason I am recounting both these incidents here is because I am often reminded of the former than the latter. I cringe at the embarrassment and the lack of confidence I suffered because of it for over a year. I don't even think my old team members would remember this incident. All I faced was a minor set back. In fact things couldn't have worked better for me, yet I tend to replay this incident in my mind and over analyse it. It is not only me, but a lot of people tend to see their problems with a myopic eye. Some people just wonder, some people vent their frustrations to their closed ones, while others just whine and complain about why such things happen only to them.
To all of you who are like me, and tend to see yourself as a victim of your circumstances, relax! we have been through much worse and gotten past that. Count your blessings, appreciate yourself more for your accomplishments. Sure, we would have had our share of goof-ups, but what is life without making mistakes? Probably if I didn't mess up that first task, I wouldn't have worked harder and gotten to where I am today. As the saying goes, maybe it is for the greater good.
So lighta eduthuko, life's like that!
However, I am not sure if you have taken a moment to reflect upon such situations from your past. The other day, I was doing a mundane job that we usually get grads and analysts to do. Since I didn't have any juniors at my disposal, I thought I might as well do it and get it out of the way. As I was doing it, it opened a floodgate of memories- both good and bad.
To cut a long story short my first task was a disaster of sorts. Apparently the senior worked late night to complete the job and the label sort of stuck with me. Even when I did manage to do a good job afterwards, it was always this first mess up that I did that was in people's minds. After trying hard to prove that I can rise above their expectations, I came to two realizations a) first impressions are very important, you might be making one and you could be clueless about it, and b) office grapevine will always be abuzz with a person's epic fails than their success stories. I decided to move to another team to breakaway from these judgments. In less than a year into the new team, I worked on a similar job for another client, and got an appreciation e-mail from a senior manager from abroad- for the timely delivery and the precision of the work. Not only did I do it by myself, I managed a staff under me and got appreciated for the good work from senior manager who has never appreciated anyone in my office before.
The reason I am recounting both these incidents here is because I am often reminded of the former than the latter. I cringe at the embarrassment and the lack of confidence I suffered because of it for over a year. I don't even think my old team members would remember this incident. All I faced was a minor set back. In fact things couldn't have worked better for me, yet I tend to replay this incident in my mind and over analyse it. It is not only me, but a lot of people tend to see their problems with a myopic eye. Some people just wonder, some people vent their frustrations to their closed ones, while others just whine and complain about why such things happen only to them.
To all of you who are like me, and tend to see yourself as a victim of your circumstances, relax! we have been through much worse and gotten past that. Count your blessings, appreciate yourself more for your accomplishments. Sure, we would have had our share of goof-ups, but what is life without making mistakes? Probably if I didn't mess up that first task, I wouldn't have worked harder and gotten to where I am today. As the saying goes, maybe it is for the greater good.
So lighta eduthuko, life's like that!
