{"id":5683,"date":"2010-12-28T10:52:19","date_gmt":"2010-12-28T17:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5683"},"modified":"2010-12-28T10:52:19","modified_gmt":"2010-12-28T17:52:19","slug":"ten-lessons-countdown-10-9-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=5683","title":{"rendered":"Ten Lessons Countdown – 10, 9, 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The countdown begins... 10,9,8 - courtesy 'randomonious'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/strong>Career Lessons 10, 9, 8 \u2013 Vacation, Balance and Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I pointed out in my earlier blog, we will walk through my top 10 career lessons of the last decade.\u00a0 Here\u2019s today\u2019s list:<\/p>\n

# 10 Take your vacation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early in the decade, I skimped on taking vacation! I can\u2019t even believe I did that \u2013 but, it is true.\u00a0 \u00a0There were even times when I worked on Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.\u00a0 It was one of those things that felt right at the time \u2013 but, in retrospect, I would not do this again. \u00a0I had taken on a new leadership role, and thought I was indispensible to the team.\u00a0 \u00a0It was definitely having a detrimental effect on my family \u2013 as we were not able to plan any extended trips.\u00a0 In addition, I had maxed out my vacation days and was losing my paid time off \u2013 an important company benefit.<\/p>\n

Well, one New Year\u2019s resolution \u2013 about 8 years ago \u2013 I changed all that.\u00a0 \u00a0I decided to take vacations \u2013 weeks and days at a time.\u00a0 Nothing fell apart at work, I got to spend more time with my family and my team became more self-sufficient.<\/p>\n

\u00a0My lesson learned?\u00a0 Everyone is totally dispensable at work.\u00a0 \u00a0It was certainly humbling to realize that.\u00a0 Taking a vacation is absolutely critical to recharge, reconnect with family and friends and be more effective in your job.\u00a0 So, go for it!<\/p>\n

# 9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Keep \u00a0a balanced outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n

All the books say that when things go wrong, keep your cool.\u00a0 Well, it easier said than done.\u00a0 Certainly, 10 years ago, when I was a manager of a team of mostly young college grads, \u00a0in a very fast paced environment, lots of things were going wrong.\u00a0 There were regular \u201ccrisis de jour\u201d: \u00a0missed deadlines,\u00a0 conflicts, \u00a0doors slamming, words flaming, \u00a0all the things you can imagine going wrong. \u00a0\u00a0I took it all very personally and worked very hard through each and every issue.\u00a0 It is amazing that I did not have a heart attack and just keel over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the midst of all this, I went to visit my brother \u2013 who is a doctor.\u00a0 As we were driving to his home from the airport, \u00a0he said one of his patients had passed away \u2013 and he had had a really rough day.\u00a0 At that instant, my work problems were put into perspective.\u00a0 After all, in my line of work, people seldom died from\u00a0lack of proper management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, whenever I was confronted with the \u201ccrisis du jour\u201d –\u00a0 I mentally asked myself \u2018is anyone\u2019s life in danger?\u2019 \u00a0The answer was almost always no.\u00a0 That realization put things in a different light.\u00a0 To this day, this has helped \u00a0me keep my cool and balance in dealing with the chaotic environment in which we all work.<\/p>\n

# 8\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Be prepared for change<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are all aware of the fast pace of change in our work environments. \u00a0Nothing is guaranteed.\u00a0 New technologies, new processes, new organizations, restructuring, layoffs, lost opportunities \u2013 the list is endless with the myriad of changes we have all lived through over the last decade.\u00a0 The fact is that about 10 years ago, many of us, including me, were looking for stability and a steady reasonably predictable work environment.\u00a0 However, the pace of change simply seemed to increase with each year.\u00a0\u00a0 Initially, I resisted.\u00a0 Like all of us, I realized that was futile \u2013 \u2018change was the new black\u2019.\u00a0 It was in vogue and it is something we all needed to fashion into our work lifestyles.<\/p>\n

I cannot say I am fully comfortable with the rate of change.\u00a0 I somehow always feel like I am behind and not fully aware of what is going on.\u00a0 The rate of change sometimes feels out of control.\u00a0 However, I do realize that it is here to stay, and I have become used to it \u2013 and expect it.\u00a0 So, when I am planning any project, I factor change into my plans.\u00a0 I expect my initial assumptions to change, the budget to change, the people to change, the requirements to change.\u00a0 This expectation for change has allowed me to \u2018just deal with it\u2019. \u00a0\u00a0So, while I have not tamed change, or reduced its effects, I can simply deal with it more effectively now than I did 10 years ago.\u00a0 That is probably a good thing \u2013 because if history proves right, our next decade will have even more surprising changes for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Career Lessons 10, 9, 8 \u2013 Vacation, Balance and Change As I pointed out in my earlier blog, we will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1494,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,1,847],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goals","category-priorities-2","category-time-management","category-miscellaneous","category-self-leadership"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}