There are 1440 minutes in a day. How do you arrange your minutes throughout the day to accomplish your goals?
There are 1440 minutes in a day. How do you arrange your minutes throughout the day to accomplish your goals?
I think it went well. It felt a bit weird going back to a new job in my former branch, but it somehow felt like I was heading home. Home with data again. Home with SAS and SQL scripts everywhere and these intellectual compositions produce reports other people use to run the province, country, and humanity. The downside is that it comes with a huge workload and more readings of boring manuals. The fun part is that I get to work with lots of awesome people. It was a good week!
Things are going pretty well at home. Anya and I are really digging our new neighbourhood. Serena is liking her day care, and she’s more used to spending Wednesdays with Nainai. Griffin laughs at my silly faces when I’m home from work. The time away from my family makes me want to hold them closer.
Another email reminder from the library at work. It said the Fierce Conversations book by Susan Scott is due in three days. I’ve already renewed the book twice. I’m only half way done reading it. Between reading work material and academic papers for school, reading for pleasure is not easy. This book has been meaningful, and I have been reading it on the bus. However, there are only so many bus rides I take during the week. Since I might be taking a course called Fierce Conversations in April, I’ve decided to return the book tomorrow. I want to keep something from the book, so here is a collection of all the “refreshers” at the end of each chapter/principle in Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott:
Principle 1: Master the courage to interrogate reality
Principle 2: Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real
Principle 3: Be here, prepared to be nowhere else
Principle 4: Tackle your toughest challenge today
Principle 5: Obey your instincts
Principle 6: Take responsibility for your emotional wake
Principle 7: Let silence do the heavy lifting
I’ve taken the prerequisite, Coaching Approach to Conversations, for the Fierce Conversations course. Now knowing the seven principles, I can’t wait for the two-day workshop and the exercises using these seven principles in April.
Heard a really good podcast on the bus today. It’s put up by the HBR IdeaCast. The topic is on how to be less reactive and more proactive. Thought this is worthwhile listening again later.
http://tunein.com/radio/HBR-IdeaCast-p329717/
I finished reading The One Minute Manager by Kenneth and Spencer today. It was a really fun read. I read the whole book during transit on the bus to and from work. I liked how the book had a storyline. The authors used a young man seeking for advice on how to be an effective manager. He looked everywhere and interviewed many people, but he was not satisfied with his findings. Then he was introduced to the One Minute Manager. The One Minute Manager introduced the young man to the three secrets of being an effective manager: one minute goals, one minute praisings, and one minute reprimands. Each secret offers tips of managing and working with people. The book was published in 1981, but all three secrets can still be applied today in workplaces.
Here are some of the highlights that stood out to me:
Anya told me today that I need to focus on writing more thesis and less blogging. There goes my hope to record my daily thoughts in 2015… She had a point there, however. Sacrifices do need to be made. I’ve got lots to work on for my thesis.
I attended my Wednesdays Toastmasters club meeting at noon today. I was very rusty! The last Toastmasters meeting I went to was over a year ago. This year, I’ll be doing more public speaking. I have a feeling that my job will engage me with more facilitation in meetings and presentation of my branch products to other Ministry branches and divisions. Becoming a better communicator is one of my three goals this year. I’m hoping to improve through practice.