When At Work
Some lessons I’ve learned so far after working full-time for about eight months. Of course, there are many more lessons to go, but for a start, let me get some things straight.
#1. It’s good to have an ambition. It is what drives us and keeps us going in our path to success. But ambitions can never be fulfilled without the virtue few possess – PATIENCE. Hence, if you want to reach the top, then it will take quite a bit of time. But on the other hand, if you take too long, it’s time to change direction.
#2. To be ignorant or indifferent is useful at times, especially when dealing with gossips and rumours at work. Females are very well known for their gossipy habits as well as their bitching-around-attitude. If you happen to be working around females, just try to be friendly and at the same time, apathetic about their comments. Be yourself and do what your boss tells you to do. In time, they would just probably shut up and get on with life. Just remember, rumours are falsehoods and would only die out if you continue to bear the standard of truth, and carry a sense of integrity at work. I would not be surprised if men bitch around too. If you are a man, they are probably jealous (on the contrary, if you are a woman, you are probably ugly). Ignore their gossips and do what you are told to do. It may affect your “360-degrees” appraisal a little with regard to ‘getting along’ with your colleagues, but at the end of the day, the person you are suppose to please is your boss.
#3. Opportunities are not for free. They are earned. Just when we have the ambition and the right attitude in doing our job well, we also need time to buy opportunities. Yet, these goodies do not come as and when they like, but like respect, they are earned if you stay long enough in that job without losing sight of your passion/vision.
#4. The risk of not getting back the job you’ve rejected is definitely higher than losing your job. No employer would ever re-employ someone who once worked with him/her, quits, and then ask to return as a prodigal worker – unless one is REALLY good and in demand, which is rarely the case. It’s okay to job-hop for good reasons (i.e. the job is not your cup of tea, or some big troubling issues regarding backstabbing etc). However, it is generally not a good idea to leave just because you don’t get promoted, or recognised as a distinct employee of the month. Within a year and you expect that to happen? This is impossible! This is also impractically stupid! To make such great expectations of your performance at the very first year of your career is like making fairy tales out of toilet paper. Too impossible. Certainly, not a calculated risk at all.
It is certainly a challenge for me at the very first year of my career. This is the period when I am quite vulnerable to non-sense like gossips, rumours, incorrect judgments, cliques, and other challenges like learning how to make proper presentations. But, I am not giving up hope on myself. I am quite assured that, in this stable job I’ve found, opportunities will come in time, if I do pass the test of patience. I know I have plenty to learn from my seniors, and I do not care what others think of me now, other than what my boss thinks of me. For me, I serve only one boss, and I would not change my mind with regard to the boss I am serving, unless he changes his. Loyalty is no longer a virtue in pragmatic Singapore. Yet, without loyalty, it is impossible to please your superior, much less to lead your subordinates to the path of success in whatever projects you are in charge of. For a disloyal person who betrays his master by being a de facto, will most promptly be executed by his new found master. The fact is this: Quit your job and your life will never be the same again.
