Thought – The Lazy Employee

Fill’em Up

A wise man said that you should find a work as…

Something you enjoy doing
That you can make a living from
That you are passionate about
That you are fulfilled.

One of the professionals shared that with the students at a career professional speed dating event hosted by HCOP (Health Career Opportunity Program), a program that introduces health careers to high school and college students. It gives a chance for students to explore health careers beyond nursing, and medicine. (I am product of the program) I was supposedly not only share about my career, but also trying to influence them to consider medical technology. I didn’t do that. I was more interested what they want to become but more importantly why they want to become.

Their answers have so full of passion that they had a light their eyes and a fire in their bellies. Their determination to get where they are going gave me a sense that the future of health care is in good hands. The beautiful thing about this was this event was only for college students between the ages of 18 to 28. It is never too late to start trying to find what you want to do in life.

I heard the wise man quote from one of the professionals there, and what is said is pretty true. The first two is a given, its something that you must be enjoy doing and you can make a living from. If its something that you don’t enjoy doing and you end up making you money, then you’ll going to have a bad time. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect utopia, so everything comes at a cost.You need to make something to barter for things you can’t make, a general rule of supply and demand.

The last two things are some things that people who are searching, or in a career that they are missing. I’ll explain passion and finding it in a different post, but for now I used passion is having strong emotional feeling about it, that you want to talk about it and share about it. You can be happy about something, but to have also passion, would mean that you want to share it, and basically do more about it. Take for example, a passion for cooking, could mean sharing recipes or developing recipes, while being happy cooking would mean enjoying doing it.

What got me the most of the wise man quote was the fact that the career has to have some type of fulfillment. Through my course of living, I haven’t heard an adult said that to me (that also could mean that I haven’t met a wise man). Fulfillment or a sense of sanctification is hard to come by, because a person has to determine what’s that particular point. Its like defining a limit, but we are told that there is no limit to our potential. I can’t help to think that a lot of us interpreted wrong, wanting more because we can go further, and not wanting to be satisfied. That’s one aspect of an lazy employee, to only produce only whats needed and not to do more than necessary. We waste time and effort if we spent time worrying or over preparing for something. Over abundance or over production is a waste.

Satisfaction in life is hard to define because the potential that there is to life is great. A CEO could be working at the top and live life not satisfied and unhappy. A Casanova could date many people, and because his or her satisfactions can’t find that significant other or happiness. This unhappiness that you may have it because your not satisfied in life. It may be because your level of satisfaction is way to high or you don’t know what it is there to satisfy you. It’s like eating at a buffet. You eat to get full and you hunger is sated but then you see that one dessert. Your too full, but because you can’t eat a single bite you are sad, and at the same time, you eat that, your body could be hurting or you had a chance to satisfy your self earlier and not later.

In any case, satisfaction can be difficult to determine what it is and when it is met unless we explore it. Meaning that we should try everything, but in small amounts, early, to see what we like. That way we can concentrate on it and be happy later on.

Do you know what satisfies you in life? If you don’t, what are you trying to do about it?

Post Script: In it’s on ironic sense of things, I feel this topic of satisfaction/fulfillment hasn’t be wrenched out more. I’ll write more at a later time.

1.01^356

“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.”

― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

I was scrolling somewhere on the internet when I came across this 1.01^356 with the caption “the most motivated thing”. To be honest, I didn’t get at first because it’s numbers that represented some type of data for me. I mean 1.01^356, if calculated out is 34.55. But looking at the numbers closely, there is more significance. 356 represented the days in a year, while 1.01 might be harder to understand but converting it to a percentage, it becomes more understandable as 101%. Thus if we interpret doing the same thing in a day, meaning no improvement or diminishing of self, then we are doing 100%. Statistically speaking, if we improve ourself by 1% each day, by compound interest, we have the potential to improve our self by 34.55%.

To understanding it a bit better, if we start at $1000, and we wanted to save 1% each day. The first day would be $10. The next day, you add another 1%, which makes it $10.10. The 10 cent difference seems small at first, but to think, you added $1020.10 to your savings. In 10 days, you have added 104.62 to your bank account.

Applying it to yourself, studying 1% a day, exercise 1% each day, improving yourself a day becomes much more manageable. Say for example, climbing a mountain seems daunting because the sheer enormity of it, but those who venture into mountain Everest doesn’t do that in one day. (Unless they cheat and take a helicopter ride to the top). It goes to the old adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.

This in itself does become seem a little difficult because perception of the world ask us to be the top of the game now. Meaning the world doesn’t want you to have patience for you to achieve greatness. To “cheat” this ideology is to quickly rise the top, quit the work and find something easier. Which sounds like what I am doing, but not in its entirety. I honestly believe there is nothing to avoid the work but as a lazy employee, I tend to find ways to make it easier. That’s when working effective, efficient, and well lazy makes the difficult work not that hard.

With that being said, that work is needed, and sometimes it might take long, but there is time for it. Just need to change the perception that the world needs you to rush. The world actually, has it time and place for you to go along your pace. “You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” – Warren Buffett.

How are you moving forward? What’s taking you there?

Confession

A confession from a Millennial

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– George Santayana

I have a confession to make. I am an American Millennial. There I said it, I am a millennial, generation Y. A late product of the generation baby boomer era. A generation that went through several presidential terms, that saw the rebellion of generation X, and are entering an environment that the baby boomers left for us.

We are the generation that saw Twin Towers fall, and thus continuing the debate of what is right, wrong, and American. We are the generation that saw the birth of the internet, along the different social networks that came with it. The change of economy and society became swifter, stronger, and scarier. We became the generation that all our parents told us that the future we are currently living was in our hands. We are the generation of the Millennial.

As I sit in front of my computer, drinking my coffee with all it additives, a creation of a need to feel different but also conforming to societies ways, I turn 31. At this age, some say I accomplish a lot. I hold a position of authority, that so much of my generation seek. I am at a stable and settled point in my life. But being at the top I noticed something about my generation in the professional field.

Some of the people in this generation are still struggling, be it getting to the top, or just surviving daily against the travesties of life. So, what causes the struggle? Lack of opportunities? experience? monies? Is it all based on luck or hard work and determination? Many factors contribute this. I got through some obstacles use some strategic tactics and some risky gambling.

At the same time, there are managers, like myself, who are working with this generation, the previous, & future generations. Like parenting, there is no hard wire written book on how we should we be approaching managing much more working with these generations. Looking at the generation as a whole we can make some generalize statements, at the same time, each individual is different bringing their own little story of how and more importantly why they got where they are.

That what I feel is important, hearing everyone’s stories. So everybody, what’s your story?