Adaptability and flexibility…positive
traits employers laud about and look for particularly in managers.
How many times I have sat across from prospective employees
discussing their scores on these 2 traits from the personality
profiling tests they had to do. And these tie up with organizational
abilities, creativity, stress management and a few other factors. It
was interesting to hear how some people were not innately aggressive
but had to be to adapt to certain situations, how being too flexible
makes them jack of all trades and precludes career advancement, and
so on.
Right….6 weeks into my new management
role and I‘m checking my scores. I’ve had to drop any OCD about
waking up at 5.05am (time I was born) every day, finishing my
exercise before 8.00 am, about changing the bedsheets on Mondays,
even about washing my hair every fourth day. I got up with a headache
this morning and just had to have some fresh air. So after my mocha
and elimination ritual, I walked around the block but just for 15
minutes so as to catch Ah Kiong, the fish monger on the van, who I
had called earlier to come over with potatoes and prawns. Then I need
to be back to make breakfast, hang out the clothes so they can be dry
in time for the maid to do the ironing later. Need to make some calls
after people have checked into their office. Then prince Alman will
wake up for his bottle….yes, it is 2 weeks now before mummy goes
back to work and baby has to be trained on the bottle. Cikmina needs
a bath too since she is coming very early today. What does mummy want
for lunch now….she won’t have rice and lauk that’s already
stocked up in the freezer (my Sunday maid cum cook takes care of
that)…as she is on a weight loss diet that also churns good milk
for Alman. And I have to finish that company profile for my client
before 3 pm and emails to check and emails to reply…..
Yes, I made it to the finishing
line(s)…..never mind the slight delays…and my headache’s gone!
Adrenaline rush over and over, but I’m none the worse for it. Maybe
being on call for the hugs and jigs with Alman, and diaper changing,
serves as a destresser while rushing between goal posts….no harm
shifting them sometimes. Priorities need to be adjusted too. The
plants used to be my babies to attend to first thing in the morning
but now more often than not, they have to fit in sometime later. I
make it up to them during the weekends when Alman’s family sleeps
in late and Alman gets to enjoy full breastfeeding again. So I have
to bend my own rules and not kill myself to empty the ‘to do’ box
daily. Hairwash can wait another day or two and meantime bundle hair
up, get nice bands and clips (add to ‘to do’ list).The daily
newspapers carry more crime stories anyway so just flipping through
them is sufficient and sometimes I can even skip them altogether. As
for my favourite TV series, I can record and watch them whenever.
There is actually an immense sense of
liberation when you let go of some things that are actually not very
important any more in your life…just like weeding old plants, old
receipts, unused clothes…and make room for new ones.
As for goals, you may well change them
as you review your priorities and find new perspectives. Even
experience paradigm shifts. Though my big dreams remain, I find
myself creating and focusing on many new goals that are more
realistic and achievable in a shorter time frame. Even catching up
with friends becomes a new challenge that is so gratifying when
accomplished. And there is nothing wrong with being a jack of all
trades as long as you have a passion in each of the trades and
perform them with sincerity.
This reminds me of a job interview I
attended in 1996. It was for an HOD position in a newspaper company.
I was then a university librarian, a unit head with just 2 executives
under my position. This job I was applying for would have to replace
an old guard, revamp the system and manage some 40 unionised staff.
The head of the interview panel did not ask me about my management
style or anything of the kind. Instead, he said “you are managing a
husband,3 children and a home. I’m sure you can handle the job and
the old guard”. I didn’t quite fathom the depth of his statement
then, but later realized how wise this man was. He was Datuk A. Kadir
Jasin.
“Allow yourself to yield, and
you can stay centred.
Allow yourself to bend, and
you will stay straight.
Allow yourself to be empty, and
you’ll get filled up.
Allow yourself to be exhausted, and
You’ll be renewed.”
The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu
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