Time for some Sunday Reflections on a Monday
Music to listen to: I Got Mine by The Black Keys
If I ever started a band, it would probably start out sounding like this and that’s not an insult. These guys are great.
This weekend was interesting and gave me some views on what’s going on in my life.
Friday afternoon: I was at work when my supervisor asked me to come into the office to discuss my time so far at the job. Its been nearly three months at the job and I have an evaluation coming up at the end of December so this was a gage of what’s going on. It was a good conversation and some constructive criticisms were made towards me about how to improve as a worker.
When you receive criticism at work, I believe you go through stages, similar to the stages of death. First, you have the Listening stage. You hear everything that your supervisor is saying, good or bad, and you try to remember EVERY single word that he or she says so that when you get to the next stages, you will know exactly what to reference to.
The next stage is the First Response stage. You can either dispute the critiques in the meeting or you can nod your head in agreement with the supervisor. This is important. Some supervisors want you to listen and take your analysis like a trooper and accept it. Some will like you to respond right there and get some dialogue going. There may even be a small pact that wants you to get mad and show some emotion. I tend to have minimal activity in this stage.
Next stage is Angry Analysis. No matter what your supervisor said, you’re going to not have a good analysis of it. If he said that you are lazy, you’re going to think that you give your best effort. If he says that you look like you’re having too much fun and lack focus, you’re going to want to show him that you’re motivated to do a good job and take your work seriously. If he says that you’re not friendly and surly, you’re response is that you aren’t at your job to make friends, that you’re there to get a job done. I always have an angry analysis of my evaluations and its lasts a day or two, at least. I was like this all the way to Sunday for this one.
The next to final stage is Acceptance. In the stages of Death, this is the last step but I’m not dead so there is still more work to be done. Your anger of the analysis subsides and you go back to the Listening stage and remind yourself of exactly your supervisor said. That’s why its important to be a good listener. You hear his words and you take the positives and acknowledge the negatives. You realize that you can improve at your job in some way and you have to be a better employee.
The final step is Action. As long as your First Response wasn’t negative, you go back to your job the next day and improve on your work. We all go through these stages and sometimes it gets to the point where the Angry Analysis doesn’t subside and you look for a new place to work. Sometimes your First Response is so bad that your employer sees this working relationship as unsalvageable and decides to fire you. I’ve been there.
The older you get however, you learn. I’ve been told that I’m too happy, too serious, look like I’m having too much fun, don’t look happy working, don’t talk enough, talk too much, etc.
In the end, you have to be yourself and if that isn’t good enough, then its time to move on. Fortunately for my current situation, this isn’t an issue. Myself is good enough.
Friday night: I had a free night and was invited to a old college friend’s “ghetto” wine party and I was nervous.
I’ve written in the past about being nervous interacting with people in my past, the whole “I was one type of person in the past that I’m not completely proud of but I’m a new person now and want to be seen as that but will never be because you know me from the past” thing.
So I drove all the way out to my friend’s house and feared even walking in the door, it was that bad. I walk into strangers’ houses often and interact with people I don’t know on a daily basis, but this stuff gets me worried for some reason.
I get the nerve to walk in the door and see some friends I haven’t talked to in years. It was great. I sampled some cheap wine…
A quick note about that. I enjoy alcohol of all types accept wine. Maybe it’s the concept of wine being a sophisticated beverage and I don’t have the time or desire to delve into it. I know what types of beers I like and liquors I enjoy. I know to avoid tequila at all costs, things like that for my personal usage. However for wine, I don’t have that knowledge.
For the party, each guest was supposed to bring a bottle of wine that cost less than $10. I thought that this would be impossible. However, I walked into the package store and there was wine as cheap as $5 per bottle. Forgive my ignorance but I had no idea.
Also, I finally understand why you may see people less fortunate in their lot in life drinking wine, its cheap. That’s why abusers of wine are called winos, which, and I swear I’m not making this up, I never put that concept together until driving to the party on Saturday.
I’m sure Vanderbilt and Belmont are proud that I have degrees from those institutes.
So the party was fun and be careful with the wine. It sneaks up on you if you know what I’m saying.
Saturday night: I was called back into duty to help assist the game operations for Belmont basketball and it was a fun reminder of what I spent two years doing.
After finishing grad school, I took the summer off from working any sporting events because I was burnt out. When you spend three to four days a week for two years working sporting events while working a full-time job and going to grad school full-time as well, that will do it to you. I’ve worked events as early as 8 a.m. and as late as midnight. Any sports info director can tell you about the hours and how rough they are.
But, I love the games. That’s why most of us work in sports, its for the games and seeing the competition.
I went to several Belmont athletic events in the fall, especially soccer and volleyball as a fan and that was good. Actually going to a game to see the sport and not working on the game operations was different but a good view of what was happening. However, I still have the itch to work at games which I get to do for Vanderbilt and for Belmont last Saturday.
It was good to see people that I spent a large amount of time with in the past back in the same positions on Saturday.
While I miss working in college athletics in a media relations position, I don’t miss the hours, that’s a fact. But interacting with the coaches, the athletes, having a close view of the games, controlling the operations, those things I miss every single day.
Sunday: Took care of the laundry and did something that I haven’t done in about 15 years.
I read a full edition of a copy of the National Geographic magazine.
For some reason, there was a copy of the magazine on a machine and I read the whole thing. It was truly fascinating.
There were great, great pictures of nature that made me appreciate the beauty of this earth. I read a unique article about the mummification of animals in Egypt. There was a story about the changes to the Syrian society and how they are trying to become more modernized. I read an article about the expansion of electric cars and the potential of them becoming a staple in America in about 20 years.
I read the whole thing and didn’t want to leave the laundry.
I felt like I was truly learning something at that moment. I spend so much time listening to my music and focusing on sports that I forget about other aspects of our lives. The pictures made me think about nature. The article on Egypt made me think about history. The Syrian article made me think about politics. The electric cars article made me think about the environment.
I need to do this more often. I wanted to take the magazine home and enjoy it some more but that would violate the code of reading materials in a public place. If it isn’t yours, don’t take it. Second, hopefully someone else came upon it and found enjoyment in it as well.
I did take the subscription card from the inside and plan to enjoy more issues in the future.
Music to listen to: I Got Mine by The Black Keys
If I ever started a band, it would probably start out sounding like this and that’s not an insult. These guys are great.
This weekend was interesting and gave me some views on what’s going on in my life.
Friday afternoon: I was at work when my supervisor asked me to come into the office to discuss my time so far at the job. Its been nearly three months at the job and I have an evaluation coming up at the end of December so this was a gage of what’s going on. It was a good conversation and some constructive criticisms were made towards me about how to improve as a worker.
When you receive criticism at work, I believe you go through stages, similar to the stages of death. First, you have the Listening stage. You hear everything that your supervisor is saying, good or bad, and you try to remember EVERY single word that he or she says so that when you get to the next stages, you will know exactly what to reference to.
The next stage is the First Response stage. You can either dispute the critiques in the meeting or you can nod your head in agreement with the supervisor. This is important. Some supervisors want you to listen and take your analysis like a trooper and accept it. Some will like you to respond right there and get some dialogue going. There may even be a small pact that wants you to get mad and show some emotion. I tend to have minimal activity in this stage.
Next stage is Angry Analysis. No matter what your supervisor said, you’re going to not have a good analysis of it. If he said that you are lazy, you’re going to think that you give your best effort. If he says that you look like you’re having too much fun and lack focus, you’re going to want to show him that you’re motivated to do a good job and take your work seriously. If he says that you’re not friendly and surly, you’re response is that you aren’t at your job to make friends, that you’re there to get a job done. I always have an angry analysis of my evaluations and its lasts a day or two, at least. I was like this all the way to Sunday for this one.
The next to final stage is Acceptance. In the stages of Death, this is the last step but I’m not dead so there is still more work to be done. Your anger of the analysis subsides and you go back to the Listening stage and remind yourself of exactly your supervisor said. That’s why its important to be a good listener. You hear his words and you take the positives and acknowledge the negatives. You realize that you can improve at your job in some way and you have to be a better employee.
The final step is Action. As long as your First Response wasn’t negative, you go back to your job the next day and improve on your work. We all go through these stages and sometimes it gets to the point where the Angry Analysis doesn’t subside and you look for a new place to work. Sometimes your First Response is so bad that your employer sees this working relationship as unsalvageable and decides to fire you. I’ve been there.
The older you get however, you learn. I’ve been told that I’m too happy, too serious, look like I’m having too much fun, don’t look happy working, don’t talk enough, talk too much, etc.
In the end, you have to be yourself and if that isn’t good enough, then its time to move on. Fortunately for my current situation, this isn’t an issue. Myself is good enough.
Friday night: I had a free night and was invited to a old college friend’s “ghetto” wine party and I was nervous.
I’ve written in the past about being nervous interacting with people in my past, the whole “I was one type of person in the past that I’m not completely proud of but I’m a new person now and want to be seen as that but will never be because you know me from the past” thing.
So I drove all the way out to my friend’s house and feared even walking in the door, it was that bad. I walk into strangers’ houses often and interact with people I don’t know on a daily basis, but this stuff gets me worried for some reason.
I get the nerve to walk in the door and see some friends I haven’t talked to in years. It was great. I sampled some cheap wine…
A quick note about that. I enjoy alcohol of all types accept wine. Maybe it’s the concept of wine being a sophisticated beverage and I don’t have the time or desire to delve into it. I know what types of beers I like and liquors I enjoy. I know to avoid tequila at all costs, things like that for my personal usage. However for wine, I don’t have that knowledge.
For the party, each guest was supposed to bring a bottle of wine that cost less than $10. I thought that this would be impossible. However, I walked into the package store and there was wine as cheap as $5 per bottle. Forgive my ignorance but I had no idea.
Also, I finally understand why you may see people less fortunate in their lot in life drinking wine, its cheap. That’s why abusers of wine are called winos, which, and I swear I’m not making this up, I never put that concept together until driving to the party on Saturday.
I’m sure Vanderbilt and Belmont are proud that I have degrees from those institutes.
So the party was fun and be careful with the wine. It sneaks up on you if you know what I’m saying.
Saturday night: I was called back into duty to help assist the game operations for Belmont basketball and it was a fun reminder of what I spent two years doing.
After finishing grad school, I took the summer off from working any sporting events because I was burnt out. When you spend three to four days a week for two years working sporting events while working a full-time job and going to grad school full-time as well, that will do it to you. I’ve worked events as early as 8 a.m. and as late as midnight. Any sports info director can tell you about the hours and how rough they are.
But, I love the games. That’s why most of us work in sports, its for the games and seeing the competition.
I went to several Belmont athletic events in the fall, especially soccer and volleyball as a fan and that was good. Actually going to a game to see the sport and not working on the game operations was different but a good view of what was happening. However, I still have the itch to work at games which I get to do for Vanderbilt and for Belmont last Saturday.
It was good to see people that I spent a large amount of time with in the past back in the same positions on Saturday.
While I miss working in college athletics in a media relations position, I don’t miss the hours, that’s a fact. But interacting with the coaches, the athletes, having a close view of the games, controlling the operations, those things I miss every single day.
Sunday: Took care of the laundry and did something that I haven’t done in about 15 years.
I read a full edition of a copy of the National Geographic magazine.
For some reason, there was a copy of the magazine on a machine and I read the whole thing. It was truly fascinating.
There were great, great pictures of nature that made me appreciate the beauty of this earth. I read a unique article about the mummification of animals in Egypt. There was a story about the changes to the Syrian society and how they are trying to become more modernized. I read an article about the expansion of electric cars and the potential of them becoming a staple in America in about 20 years.
I read the whole thing and didn’t want to leave the laundry.
I felt like I was truly learning something at that moment. I spend so much time listening to my music and focusing on sports that I forget about other aspects of our lives. The pictures made me think about nature. The article on Egypt made me think about history. The Syrian article made me think about politics. The electric cars article made me think about the environment.
I need to do this more often. I wanted to take the magazine home and enjoy it some more but that would violate the code of reading materials in a public place. If it isn’t yours, don’t take it. Second, hopefully someone else came upon it and found enjoyment in it as well.
I did take the subscription card from the inside and plan to enjoy more issues in the future.
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