All posts tagged Work

Digging Yourself Out of A Hole

by jaywalk1 on September 14, 2009 in Thoughts, Work with No comments

dig…what happens when you don’t plan effectively. Lesson Learned.

Intern Coordinator Vows

by jaywalk1 on September 8, 2009 in Gen Y, Professional Development, Public Relations, Thoughts, Work with 1 Comment

The Interns are in the office for their first day of orientation and I can see thehand bible hungry look in the eyes of several colleagues who can’t wait to spread the work load wealth around.

Admittedly, I can’t wait either, but before I transform into the Duke of Delegation, I’m going to take a few personal vows for the semester. Feel free to adopt a few of them yourself.

  1. I promise to explain to my intern not only the task at hand but also the greater context.
  2. ** I promise to always say Thank You.
  3. I promise to resist the urge give my intern a project JUST because I don’t feel like doing it.
  4. I promise to remember what it was like to be an intern.
  5. ** I promise to engage my intern in at least one higher-level conversation about their career goals and greater mission in life.
  6. I promise to provide my intern with regular feedback.
  7. I promise to take my intern out for coffee or lunch just because.
  8. I promise to hold my intern accountable and not just gloss over mistakes because they are an intern.
  9. I promise to keep professional development in mind and teach my intern something valuable.
  10. **I promise to make an effort to make my intern’s experience BETTER than my own.

60 hour work weeks: Gimme More!

by jaywalk1 on May 16, 2009 in Gen Y, PR, Thoughts, Work with 1 Comment

No sarcasm.  No play on words. No complaints.

60 hour work weeks is the phrase which best describes my May. I didn’t plan it this way (don’t think anyone ever does), but the projects all hit at the same time and I wanted rock it, kill it, crush it, pwn it, work it, make it, do it (this is where you sing “make us harder, better, faster…). 

Seriously though, while many of you work much longer days and nights, I’m not used to running to the metro to catch the last train to Virginia…at least not because I was working all day in the office.  

spiral-clockWith the exception of a few essentials (eating, showering, Pandora, reading the express paper), everything non work related suffered during these last couple weeks. I neglected this blog, hadn’t spoken to family and friends, and let the DVR, email inbox and Google reader get out of control. BRACE YOURSELF: I even took a temporary leave of absence from twitter. 

Even though I my general routine was upset a bit, I wasn’t miserable. Those late night metro rides gave me quiet time to ponder all sorts of things: “Why am I working so hard?” “Should I be working so hard?” “Is this what the next few years of my life has to offer?” “Is it worth it?” “If I’m gonna work this hard, maybe I should be doing it for myself..” When others were leaving and uttering those phrases we all hate to hear (“Are you still here?” “Go home” “I hope you’re not staying too late again!”), I just smiled and kept cranking because they were great projects and I wanted to crush them. 

It wasn’t until after the end of the second week and a road trip to get this little guy that I arrived at the major conclusion of the month. I was hanging out with my best friend and he asked “so, you think you’ll stay there for a while?” I thought about it for a second and said “I don’t know.”

Probably not the answer you were anticipating, but it’s that lack of certainty that will probably keep me there for years to come.  As long as the projects remain interesting and I continue to meet co-workers with amazing experiences and life stories, I’ll continue to say gimme more!

Grad School: The itch for learning

by jaywalk1 on March 29, 2009 in Gen Y, Thoughts, Work with 6 Comments

5pm Thursday, normally the time for evaluation: 

  • Will I be ready to leave work at 6pm? 
  • Will I need to stay a little late? 
  • Is there a happy hour or two to pass through? 
  • What can I do to be the most productive in what’s left of today’s cubicle time?

This Thursday was a little different in that I caught a tweet about Penelope Trunk’s podcast Career Considerations and decided to listen in around 330 or 4. In that episode, she was discussing a topic that I’ve been interested in for some time, whether or not it was worth it to get an MBA.

There is a lot of talk online about whether or not it’s smart to get an MBA in this economy, whether or not entrepreneurs need an MBA and whether or not people are getting MBAs for the right reasons (fear of or lack of career success, so automatic response is returning to school).

In the end, I think one of Penelope’s best arguments for not getting an MBA is that you come out of the other side with thousands of dollars in debt. That’s one argument you can’t dispute, but I have a rival feeling, the itch for learning.  

While I was certainly not your 3.94 GPA student, I enjoyed college, learning in a group environment, so I was very excited when a former professor of mine extended an invitation to sit in on his class that night. A guy who many many would think of as a highly controversial lobbyist, in a Thank You For Smoking kind of way, was scheduled to speak. I couldn’t miss that, so I wrapped things up at 630pm, headed down to GW and tried to recreate the GW college experience I was beginning to miss. 

  • Starbucks. Check. 
  • Notepad. Check. 
  • Hatchet (Student Newspaper). Check.

I was missing my macbook and GW sweatshirt, but I figured that I’d survive.

wordl

Unfortunately, the speaker cancelled because of client issues, but I decided to stay for the lecture anyway. I was quickly reminded of why I enjoyed this class so much. In the 2 hrs spent discussing issues and image management, the professor touched on and included supporting video or online material on the evolution of Starbucks, Jack Bauer and 24,   Shell Oil, SxSW, and Jet Blue. 

One thing’s for sure, I’ve got the itch for learning. I scratched it just a bit last Thursday, and it felt great. Not sure how I’m going to afford it (pointers here are very welcome), but grad school is definitely in my future. Why? Because I’m confident that if I scratch that itch, it’ll take everything (career, dreams, hopes, thinking, accomplishments) to the next level.