December 29, 2023 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The 2024 Plan
December 29, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Over the course of my career I have noticed a few things about the world of work that can be used to help fulfil your goals.
Some of the greatest restrictions are those we place on ourselves.
The restrictions we impose on ourselves may not be organisational expectations or expectations of colleagues or seniors.
I am certainly guilty of taking on tasks that weren't expected of me. Yes, those tasks made life easier for someone else and were an unexpected benefit for them. In some cases the benefit to me was a positive reputation. Sadly in many cases there was no benefit to me except the satisfaction of knowing I left something better than it was before.
In hindsight I would have been better off devoting time to what would have benefitted my career. No-one would have objected and ultimately an investment in myself would have benefitted me and my organisation.
Develop positive habits
When I was a DBA, after morning checks, I used to read the new articles on SQLServerCentral while I drank my 1st coffee. It was a 10 minute break before putting my nose back to the grindstone. Those 10 minutes gave me information that gave a return on investment that were orders of magnitude greater than the expenditure.
No-one was micromanaging my time. I could have easily just got on with the day job. Neither approach would have provoked comment. I always rendered unto Caesar what was due unto Caesar.
Kill bad habits
Reading SQLServerCentral is a positive habit that is valid in work time. Reading the BOFH or DailyWTF, not so much. Entertaining they may be but they don't give you anything you can take way and use. In some cases they can be quite negative and not good for your mental health.
Outside of work it is easy to lose a lot of time on social media and social media games. Ultimately, what does time spent on social media give back to you? If you've tried to cut down on social media time, it isn't easy. I'm not suggesting that you substitute work related activities in place of social media time, the choice is yours. Whatever helps you recharge, relax, get a positive feeling after you have done it.
Review your CV every month
I've made the mistake of going more than a year without updating mine. When I came to do it I didn't have a clear view of what I had achieved since the last time I did so.
Even if you don't NEED to update your CV it is wise to do so. Life has a way of throwing curve balls.
Keep a work journal
It'll help with end-of-year reviews. I find it helps to remind me of how far I have come over whatever period of time I am considering. It is a tool for a personal retrospective.
I find it helpful to keep track of who have helped me. NEVER forget to say thank you (and mean it).
If you are a manager and someone says that one of your reports has helped them. Make a note of it then go and make sure your report knows you know they have helped. THE best manager I have ever worked with had this as one of her behaviours. As a manager part of your plan to improve can only be achieved by making it possible for your staff to improve.
December 29, 2023 at 1:00 pm
Steve, thanks for all the blogs. SQLServerCentral is the first email I read in the mornings. I plan to do my first presentation this month, and to start a blog. That's enough for now. Happy New Year!
December 29, 2023 at 3:57 pm
Steve, thanks for all the blogs. SQLServerCentral is the first email I read in the mornings. I plan to do my first presentation this month, and to start a blog. That's enough for now. Happy New Year!
Thanks, you're welcome, and Happy New Year
December 29, 2023 at 3:58 pm
Over the course of my career I have noticed a few things about the world of work that can be used to help fulfil your goals
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Good thoughts, as always. I don't journal, but I do keep notes for reviews, or I used to. Now the boss has me tracking stuff so she usually brings me a list of things that I've done. We do meet every 1-2 weeks, and discuss what's going on, things that work/don't work, managing workload, etc. Seems to work well and she has a great list of things to think about across the year.
December 31, 2023 at 4:12 pm
Thank you for what you've written here, Steve. It rings true for me, as I'm very much in this mindset right now. After trying for almost 9 years to help improve the organization I work for, and seeing that nothing significant has happened, I've just got to move on. I'm currently helping to migrate us away from TFS to GitHub, but we won't really adopt Agile or DevOps, as there's colossal resistance to change. I've been slowly coming to accept that. I think it's just best to let them carry on as they have for decades.
So, I've been thinking about a plan for a week. I've had a side business for about 5 years, but it really hasn't done well, so I thought I'd change its direction. I've started a OneNote to track my ideas, and capture links, experiments I've run, etc. I've come upon an idea which I believe will be big in the next year or two. But I also think it is so big that working by myself I don't see how I could accomplish it under 3 years, or longer. I can work on a minimum viable product, but it would be much smaller in scope than I envision. Anyway, I've been thinking it might be best if I were to try to partner with one or two other people who are looking for a change. But I've never done that, so I don't know how to start. How do you identify others who might be in similar places in their careers, to start something entirely new? How do I find people who won't steal your idea and develop their own version of it?
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
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