#10thingschallenge

[penpaperpad78]

#10thingschallenge On my writing desk? Let's see...a beverage, pens, notepads, laptop, mic, webcam, notebooks, books on writing, red 💄, whiteboard. What's your one go-to item on your desk? https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZyBYZA-Ob/?igshid=11lplzvlsi26e

[lnhollinshead]

What Have I Learnt In 5 Days?

When you’ve spent 5 days in a new job, it seems appropriate to reflect on what you’ve done; what you could have done better and what other people might learn from your experience (that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?).

Thinking about it, it probably isn’t appropriate at all, but I’m going to do it anyway.

1.       Tacit knowledge is taken for granted

I’ve realised how many quirks and ‘I just know’ tools I had in my locker in my previous job, and now they’ve all disappeared, I feel very exposed.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for me because it’s a learning experience – I started without all of those ‘You just have to click it in this specific location 3 times, spin around, and sacrifice the weakest member of your team’ type fixes before and I acquired them over time – and it will be the same here, except the things being fixed are different.

This is a problem for businesses though, and more specifically, the ones being left.

Tacit knowledge is very much shrugged off – “Oh how difficult can it be for somebody to learn that, just train them” or “Can’t you put that in a guide? People can read can’t they?” – but the reality is that this knowledge is more valuable because it’s through experience. When you don’t have the option for ‘So-and-so knows how to do that’, you’ll soon realise what you’ve lost. This is not meant to be an ego thing either because nobody is indispensable, but some people are more indispensable than others, and you need to realise that people with experience are difficult, if not impossible, to replace.

2.       Office cultures vary…

I’ve been through a new experience this week of worrying what to wear for work. I know what you’re thinking – this shouldn’t be a new experience, nearly every person in the world has been through this before, surely? – but I’d been in the same job for 4.67 years (as you well know) since leaving university and during that time, I’d only been allowed to wear plain blue or white shirts, with a grey or navy suit, and black or brown shoes. That’s really not a difficult decision to make on your attire; and now to all of a sudden be thrust in to a world where ‘as long as your shirt has a collar on, it’s probably fine’, is quite daunting.

I’m not an advocate of a dress code in business, particularly not one that removes any hint that you might have a personality beneath your dull, tired, robotic exterior; but there is something to be said about not having to make that decision (ask Homer Simpson or Barack Obama), and I’ve not been brave enough yet to get away from my corporate garb.

It was dress down though on Friday, so I went with a blue shirt that had stripes on. Small steps.

3.       …but the same problems are still there.

This isn’t the fault of either of the companies I’ve worked for specifically, it’s more an environment thing in that the office setting itself is just not conducive to working productively.

I think offices tend to go one of two ways; they either promote a raucous atmosphere that gets you pumped for work, whilst simultaneously distracting you from doing what you’re supposed to be doing; or they create silos of activity that mean you get stuff done, but nothing is shared between teams leading to resentment at best, and complete hush at worst.

What I’ve realised, or rather reaffirmed very quickly, is that I’m not suited to an office. Not only do I hate gossip and petty rivalry between teams, I also hate sitting in deathly silence while the clock ticks down to the end of the day. Even further to this, I just hate being inside all day. If it wasn’t bad enough being depleted of vitamin D and any morsel of happiness through winter just by the grey, miserable, British weather – my new employers have removed any hope of respite from the low winter sun by tinting the fucking windows.

Put me in a field or up a mountain – I’d take frostbite over this.

4.       If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room

I saw this earlier today on the twitter feed for @thehumanxperience and it’s pertinent to the situation I’m in and it’s made me realise what an idiot I’ve been.

In my old job, I treated certain people with a level of disdain for asking ‘stupid questions’, but I should have realised that they’re just trying to learn from me – they’re not asking questions to be annoying, they want to understand so they don’t have to ask the questions. Admittedly, this only goes so far and if you’ve asked me the same question a thousand times and have not even remotely attempted to learn (See: Where has the initiative gone?) then I feel I’m within my rights to ignore your stupid questions and file you away in the drawer in my mind marked ‘fucking morons’ where you will remain for eternity.

Now, that being said, my mistake has been twofold. As above, I shouldn’t have reacted to questions so badly, when they were genuine attempts to understand something new; and secondly, I should have been in more rooms where I had the opportunity to ask the questions (or taken the opportunities when they presented themselves) because now I’m in that situation myself, where I have to ask the questions because I don’t understand, it’s a very different feeling.

5.       You can’t learn 10 things in 5 days

I could probably stretch to 6, 7 at an absolute best, but I’d be scraping the barrel (I mean really this doesn’t even count does it, this is a thing I’ve learnt over the course of writing this post) so I’d rather wrap things up there so there’s not any noticeable asymmetry with the last article.

Maybe you can learn 10 things in 5 days, I’ve not particularly tried.

There we go, that’s a nice way to end; you give a try. Report back. No, go on, I insist.

[aimee-jeanne]

4/11: 10 Things Challenge

10 of your favourite foods (in no particular order)

letchong kawali

dinuguan with puto

Portuguese egg tarts

maki & sushi rolls

ice cream (specifically b&j and haagen dasz)

ribs

corn 

veggies (most veggies at least) 

mangoes

yogurt

[aimee-jeanne]

3/11: 10 Things Challenge

10 things about your personality.

I'm super outgoing. 

I seem shy at first, I always try to get a sense of everyone's personalities before showing mine. 

I'm super talkative.

I absolutely love performing on stage, I love the attention and feeling. (okay, not in the attention-whore kind of way)

I have a soft heart for orphans & grannies/grampas in retirement homes. 

I'm very emotional. I cry easily. But I've never shed a single tear for any of my exes. I was taught to never cry over boys. 

I'm very competitive. Sometimes, I think I have superiority complex. $: 

I'm actually very bubbly. I'm always seen laughing like cray. 

I love the feeling of making/brightening up people's day :) Gotta love spreading the positive vibes!

What you give is what you receive. If you're nice to me, I'm even nicer to you. If you're a bitch to me, I'm even bitchier.

[aimee-jeanne]

2/11: 10 Things Challenge

10 things you do every single day.

SHOWER. it's a must. 

Ignore my alarm. 

Tweet & Tumblr. . 

Listen to my tswift playlist.  

Text & BBM my mains

Watch TFC (it's a must)

eat. eat. eat. 

do homework T_T ib life. 

3 o clock prayer/ any form of praying. 

SLEEP :) haha. 

[aimee-jeanne]

1/11: 10 Things Challenge

10 things about my appearance: 

I like love my hair.

I like my eyes; I can never picture myself with huge eyes. haha!

I like my smile . 

I like how my cheeks are so chubby and rosy :)

I love that fact that I'm photogenic. 

I actually like being short. It makes me look cuter (hihi!) and height will never be an issue with boys ;) 

My eyes feel so naked whenever I don't have make-up. 

I have a generally laid-back style. Tshirt, jeans, nikes/vans. 

I hate how chubby I am. This summer, there's no flopping on losing weight and trying to become fit and healthy. 

I hate how my thighs are sooooo big. 

[k-alix-blog]

Day 11: 10 things you love.

My family

My friends

My dog, Rocky

Italian food

God

Instagram

Twitter

My phone

Tumblr

Summer

[k-alix-blog]

Day 10: 10 things you absolutely hate

People

School (and everything that has to do with it)

Onions

Guys with girl hair

Facial hair

Rain

Bugs (especially spiders)

My science and sewing teacher

Sunday nights/Mondays

Life