{"id":480,"date":"2017-04-19T21:22:55","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T13:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/?p=480"},"modified":"2018-06-11T23:43:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T15:43:33","slug":"starting-new-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/?p=480","title":{"rendered":"Starting New &#8212; Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s been a hectic couple of weeks. I have to admit that these past few weeks were filled with frustration just as I thought I was taking control of the situation. I realised the cause comes down to the expectations that I have from myself. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the last few days, I&#8217;m feeling as if I was drowning. Or worse: I felt like I am aboard the high speed train towards Burnout City.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I have to admit that I lack a lot of skills, experience, and knowledge:-<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Project management implementation<\/strong>: I took a 4-day class on it. I have the theories and basics. Knowing and implementing are always two different things, right? This also includes creating a project timeline where there are so many moving parts and components to the programme.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Creative process management<\/strong>: As a copywriter, I used to be in the operational side of things. Even then my copywriting was\u00a0very &#8220;dry&#8221;. How so? Real estate brochures, parliamentary\u00a0speeches, event speeches, press releases, and proposal papers to name a few.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Client\/account servicing<\/strong>: I enjoy meeting new people in a business setting. While in the past 14 months, I managed some accounts well, this one portfolio made me question my capabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Corporate-style management<\/strong>: In the past, I managed an organisation of one. Three staff at most. My colleagues in other organisations were able to run independently as they have the experience and require little intervention. For this particular portfolio, I find myself executing more than managing. This includes managing the resources. That\u00a0<em>if you want something done right, do it yourself<\/em> attitude kicked in. With so little time, I began to make fundamental mistakes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I admit there are a lot to work on.\u00a0My colleague shared the maxim made popular by Peter Drucker:\u00a0<em>you cannot manage what you cannot measure<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Again, there is the issue of knowing and applying. I&#8217;ve heard it since I started listening to Brian Tracy&#8217;s audiobooks back in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What I learnt today &#8211; well, not exactly today &#8211; is to break down the problem to what it really is. If there are a list of problems, ensure that these items are\u00a0<em>mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive<\/em> (MECE). Yes, I had to run a Google search to find ways to explain it. One <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.caseinterview.com\/mece\">website<\/a> I stumbled suggested that I refer to a resource\u00a0that is staring at me in the face:\u00a0<em>The Minto Pyramid Principle<\/em> by Barbara Minto. MECE is used by management consultancies like McKinsey. (I&#8217;ve stumbled upon\u00a0that name so often since February 2016. Once upon a time, all I knew were Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, and Primeworks Studios\/Media Prima.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The last few weeks also reminded me that I am on a journey to become a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">data-driven communications consultant<\/span>. My decade in operations &#8211; whether copywriting or business networking &#8211; are fundamental skills that I have; but I need to expand my arsenal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I am often reminded that I no longer am an executive. Rather I play a managerial role. The fact that I skipped\u00a0many tiers explains the gap. Me being me, I won&#8217;t be content by just knowing that there is a gap and not learn from it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is it frustrating? Yes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Can something be done about it? Certainly!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hence, I started this\u00a0<em>Something I learnt today&#8230;<\/em> journal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Learning without reflection does not cultivate wisdom. It merely creates the knowledge, but in isolation from other nodes and experiences. At the same time I do not want to lose any thought processes or gems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If anything, it also conforms to the other &#8216;workout&#8217; that I stopped: daily writing. According to Ann Handley, among many good writing is &#8220;<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">a mirror of good, clear, thinking<\/span> that&#8217;s an antidote to the complexity that can sometimes characterise our business world<\/span>&#8220;. I want to return to the habit of daily writing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The road is still long for me. I&#8217;m learning a lot in such a short span of time. The rewards will be worthwhile.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been a hectic couple of weeks. I have to admit that these past few weeks were filled with frustration just as I thought I was taking control of the situation. I realised the cause comes down to the expectations that I have from myself. In the last few days, I&#8217;m feeling as if I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,163],"tags":[164,166,165],"class_list":["post-480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal","category-something-i-learnt-today","tag-ann-handley","tag-communications-consultant","tag-mece"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions\/481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aldrictinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}