An Almost Decade of Work

In June of 2019, I will have spent a decade of my life working (with a two year gap for graduate school in the middle). I started work as a callow 20 year old; my first job was as a copy-editor for a firm that provided editorial services. In retrospect, I can only marvel at my reasoning in accepting this job, it was a little bit of a non-sequitur after completing an Economics degree. My next significant role was working in Corporate Citizenship for a consulting firm; it is this job (and the people) that was the most formative experience for me as a young professional in my early career.

Over the course of this almost decade at work, I’ve attended several orientations, worked with people in and from different countries, gone from being a newbie and absolutely terrified of being wrong to understanding that mistakes are inevitable. I’ve worked in three countries and multiple cities; I’ve worked a domestic job that had a big international component and I work an international job that is as domestic and local as it gets. Last year, I spent some time talking to a career coach and this prompted me to scribble a list of sorts, about what I have learned during all this time – not technical or job-specific things but transferable skills and approaches that have and will continue to help me. I’m sharing this list here as a reminder to myself and in the hopes that it is relevant to others.

1. Make notes of what you work on:
I am not talking about your resume (although keep updating that regularly as well, instead of waiting till when you don’t have a choice or the time). I’m talking about all the projects and events and big and little tasks and research and articles, which may be significant in the immediate moment but are easy to forget as you change roles and jobs. This is hardly original advice but I find that even a couple of quick lines every few weeks about what I got done is a great memory jogging tool. It doesn’t just help with resumes, but also with interviews and other professional conversations, applications for fellowships and pro bono work, for side hustles and more and at the end of the day, to remind yourself.

2. Know what organizational tools work for you:
At this moment in 2019, the options to get and stay organized feel infinite. They range from the Getting Things Done methodology to Marie Kondo-ing your life; from Trello to Smartsheets; from Google Calendars to Bullet Journaling and everything in between. All of these don’t work for all of us. Some of these will last and others will fall by the wayside. But what is unlikely to change is your natural organizational personality (if you think you don’t have one or haven’t identified it that is a conversation for a different day). I’ve learned that I must write things down, otherwise they don’t stick on my memory. I’ve also learned that putting events in physical notebooks will only lead me to double-booking myself. I’ve learned that a simple list in Google Keep can be an effective tool to work with another person; while a project plan in Smartsheet, while detailed can often seem daunting to folks. Some people just make notes on their phone. The sooner you figure this out, the more it will help you.

End of Year Self-Reflection Questions

I found this list at this site and thought this was one of the more thoughtful reflections about the year was (almost). I am thinking about these and may post some of those in future posts.

1. What was a new discovery you made this year?  What did you discover that you loved?  Your answer could be anything like a new recipe, a podcast, or you joined a gym and found you really liked it.
2. What was one of the biggest pleasant surprises you experienced during the year? For instance, you were able to pick up a skill that you doubted your ability to master, you were dreading going to a conference but it was really good, or you were sad when your boss left for a new job but their replacement turned out to be great.
3. What achievement are you most proud of from this year?  (If you find it hard to recall, try thinking back to each season of the year. For instance, what did you achieve during spring, summer, fall?  You can go with your first instinct rather than attempting to recall the perfect answer.)
4. What was your favorite purchase of the year and why?  Mine was my robot vacuum cleaner!
5. What was a new habit or routine you created this year that has improved your efficiency at home or work?  This can be really small.  For example, I got into a good habit of charging my laptop at night and every time I go out so that, whenever I'm using it, I don't need to be attached to the cord.
6. What did you face head on this year rather than avoiding, such as you dealt with credit card debt or a difficult conversation?  Again, your example could be something very small.
7. What did you ask for help with this year where you're glad you did?
8. What relationship was the biggest positive surprise to you this year?  For example, you developed a closer relationship with a colleague you hadn't previously been close to, or a cousin you don't know well was at your family thanksgiving and you really enjoyed talking to them.  Perhaps someone you don't know very well was very supportive or encouraging of you, even if they might not even be aware their actions were important to you.
9. Who do you need to thank for their role in your life this year?
10. What's an aspect of self-regulation you've gotten better at this year?  Your answer could be anything from going to bed earlier, using moisturizer, putting your appointments on your calendar so you don't forget, or eating more vegetables.
11. What's a goal you gave up on this year, and you're glad you did that because objectively it wasn't your highest priority. 
12. What's a skill you have gained confidence with this year?  Your answer could be related to technology, home maintenance, cooking, work, or anything you want.
13. What simple pleasures have you especially enjoyed this year?
14. What was a goal for the year that you followed through on, or partially followed through on?
15. What's a type of technology you've integrated into your life this year and it's working out well for you?  You might feel that technology doesn't always benefit you, but try learning from your successes.  Use this self-knowledge to give you the confidence to curb ways in which technology isn't serving you in your life.
16. What did you change your mind about this year?
17. What did you try that didn't work out, but the process of trying it moved your thinking forward in a helpful way?
18. How did your self-perception change this year?  In what ways have you started to see yourself more positively than you did previously?  For example, you've realized you've got inner strength or a capacity to cope that you didn't realize you had.
19. What's a thinking bias you've become aware of this year?  For instance, you've become aware that you overcomplicate decisions, and this self-knowledge has been helpful.
20. How has what you enjoy shifted this year?  For instance, you're enjoying staying home more and going out or traveling less.

Day 8, 9 and more?

Obviously it's been busy and I've not really been posting (in other news I've also not been on Facebook and that has been good for me). My apartment hunt goes on and it is taxing, but that's always true. The weather has been absolutely lovely and for that I am thankful. I am trying to learn how to take notes with a stylus. I listen to some interesting podcasts every day. Basically I try and I am grateful for the trying.

Trying something new/Days of gratitude

I want to say it has been a strange year but to be honest, it has been just like the others. Mundane with a few exciting moments, lonely with a few friendly faces, a constant thrum of self-deception with the occasional moment of brutal honesty.

Still if I pause and think about it, I am 30 years old. I am very different from who I imagined I would be but I also make the same mistake (or versions of it) very often. In conversation with a friend recently, I did that thing where you say the worst thing you think about yourself to see if your friend believes it -- my friend did. I am a judgmental bitch. It is what it is, but it made me a trifle sad and got me thinking about some of my habits, which are just remains of a different time in life. 

Poems for my life

'Someone had blundered.

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.'

This is one of the first lines of poetry that I remember. I am pretty sure I was in the 7^th grade when I read this in a book of poems that had made its way to me randomly (the poem is Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson if you are curious). Poems speak to me, just like I imagine pictures may speak to you or songs make your heart skip a beat.  Every once in a while a random line of poetry will pop into my head, almost like an excerpt from a life. Except this is my life. Over the years I have come across poems for all sorts of occasions and feelings and people and lives. I share them online, sometimes I email them to friends, occasionally I imprint them on myself. In this post, I am going to put them all together in a list to which I can keep adding. I hope it brings you some happiness.

Adrienne Rich

From an Atlas of the Difficult World

I know you are reading this poem which is not in your language

guessing at some words while others keep you reading

and I want to know which words they are.

I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn

between bitterness and hope

turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse.

&

In Those Years

But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged

into our personal weather

Brown Girl Sings the Blues

You Bring Out the UP-Walli in Me

You remind me of all these.

The forgotten, pushed away,

Hidden parts of me,

The lekin and the agar in me,

The abey and the oye in me,

The ab to ho gaya in me.

Clementine von Radics

Mouthful of Forevers

I am not the first person you loved.

You are not the first person I looked at

with a mouthful of forevers. We

have both known loss like the sharp edges

of a knife. We have both lived with lips

more scar tissue than skin.

Flying

The days have been flying. If paperwork and bureaucracy had allowed, I would have been in India right now. But I am not. I am here and the days have been full to the point of bursting. I've transitioned into a new role, which I am enjoying tremendously and which also needs me to handle several moving parts and constantly be on my toes. I am learning to redefine for myself what prepared for the day means as well as to remove some of the everyday decision fatigue.

In today's bucket lists and pipe dreams

(I am trying this thing where I cut down on my caffeine-intake. It is hard. Very, very hard.) 

I am nothing if not ambitious in my dreams (and carrying grocery bags and starting new projects and cleaning the house and trying to lift things like furniture and moving from places). It does not always last. It does not last most of the times. But it lends itself to an entertaining life with a high probability of (mis)adventure.

Lists

Updates in lists (I don't have the creativity for sentences this week):

• I now have a library membership. This means free access to e-versions of Cosmo and Elle and Marie Claire and they are so fucking annoying: 60 pages of ads and 20 pages of microscopic content. They have good books but I didn't find many on the shelves. The online hold system means the good stuff is on the hold shelves
• Since I have watched The Office thrice, now I have Friends playing in the background (I am trying to switch to the more educational radio, but it takes time)

Packing zen

Travel is always an adventure. As is packing for it. Over the years, here are some of my feelings about packing for travel, compiled for your convenience in the form of a list:

• I will forget something. Even if it is a safety pin. Such is life. Let it go. As long as I have documents that identify me, it will be fine.
• Travel checklists are a pain to make the first time but can be super useful in subsequent trips.
• Wearing multiple layers of clothes to reduce baggage weight is NOT a good idea. It will mostly only overheat you and make movement hard.

Some of my favorite quotes

 “Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.”

― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

"A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."  ~ Francis Bacon

***

The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there. ~ L.P. Hartley

***

Being yourself

I have been thinking about what does it mean to be authentic (and reading as well). Not original, not unique, just authentic. I like the word authentic, it conveys weight and meaning to me. But honestly. I have stopped asking myself if I am authentic. At some level, I think many of us are plagued by the impostor syndrome. Especially as women. Some of the best people I know, I doubt they take themselves too seriously. They are very aware of how much they have left to learn, to do and this is despite being accomplished in so many ways (and good human beings as well).  I doubt if I remind myself to 'be more authentic', I'd achieve it.

Survival tips 101 (from a second year perspective)

This really is Dear Young Me sort of note to myself when I started grad school. But perhaps others can benefit from it as well!

• Learn to say no. There is always an organization, an activity, a party, an event that you want to get involved with or go to. But there is only so much time and so much sanity. Learn to say no (here's an interesting perspective on why saying no is important)

• If you are the kind of person who schedules things in (I often tend to plan for every hour, if not minute, of the day), pencil/type/whatever you prefer time in for yourself. It is a good reminder that you need to pause and pay attention to yourself.

What I Wish I Had Known When I Started Grad School

I had two reactions when invited to be on a panel about what I wish I had known when I started graduate school - one of the sessions at the Welcome Week for new graduate students. First, why would anyone ask me and I probably shouldn’t go and next, I have enough material to write a book. Luckily (for everyone involved) I did not follow through on either impulse. On a more serious note, there are a lot of things I wish I had know when I started grad school. They would have made my personal life easier, my professional development process faster and my academic career more fulfilling at the very least. While answering questions on the panel, it seemed to me that it wasn’t very fair to the students who were on a waitlist for the orientation or couldn’t make it for a host of other reasons, to not have access to this information. I also thought having this online would allow more people to share their tips and tricks and more people to access these. Elise Madden who was also on the panel helped put this together. It is deliberately brief and concise, to make it useful and not overwhelming. I would love to add to this list - feel free to comment here or shoot me an email.

The one where I ask a lot of questions!

This is a post full of questions. Serious questions. So everybody who is reading and has something to share, please do answer (here, email, social media, whatever is your preferred mode of communication :))

1. I am looking for resources about Community Forestry Enterprises, Non Timber Forest Products, sustainable harvesting and livelihoods and to talk to folks. If you know people who have worked in this area, especially South East Asia, and can help me connect, that would be great!
2. I am looking for Indo-German collaborations (organizations/initiatives/non-profit/private/government) that work in the area of education (higher education, internationalization of education), community and youth development, gender focused work. Any names spring to mind?
3. Ideas and suggestions on how a one month period in the winter (mid December to January) can be used best - I mean ideas on volunteer work, one-month internships etc. I don't want to be in Minnesota during winter break this year and am not sure I can do a month-long vacation. So it would be nice to be working or being useful in some way. Any ideas?
4. Project ideas: The Humphrey School has sent out a Request for Proposal for capstone projects for Spring 2015: essentially they are seeking proposals from organizations that want students to work on a sort of consulting project for a specific area around development, social or policy areas. Essentially this is a free project for the organization and a chance for students to gain some experience. More details of the project and timelines are at the following link: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/gpa/globalnotes/2014/04/humphrey-school-global-policy.php. Any ideas on interesting organizations and projects I could connect with?

Work music playlist aka rediscovering music from my college days

:D

Books? Lists? Currently out of things to do?

Since I can't sleep, I have to do something. What could be more fun than making lists? Of late, I have been meaning to read but haven't managed to as much. I was just thinking about all the fantastic books I had read in the last year. In no particular order, here's a list in pictures:

So good, I remember not being able
to put it down and crying. I remember being on a flight to Minneapolis last year
and the lady next to me remarking on how good the book was.