Great success!

The big day has come and gone and I still can't believe it's all over. My stress level last week was unparalleled, but all it was about was one day. One day. One day that was gone in the blink of an eye. Actually, that's not true. That one day was one of the longest days of my life. Truly. I was stressed for most of the day, too, making sure that everything was in order, that everything went smoothly, that everyone was having fun... I was on my A game, sure, but I was also barely breathing. It was intense.

Before I tell you how it goes, I'll tell you what I learned.

• There's no such thing as perfect. Do your best to have everything organized and ready to go, but don't expect perfection, because it'll just stress you out.
• It's not so much about creating something that has no mistakes. It's about dealing with those mistakes when they come up, and dealing with them with professionalism and poise. Take a deep breath, confront the mistake or issue head-on, and do your best.
• When a big project is complete, or a big event happens, you might not feel completely satisfied immediately after. Give yourself a few days to relax and de-stress, and then you might find that you're able to be more objective about it. It's hard in the moment, or right after the moment, to look at something. Give yourself some time and space first.
• When you are able to look at things objectively, be sure to take a moment to be proud of yourself. No matter how it went, you can say you did your best and that you learned from it. That's something!

So, now that I've had nearly a week to reflect on the event -- I'm thrilled with how it went! I've definitely received some constructive (and even critical) feedback, but I've also received a lot of big thank yous, congratulations, and other compliments. I feel really good about how things went, I can tell the attendees had a lot of fun, and I can see that my superiors here are impressed with how it went. That feels good!

I mentioned that I thought if when this event went well, that I'd feel sort of launched into the next, I don't know, level of my career at this particular institution. Do I? Yes. It just so happens that in the week before and after this event that I got 2 cool things:

1. A company credit card.
2. My own office.

Between having gotten those 2 things + having pulled off this big event, I feel like a whole new employee. I feel a bit older and wiser, a bit more experienced, and I want more in terms of taking more initiative, thinking of some new project ideas, etc. I feel like I'm ready to ramp things up a bit. I'll let you know how it goes.

IT'S GAME DAY!!!

Quick entry before I start getting ready...

So... since November, and maybe before, I've been organizing an event for work. I work in fundraising/alumni relations at a school, and this particular event is an enormous hockey tournament, the proceeds of which go towards a bursary that helps a deserving student attend the school. Over 100 people are coming to the tournament today - alumni, parents of current and past students, and other friends of the school. It's kinda a big deal.

The organization for this event has been ongoing since November, as I said, but this week was the big one. I was constantly sending out emails, making phone calls, receiving phone calls, reconfiguring the schedule, finalizing the schedule, sending out the rosters, organizing the dinner, etc., etc., etc. The work didn't stop and I was experiencing a level of stress that I've never before experienced. I mean, seriously. I collapsed on my couch after every work day, just trying to find a moment where I wasn't thinking about work, and more particularly, this event.

The day of the event has finally come. I woke up early, had a good breakfast (and lots of coffee), and now I'm about to get ready. I head over to the arena in 1.5 hours. The event goes from 8:30am this morning until about 9:00pm tonight. I will be on my "A" game that entire time. I have to be. BUT - when 9:00pm comes, I will have survived. 15 hours from now, I will collapse on my couch once again, but this time it won't be with stress - it will be with relief and, I hope, pride. No, I know I'll be proud.

I just recently hit the 6-month mark at work, and I couldn't help but think, "How am I doing so far?" I felt the need to assess how I'm doing in some way, to kind of move me forward into the next 6 months. I think today will very much be that feedback. When I make it through today, I'll have the reward to my effort that will launch me into the next phase.

Here goes... Wish me luck!!!

YES.

There's an event in London ON this Thursday that my boss is going to. Last week my colleagues asked if I was going as well, and I said I wasn't, plus I added that I no longer care to go any more southwest than Waterloo ON.

That same day my boss stopped by my desk and told me that next week (this week) is going to be pretty busy for him and he asked if I could go to London in his place. The colleagues who had asked me if I was going were within earshot as I replied, "Of course! I'll be there!"

They thought it was pretty funny that on the same day I had said I was absolutely not going to London that I subsequently agreed to go, and it was funny. However, who am I to turn down any request that my boss makes (within reason)? I'm at the beginning of my career, keen to gain experience and knowledge, and advance forward to the next level. If my boss wants me to go to London, I'm going! Plus, it means a day off work and a long train ride. Personally I like long train rides.

So, London here I come!

Holidaze

Coming back to work from a two-week holiday is like diving into the deep end without taking a big breath first. No matter how you prepare mentally, and even if you've been checking emails while you were away, it's still a shock to the system.

Thankfully my colleague, who was sent from heaven, made me some coffee this morning. That was a good start.

I've got to approach today with a strategy. I think my strategy will be to take the focus away from TODAY and think more about THIS WEEK. It'll take some pressure off this single workday to instead utilize the entire week to get up to date, up to speed, and back on track. I must also remind myself that no problem is unsolvable and no mistake is unforgiven. On top of that, my best approach is to take things one step at a time, set myself goals for each day, and remember that no matter how stressful the day, it always ends!

I shall reward myself with an evening filled with MTV Canada and sitting on the couch.

Let's go!!!

Caffeine & You

One aspect of my job involves "meeting days". I book a bunch of meetings in Toronto, and then head in to the city for a day, have the meetings, and then usually stay for the weekend at my parents' house. It's always really nice to get out of the office, be in Toronto where you see more than 1 person when you're out walking, and keep things fresh! I really like it!

Usually these meetings are over coffee -- we meet at a Starbucks and chat about whatever it is we're chatting about. Loves it! BUT... if I'm meeting 5 different people, that's 5 different coffees. That's a lot of coffee! Combine that with the normal nerves of having business meetings, and you've got me performing on a more jittery level than I should be. There's no need for that!

So... something I've learned? Order tea on occasion.

Trust Thy Boss

As always, there are exceptions. You might have a total a**hole of a boss, and so ignore what I'm saying. However, I'm an optimist (or you might call me naïve) and I like to think that most people have good intentions. Anyway, these statements are leading to the point of this post, which is to "Trust Thy Boss".

So many times over the past 4 months, I've thought to myself... "Why aren't I getting more projects?" "Why don't they want me to put my knowledge and experience to use?" "I'm so bored... why aren't I doing more?" I've done my best to take initiative here and there, but there's only so much you can do sometimes. If you're not being given stuff to work on then your mind wanders... your hand wanders to the mouse... you type in www.facebook.com... and the rest is history.

But now I've just about hit the 5 month mark and things have changed completely. The other day I was working on about 3 things at once and getting extremely overwhelmed by the emails that kept coming into my inbox. Overwhelmed & stressed can be bad things to feel, but I can now say with certainty that after a slow start into my big girl job, being busy is ALWAYS better than being bored. I'll take stressed over twiddling my thumbs any day.

Anyway, the reason this has to do with trusting my boss is that now I can only think that maybe he was easing me into things; letting me get oriented, get to know my colleagues, etc. If I was handed 10 projects on day 1, wouldn't I be far too overwhelmed in addition to feeling nervous and new? However, as it was, right before this rush of work came upon me, I was finally feeling like part of the team. I understand the rhythms and schedules and dynamics of the office, so now that I've got lots to do, I know who to go to with questions, etc. It wouldn't have made sense for me to have tonnes of projects before, but now... it does!

So I'm glad I stuck it out. My boss definitely delivered on this one.

AGH!

I've got little bumps on my teeth as if each tooth has a serrated edge. My dental hygienist said that it is rare to see those bumps on adults' teeth because post adults grind their teeth and as a result the bumps grind down to nothing. My conclusion from that was that I manage my stress well.

However... sometimes, like right now, I feel quite stressed and overwhelmed by my workload. This happened a lot while I was a student at WLU, and it happens occasionally now in the working world. I got a lot thrown on my plate today and I'm feeling a bit snowed under. Incidentally, I've never experienced a November this warm and precipitation-less.

I needed to blog about this to take a minute to get a few deep breaths in and also to still my racing heart. One of the projects I just realized was in my portfolio may be overdue and so I'm freaking out a bit. But - I will figure it out. I will break the project down into manageable tasks and it'll get done.

Agh.