New Home!

Hi. It's the 8th of September. You might not yet have been wondering where today's post is. After all, many of them have been rolled out only when I got in the mood of last minute panic :-) Well, not really, but you get the idea.

Guess what? My blog has found a new home: www.cyopro.com! My website still needs a few touches, but I made sure to get the blog section populated first. Everything else took...it took a while. Jah know. If I hear anyone say the word plug-in (technically, that's one word), I think I'm gonna give them "the look."

Okay. Lemme not go on about my WordPress work. I'm glad to let you know the site is up and running, and that's where my blog posts are going to be from now on. I wanted to make sure the first post on the new site made it at the start of this year eight.

Seven years at Blogspot. Wow. I think I'm already missing Blogspot a little. But, I have to let go of this thing, for the something new. :-)

Reminds me a bit of Mr. Monk and the Badge. Start watching at 3:44, but that tear-jerking clip starts at 4:50. You didn't think I'd leave here without mentioning Monk, did you? Have we met? (Also a Monk reference. Lol!)

Sigh. Thank you, so very much, for sticking around here with me.

Join me over there, won't you?



Claudia
www.cyopro.com
wwww.twitter.com/cyopro
www.facebook.com/cyopro - Yes. Facebook. It's not personal. It's a Page. :-)

Turning Point

A couple of years ago, Dove came out with an ad to encourage women and girls to accept themselves as beautiful.  The ad, dubbed Camera Shy, made me smile. It also made me think. Good on Dove, for I imagine that that's part of what they were after. It becomes rather revealing when we stop and think about whether as adults we are now camera shy, and what led us to that point.

If we are, there may be several reasons for it. The least of them might not be a matter of privacy. There may be a legitimate concern about how an innocent and candid photo may end up being used on the Internet. Apart from that, however, may be the more grueling issue of our perception of our natural beauty, whether it is...enough at any given time. And, if it isn't, when did we start thinking so? And, can we go back?

But, this post is not about that - per se.

Something came to mind other day. Remember that line in Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man, when Stottlemeyer was asked why he hadn't done something or other? His response was stteo, "I'd hurt his feelings... That's my new full-time job - not hurting people's feelings."  It's one of those lines that stuck with me because it's indicative of that shift between worlds. There is a turning point between the childlike (and often entertaining) innocence that produces frank, unfiltered responses, and the caution we employ as we get more emotionally aware and considerate of people's feelings. It happens. We learn it from family, or the other social structures to which we become exposed as we grow. Yeah, it happens. And, little by little, we begin to apply filters and cushions and, in no time, we become very adept at not saying what we really mean.

I believe most adults do not enjoy that luxury I love to refer to in a favourite C.S. Lewis quote: "Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that's the whole art and joy of words."

It does sound oh-so-good on its own, doesn't it? The larger piece from which I grabbed it not only provides context, but answers, on point, the reason we often remain in our new-found comfort zone, having made the transition between worlds; the reason it's hard to go back.

“Lightly men talk of saying what they mean. Often when he was teaching me to write in Greek the Fox would say, “Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that’s the whole art and joy of words.” A glib saying. When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the centre of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words.” 

- C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Claudia

www.cyopro.com

www.twitter.com/cyopro

Freak Out...Then Figure It Out

About a year or so ago, a sis and I were having a conversation about a new opportunity. It was not a hand-in-glove fit, but that did not make it any less desirable. My advice was to say yes. After all, strengths, transferable skills, and experience would help her be good at it in no time. I shared with her my approach:

• Say yes to the opportunity. 
• Freak out about how daunting it looks. 
• Figure out how to do the task. 

Here's the thing: You don't want a great opportunity to pass you by, all for the sake of lacking a bit of experience in a particular area. If you pass that up, thinking there's no use going after it, you'd have done yourself a disservice. Go for it. Let the recruiters/selectors decide. If your résumé, or a contact, gets you an interview/meeting, make the best of it. Don't keep yourself off the list when, had you tried, you would've made the shortlist - and likely got hired/selected.

Funny, but, some months after the conversation with sis, I saw a quote by Richard Branson making the rounds on social media. It was, essentially, the same message. Given that I had shared my approach with sis long before I got wind of his quote, I have no reservations about expounding on what I shared with her here.

I'm not shy when it comes to networking, nor about letting the right people know I'm on the lookout for something new. There have been people who've given me a heads-up about new opportunities, simply because I was top of mind when the news landed on their desk - because they knew I had an interest. Additionally, along the way, I've participated in mentorship programs - as mentor and mentee. In these professional relationships, the terms of engagement are made clear at the outset. Whatever they may be, as a mentee, I never lose sight of one thing: I have a responsibility to honour the time and effort my mentor puts in. It may come in the form of making time in a busy schedule to have a chat over coffee/hot chocolate. Or, it may be in the form of helping me make connections. So, even if I feel under the weather when that email comes in - "I got you 20 minutes with so-and-so. Schedule something with her Admin." - my immediate response is stteo: "Great! Thank you! I'm on it!" And, I get on it. Right away. I can always climb out from under the weather later. I respect my time, too. So, I have to ensure my preparation (research pre-meeting) and execution time is not wasted.

There have been lessons along my career path. For sure. I remember there was a time when I used to allow awful co-workers or bosses to ruffle my feathers. But, I later learned a precious gem from a manager who was as frank as she was brilliant. "Claudia," she said, "I just tell myself I'm not taking them home with me." That became a mantra for me. Since then, co-workers and I live happily ever after. Well, not exactly. But, close enough. :-) So, lessons, yes. But strides and triumphs have been far more and far greater. My journey has been blessed.

In a nutshell, this is how I've been moving along the path:

• Pray.
• Seek a new opportunity. (This includes networking.)
• Give thanks for closed doors. (There's something to learn from every interview.)
• Be ready for open doors. (Can't pray for rain then leave your umbrella - ella - ella...) :-)
• Accept the challenge. 
• Freak out! (If need be. Even phone a friend and share the adrenaline.)
• Work hard and figure it out.
• Excel.
• Give thanks.

What's sometimes surprising is how others see you (doing a great job) vs. how you see yourself. There's a thin line between confidence and hubris, but, it's good to believe in yourself. No use in playing small. Shine. Your light will help others. I've learned that, too.

One of my favourite Monk lines is from Mr. Monk Meets His Dad. He was trying to convince his dad that his boss was "The guy." His father wasn't buying it. Monk looked him in the eye and asserted that he's a detective. "It's my job, and I'm good at it."

Love that.


Claudia
www.cyopro.com
www.twitter.com/cyopro

While you were out: World Peace achieved

As a few of my co-workers returned from lunch the other day, one of them asked, “Anything interesting happened while we were out?”  Without missing a beat – and I’m still not sure where it came from – I responded, “World peace was achieved!”   I followed up with, “I wish!” and we laughed it off.  But, nonetheless, it got me thinking that there are days when you just want to close your eyes and open them...Voila!  Everything is in its place and all is right with the world. 

Well, at least, your world.

Given the plethora of things that can (and do) go wrong on any given day, it’s amazing how most of us manage to keep it together.  True, things are not always in ‘the-sky-is-falling!’ mode, but, sometimes, when you do try to take it one day at a time, as that old quote says: “Some days seem to attack you all at once.”

And that’s just in your 2x2 zone.  Look outside of that and you become aware of people and their hurts and their despair and their voicelessness.  Yes, there’s lotsa beauty to behold, but we’re not talking beauty now. At this moment.  We’re talking about the ugly and the fact that, in many circumstances, it doesn’t have to be.

The Hiding

What makes it worse, however, is that some of us, with our multiplicity of media, including social media, and platforms from which to speak, take advantage of that.  Even – and especially – when we shouldn’t.  It’s pretty easy to hide behind…okay, let’s say use pseudonyms and monikers and what not, as we comment on news items and so on.  (After all, I use - not hide behind - Cee Dubya. Well, it kinda started off as kinda hiding behind, but for the apprehension of dealing with negative criticism.  Now, I just use it - and should perhaps add my real name to future postings...oh the digression.)  But it becomes “hiding behind” when we lash out at other faceless and sometimes real-nameless persons.  There’s a theory my sis has mentioned and I’ve forgotten what it’s called. It seeks to explain that the more far removed you are from your ‘target’ the harsher you are prone to get.   And we see examples of that every single solitary day as we comb the comment boards on various sites – mainstream and other media alike.   People say really mean and ugly and harsh things to their fellow human beings; things that they would never say to them in person, but for the fact that they are remaining anonymous.  Kinda like an ‘average Joe’ with a gun, isn’t it?  Wouldn’t be confrontational in a situation, much more fight it out.  Yet, standing behind a .38 calibre (Way too much TV here.  No, wait!  Maybe, it’s just the news) he is Mr. Tough n Ready.   

Because we can?

So, folks hide and hit and run off to the next story and the next comment board.  This past week, this issue was brought to the fore by way of a rather sad piece of news.  Looking through an edition of the Jamaica Observer, I came upon the story of a gentleman who had passed oh so suddenly, a day short of his 70^th birthday.  He had climbed an ackee tree and met his end when he fell and suffered head trauma.  Now, what took me aback were a few of the comments.  They not only questioned his decision to climb a tree at that age (I didn’t know the man, I have only read accounts that he was strong and in good health), but also insinuated that he was stingy!  That he could have paid a younger person to do that blah blah blah.  And I’m thinking, are you nuts?!  Does your elevator go all the way to the top?  Because, unless you’re, y’know, clueless, you would understand that the probability of family members reading the story, and its online comments, is very high.  What would possess someone to offer condolences in one breath and criticize the person for causing-his-own-death-because-he-was-stingy in the other? ‘Two’ words: un believable.   How would you imagine the family members felt upon reading those comments, or, for the much older ones who are not too computer/Internet savvy, having the comments read to them?

The Ugly: Co-created by...

There are a few times when we say things that we regret, even as the last syllable is leaving our lips.  A kind of similar thing happens when we write – especially in haste.  When we write, however, we have a little more wiggle room.  If we’re still in the pen and paper mode, we can ‘white out’, cross out…you get  the idea.  At our computer, we almost invariably have the option of backspacing/deleting before we hit ‘post comment’.  Could we at least re-read our comments about things of such a sensitive nature before we post?  How are they likely to affect the real people concerned?  As another sis pointed out, the affected family aren’t actors in a movie.  They are real people.  We might be standing on top of our podium – tap tap, is this thing on? – clearing our throats and uttering our rhetoric for all of cyberspace to hear.  But, to whom it does concern, how helpful is our speech?  How much of the ugly do we help to create?  (And then bicker about later?  But that’s for another post.)

We breathe the same air (part of a fav line from Mr. Monk and the Astronaut)

I just imagine this scenario in many other situations and the multiplier effect.  Just one of the reasons for the elusive “World Peace”.  (Do beauty contestants still make that wish?)  At the risk of sounding sanctimonious, I humbly posit: Let’s be kinder, even when online, even when using a moniker and especially in really sensitive situations.

It may not seem like it’s covering a wide geographic area, but, where we have a personal test of our humanity, let’s win!  Let’s begin, in our own world, to reduce the ugly and to increase peace.  ‘Cause, in case you haven’t yet realized it, our worlds are connected - and we breathe the same air!

Claudia

www.cyopro.com

www.twitter.com/cyopro