Don't overlook opportunities for yourself

Lessons Learnt:

• Don't overlook opportunities to learn new things. Work will always be there but opportunities to learn something new come and go. Always prioritise seizing the opportunity.
• Look at the bigger picture and weigh up what matters more in the future. Will staying late at work for another 30mins outweigh what you might learnt from a guest speaker? Definitely not.
• If ever you feel you're sinking into self pity, remind yourself that you could be working in a sock factory (nothing against those working in sock factories) and you may find yourself being grateful for your current situation.

The Story - by Courtney C

We’ve all been there. A to do list a mile long, struggling to figure out where to start and what the key priorities are, just as the phone rings with another urgent request to be added to the list.  This was me at the start of the week. Safe to say feeling a little overwhelmed and de-motivated at the prospect of delivering the work committed to within the week. Just as I’d sussed out my plan of attack, got over realising I’d bitten off more than I could chew (something I am consciously trying to work on this year) and would need to put in some extra hours this week; a stakeholder popped over and invited me to attend an information session with Branden Spikes (add in link to info on Branden) in 20 minutes. I had no idea who this person was.  I had two options, politely decline or rearrange my meetings to attend the session. I chose the latter.

Upon reflection, it would have been the easier option to decline the offer and get stuck into tackling my to do list. I have done this in the past, chosen work over attending training opportunities and not wanting to let down the team. I thought if I spent time attending the training, that would delay getting the task at hand completed and let down the team.  This I have now learnt is a foolish mindset. For one, in order to be a valuable team member and contribute more strategically, I need to gain broader experiences and perspectives than what I already have. Plus In the grand scheme of things, a few hours or days of training will be far more valuable to the team and my own career development than getting a routine deliverable out the door. But I digress. Now being a reformed but still learning people pleaser, I thought it best to attend the session given my colleagues had gone out of their way to let me know about it.

And what an opportunity… The guest speaker for the session was Branden Spikes founder of cyber security business Spikes Security. Branden was the right hand man to  Elon Musk (CEO and CTO of SpaceX, co-founder and CEO of Tesla, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of x.com which merged with PayPal). I've always been inspired by Elon Musk and you'll know exactly what I mean when you watch hid TED talk.

Attending the half hour session, I learned invaluable insights on Branden’s candid reflection of his career and take on the tech industry. When asked about the culture in Silicon Valley, Branden recounted a quote Elon had once shared with him that really resonated with me... “you could be working in a sock factory but you’re working in a rocket factory”. This quote really put things into perspective for me. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the task at hand, consumed in feeling stressed by deadlines or overwhelmed with tasks that we forget to take stock of the bigger picture for ourselves. That bigger picture being remembering the broader purpose of the role within the team and organisation. More importantly, you need to constantly recall the bigger picture for yourself on a personal level. What is your ultimate goal? Getting promoted or completing a major project is not your ultimate goal. You have to got understand what is driving you to want to get promoted.

For me, it was also reminder to be grateful for the high calibre team I am working with, the opportunities I am exposed to on a daily basis and how fortunate I am to have a job where I constantly get to learn and be exposed to industry titans, which is rare indeed.  At the end of the session, I caught up with my colleague who also attended and we both commented on the insights we gained and how inspiring the session was. I felt re-energised. Isn’t it funny. My internal dialogue had me debating whether I should even attend the session as it would take half an hour out of my day. I hadn’t stopped to think about the benefits and how I could potentially be more efficient post attending the session. I could potentially have potentially traded this wonderful opportunity with the completion of mundane tasks, which would still be there the next day. With this new found perspective and feeling reinvigorated from the insights gained, I powered through that to do list like a woman on a mission. I was far more productive than I had anticipated for the day.

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