Two good things

A couple of days ago, I was talking about the year that is slowly coming to an end. I focused on the positive things, a manufacturing flaw.

Space

I like the fact that I can make the queue at a store without being jostled by a buyer behind me. Well, this custom has not totally vanished because I still see people doing it, and even though they wear masks, insist on leaving no personal space between you and them for fear of people cutting in front of them. There was a time when I believed this was a reminiscence of making the queue during the Communist era, but it is not. I see there are also young people doing it, and they look far younger to even have been born on the days of the Revolution (end of December 1989).

Time

I have time. Yes, you have read it correctly. The two hours spent on the way to and back from the office have been given to me. Thus, in a working week, I can do what my heart desires with ten hours. I’ve been given the gift of time, as Ross would say.

Let’s also think happy thoughts!

The case of motivation at a job interview

I recently read a post on LinkedIn about a certain question usually asked at a job interview and I laughed.

The picture of the post presented a simple dialogue:

‘Why do you want this job?’

‘I’ve always been passionate about not starving to death.’

 

Sometimes it’s a real slog to go to interviews. People expect highly motivated explanations to why one wishes to occupy a certain job. Sure, motivation should be there. Otherwise, there would be no applicants. But the thing is, some applicants find it hard to manifest euphoria in front of strangers. Others, like me, are characterized by a terse style. I do think that those who applied without even looking at the job post could be easily discovered (I know this is the issue). Yeah, I really do think that!

 

Inevitably, it reminded me of a question I’ve been asked at a couple of interviews:

 ‘But if you write books and you are a published author, and you are so creative, why do you want to work in a company?’

My motivation is the same as it has always been: I need to be with people. To build and gather stories around them. But even so, artists cannot live off their creation. Or, at least, only a few of them can.

Inspiration has been kind to me these past few years. Starting from 2015, when Sugu the squirrel gave me a slick smile and inspired me to write that children’s story. It seems he came to me accompanied by other ideas, and thus the novella, the short stories collection, and the novel emerged.

Long live my books!

How to lower stress levels

 

Studies show that watching a beaver eat cabbage lowers stress by 17%. But what about if you were acting like a beaver?! 

I read this headline and watched the video of a beaver eating cabbage, and I laughed. It all took me back in time. Me and my sis were sharing the same bedroom (to the comfort thesis that I see implemented by parents, I tell you – there are no shared memories if brothers or sisters have different rooms). It was an autumn night, and after switching off the TV, I found myself not being able to go to sleep and somehow… craving for cabbage.

Well, I guess I was not good at leaving things for the next day back then, either. So I went out of bed and went to the hall and opened the fridge. I took a couple of cabbage leaves and closed the fridge. But I did not go in the kitchen or anywhere else in the apartment to enjoy them. Instead, I returned to bed and started eating them. The crunching and munching woke my sister up, and she asked me to leave the bedroom and finish eating.

I guess my sister owes me a lot for reducing her stress levels. It seems I was quite the expert back then and I had no clue about it.

So watch a beaver or be a beaver, whatever suits you best. But make sure to lower your stress. It does wonders for your health.

Mistakes in communications

We all do it. There is no communicator out there that has not made a mistake. But everybody makes mistakes, and everybody must learn from them. Do remember: you need a plan. If you do not have a plan, please refer to this article to better understand its importance.

Here below is a list of the mistakes I encountered so far regarding internal/ external communications, and the interactions between employees:

•         Length

Sure, there are two issues when drafting a message. It’s either too long or too short. Thus, one must always consider the means. Should you post it on LinkedIn, make sure that the post is no longer than two-three sentences (short sentences, by the way). Otherwise, it will be ignored. And this applies to emails, press releases, and newsletters – always consider the length and adjust it according to the channels and audience.

•         The audience

One must always consider the public. I’ve seen tendencies to post on LinkedIn in the same manner as on Facebook. Just remember: for pictures of cats and dogs, cookies and flowers, there is always Instagram and Facebook. Professional must be kept professional.

•         Less is more.

Well, yes. If you think that sending three newsletters a week and another two every month is good for keeping an engaged communication with your employees, you are in a pickle. People have jobs, tasks, targets, agendas filled with meetings and conference calls, they do not have time to dedicate to easy-reading. Not whilst being at work, anyway. What you’ll succeed indeed by doing this is to make them filter your emails directly to the trash file. You don’t want to do that. Slow and steady wins the race, right?! It’s the same in communications. 

•         Hiring the right people

If a company used its resources (time, people) to find the right candidate to fill in an opening, the most sensitive thing about this should be that she/ he would be permitted to do the job. How many of you feel this is not the case?! I know it’s a question of control (letting go, that is). I keep receiving examples of this, when is clearly a case of not trusting the others. And yes, I agree, trust is something one gains during a period of time and when one sees results.

It is fairly frustrating for those who have been hired for the job and are hindered from doing it. And frustration leads to unsatisfied employees. Unsatisfied employees make unsatisfied clients.

•         Feedback

Since the day I first heard somebody mentioned this word, the organizational culture has not been the same. Don’t get me wrong, I value and encourage receiving feedback. But I am starting to feel that there only are two ways for it.

One – too much feedback.

Yes, you read this right. Some, not able to make decisions, have settled on solving issues with feedback. Thus, for every mere situation, feedback has to be collected from a considerate number of people. While, this could be seen as a democratic gesture, it is not. And more so, it’s a waste of time. For example, if we should let the people of a country vote for any proposal, the role of the main institutions would perish and so would the country. Sure, we need the people to give us direction, but there are certain institutions that have their proper roles and that should not be denied to them.

So it is with those that use feedback to mask their insecurities. Decisions must be promptly made (according to the situation, as well) and feedback must be considerately asked or given.

Two – ignoring the feedback.

Well, it’s no point in constantly asking feedback if one always chooses to ignore it. This is exactly as in the story with the boy that cried wolf. People will give you feedback, until one day when they will realize that it is in vain and they will decide to never do it again.

•         Kind reminder

Well, all the apps we’ve got constantly remind us that we are too busy. So much, that they even created an app to tell us it’s high time to move, to drink water and to take some steps.

The same for kind reminder emails. They are constantly used to remind a certain person the need of a reply still exists in the sender. While I don’t blame people who do not reply at the first ‘kind reminder’, I do do it when a fourth one is sent.

•         WACAMA

One of my husband’s former boss taught him this. And it strikes me as wonderful advice, too.

WACAMA stands for walk, call and email. Thus, in matters of emergency, we must firstly, walk and have a face-to-face discussion, and then call and send emails. One can’t always get to the office of the person one needs to clarify things with, but sending emails has grown upon us and, somehow, we fail to connect and keep a professional relationship with others. Just by sending emails, we think we have done our jobs and all we have to do now is to wait for the reply.

Keep in mind – when it is an emergency, don’t just send an email. You have two other steps before doing that.

The Peak of Luxury during Weekends

To wake up and read a couple of pages from a book, or to watch a movie or an episode from your favorite series.

And then, to go back to sleep.

The Peak of Luxury

 

Morning. I look out of the window to the haze so dense that it could almost be spread on bread, like the cheese in the famous TV spot. I squinted my eyes, trying to see if it started raining.

And that’s when the realization dawned on me. The peak of luxury is to be able to sit at home while outside is raining.

Adventures … at the Romanian Post Office

You know me, I am the one with the adventures. I keep gathering and gathering them, and sometimes I even put them in writing.

A few months ago, a friend of mine wrote about how she made the decision of never using again the services of the Romanian Post Office. And I agreed with her on that. Mostly, in hindsight of what had happened to me a few weeks before her post.

Last summer, I was on holiday through the country (needless to mention that I have gathered enough material for the continuation of the Adventures of tourists). We arrived in Timisoara and we were enchanted to see it looked more beautiful than it did nine years ago.

I wanted to buy some postcards with main sights from Timisoara and to send them in Romania and abroad. Every souvenirs shop or bookshop I entered, that sold postcards, did not also sell stamps. Everyone directed me to the Romanian Post Office. So I did not buy postcards and decided that I would buy them all, postcards and stamps, from a post office. I must admit that I must have got this idea (of buying from the same place stamps and postcards) from my trips abroad where I was able to do it (even though not even today did the Romanian Post Office delivered to Cluj-Napoca a postcard that I had sent last year from Madrid).

Finally, I was able to find a post office, and the queue outside was not that long. Two girls were in front of me so I waited patiently for my turn. Another girl made the queue behind me and no sooner than one client exited the office that she went for it and cut the queue and entered the office. Probably, because all of us were wearing masks, she thought no one would dare to open their mouths. I did not. That’s also because the two girls in front of me took the situation in their own hands and went after her and pulled her out. When she exited, accompanied by the two girls, there was a certain smile on her face, like she had just received flowers. That got me thinking that this was not her first attempt to cutting a queue.

When it was my turn, I entered and went straight to the office to my right, where I saw from the outside that everyone stopped. I asked for stamps, but the lady there brutally intervened and sent me to another office, mentioning that she was very busy and that all the people standing outside should know better than to keep disturbing her. I wanted to make a suggestion and tell her that she could place a note in front of her office and thus making it easier for her and the clients, but I reckoned from the tone she used that she knew better.

I advanced towards the other office and asked for stamps for Romania and France. A picture hang next to the office, showing a POS and encouraging payment by card. That’s good, I told myself. I also asked for postcards of Timisoara. The lady looked at me confused and told me that they do not sell such things. I took out the card to make the payment but she told me that stamps cannot be paid by card, only cash. Probably is the mobility feature that stands in the way, I told myself. So, here I was, leaving Timisoara with no postcards, but with stamps.