Don't just exist, Live

I'm 38 this year. I am not a successful person but I'm a responsible person. I am responsible for my family (my parents, husband and children). I questioned if I have been good enough to myself. 

Whenever a friend shared how poor life is, I tend to advise to live a life without too high an expectation. Whatever you have today, it will be sufficient. I reflect on my life. I earn decently to give my parents more than enough money for their living expenses. My salary allows me to take the family out for trips once a year. I don't splurge on materials. Sometimes, I take time off from family and work and detox through running or just spending a day with myself. But that is rather infrequent. I focus much on achieving the work deliverables and ensure the children have fun during weekends and the house is comfortable to stay. 

Looking back in my years after graduation, I spent 1 year in a logistics firm where I picked up Excel skills which were my key strength for the next few years. I stayed close to 5 years in a sinking shipping company and I didn't realise I should move out earlier. I enjoyed the friendships and got entrusted to take on 2 mega ambitious projects. I liked it that way because I felt I was appreciated but my salary didn't progress. This is my weakness, I'm easily satisfied. I moved on to another position and built up my analysis skills and IT project mgmt. I was blessed with a nurturing boss who opened up an opportunity for me to pick up consulting skills from peers and then she nudged me to move out before I became stale. The next move allowed me to be exposed to emerging technology, industry development and strategic planning work. But it didn't last because of the change in leadership. For one thing, I'm very sure, a visionary leader who can chart a clear direction is important to inspire and motivate my job. I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone and leave the job. I spent my last 2 years on the tourism industry and unknowingly I become more and more user-centric in my thought process. It's evident in the way I conceptualised the programmes or rationalised a piece of work. 

Summing up my last 15 years, climbing up the corporate ladder had never been my focus. I was not ambitious. I enriched my life with new skills every 2-3 years and exposed to a variety of experiences from operations to tactical and strategic, from operational processes to business analysis, project management and consultancy. I set foot in a variety of industries including logistics, shipping, public sector, healthcare, pre-school, adult education, IT, security and tourism. 15 years are full of variety. It does add different colors and shade in my life. What about the next 15 years? I'm probably running late to anchor on one that truly matters. 

I want to get into a consulting role so that I can continue helping motivated companies to identify gaps and find a way out. 

What are my strengths and what to improve on?

My strengths are in conceptualisation and planning and I feel satisfied whenever I help people to crystalise their ideas and putting them into a form that they can visualise and have clarity in their thoughts. I love being exposed to different methodologies and design my own way of workshop. 

I'm a quiet person by personality who needs more effort to profile my work and skills. 

Authenticity

Someone once told me to leverage people around me for different reasons and help me achieve my goals. I've might not have been strategic in building relationships, but I keep in contact with people so that I can leverage them in future. I keep lukewarm relationships with people and sometimes check in with them to see how well they are doing to have a brief update. 

Shiying is someone who is more comfortable speaking to and interacting with one person privately. I am helpful and genuinely friendly if I decide to make friend with someone. I do not like superficial friendships and tend to stay away from networking, unless the goal is very clear and immediate. If I need, I will still step out of my introvert comfort level.