Joe (the plumber) scores a well paying job with great benefits. He rubs his hands with glee, and could not wait to get started. 4 years later he starts thinking – where am I going in this job? What does the future hold for me? I can see people moving up around me, but the pace of my ascent isn’t anywhere close to theirs – why is that so?

Over the last 10-15 years, a large majority of people between their early 20s to early 40s have learnt to move jobs when the situation does not suit them well. This is a major shift from the generation of our parents and grandparents, where they held one job in the entirety of their career.

Obviously, if you are someone who is moving jobs often within a period of ten years, it implies that you are a disposable resource. Yes I have to agree that in today’s day and age, the ability to earn more is probably more important than loyalty. And yes, loyalty works both ways – I know. My point however is focused on the people who are classed as disposable.

In the majority of cases, there is one common factor which separates the assets from the disposables – the ability to step out of the comfort zone. Nothing has ever been achieved in cruise mode, and nothing ever will be. In order to progress with the vision that you have in your mind, you have to push yourself that 10% harder than what you think your limit is.

Far too often, people want to sit where they are, wait for opportunities to turn up, and then decide if they are game or not. Personally, I have yet to experience or read about anyone who has succeeded in a career via that approach, and the good money says that they won’t either.

Lesson number 3 in making yourself an organizational asset – The rady made path is full of unknowns which you have no control over. Take risks, create your own destiny, and with time become the pillar which is crucial to any organizational structure.

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Follow and read all the 10 post series [here].

There is one thing which I have learnt the hard way in life. Ok, maybe for the first 25 years in life, but nonetheless learnt it the hard way – Education.

Education in my books does not necessarily mean going to school, hitting the books, or getting a masters degree. Education means asking questions, observing, and taking note of what happens around you. Over the last 5 years, I have learnt that listening to what people say, watching how they do things, and raising your hand when asked “any further questions?” is the best way of learning.

Far too often, people wonder – “Is my question stupid? Will the others smirk at me because I may not have understood something? Why didn’t I get it, and the others did?”. Here’s a newsflash – the way you progress and become someone depends on the actions you take. As humans, each one is programmed in a unique manner, and very rarely are any two people alike. So when you have an opportunity to learn in any shape of form, you HAVE to go for it. So what if your question was stupid? Perhaps you will understand a concept better because you had an embarrassing situation to learn from – that in my eyes is worth more than conforming to the norm. From personal experience, I have been called annoying, over inquisitive, and have pushed one too many buttons at the wrong times. The fact remains though – I have learnt more by asking the stupid questions rather than the uber intelligent ones.

Education does not stop there either. I am a huge advocate of gaining skills through training and personal development. It does not hurt to pick a book, and add those qualifications against your name – your employer will look at it as a sign that you are developing yourself, and are keen to progress.

Finally, the best way to be a surefire asset to your organization is to live and breath your job during those hours of 9-5. What I mean by that, is to take interest and learn the ins and outs of what you do. Observe and know what the related processes are to what you do, and be aware of the responsibilities of those around you; you never know when and how this knowledge will help you progress.

Education keeps the mind fresh and active – regardless of where you stand on the career ladder. The stronger your desire to learn, the greater the possibility and moving up and becoming that invaluable person within the organization.

You  can read all 10 posts [here].

Once upon a time long long ago, in 2004, I graduated from university with a degree in Computer Science. Now this was a very generic degree, and I wasn’t quite sure where I would be going from there. It is at that point that I sat down and made my first 5 year career plan. My career plan was a basic set of incremental steps of learning and gaining experience doing what I enjoy.

Looking back at the last 5 years, I can see a difference between who I was then and who I am now. My job is something what I enjoy doing, and I work with generally decent people. However, regardless of what your job is – whether you are self employed or work for an organisation, it is very important to stand out within the structure that you work in. One doesnt have to be the star of the show, but I believe that each person should have that little something else which makes you stand above the rest and turn you into someone priceless.

So, to mark the end of the first 5 year plan, I will present to you what I have learnt in my young career; I will present to you my top 10 ways on how to make yourself an organisational asset. This series of posts is an open forum, and I invite you to join in and contribute in the form of comments or actually writing posts for this blog. If you want to write something for this series, put your post together in a word document or an email and send it to me on biscuitinabasket[at]googlemail[dot]com.

I will use this post as a starting point, and the 10 (or more) posts will all be listed here by the end of the series. I also have 3 guest bloggers lined up already, so look forward to their posts too! The first post in this series goes out on Sunday! Watch out for this, and join in and looking forward to your contributions via comments or blog posts!

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Lesson number 1 – Education [Click here, and read all about it!]

Lesson number 2 – The box [Click here, and read all about it!]

Lesson number 3 – Take off the safety [Click here, and read all about it!]

…. I have been incredibly slammed with work, wedding planning and studying for a certification. Oh, and I am looking to switch jobs. It’s been hectic, and I miss blogging incredibly, yet comitments are not going to make me give it up.

I am facing a very bizarre situation at work where I am taking orders from anyone and everyone. Heck, I might start giving orders too. Speaking of giving orders, we have a newbie in our team…. this after our MD said that we have no budget to give me a raise. Why do I need a raise? Well, considering I have been performing all tasks which are done by our senior staff for the best part of a year, perhaps I should be paid like one too!

A few months ago, this situation would have thrown me into a corner, and I would be feeling really sorry for myself. The thing which has made a difference is the additional responsibility in a few months. As progressive a person I would like to think myself to be, I still find negative scenarios at work very demoralizing. I have an interview today within the company I currently work with, for a role which I already do! Would you blame me for looking elsewhere?

I read an article today (thanks to my fiancee), which made me realise  that any and everyone besides the management at work think I am doing a great job; the management just don’t know what I am doing.

I’ll leave you with the article entitled: “Every worker should be a C.E.O of something” – I pride myself in taking greater responsibilities at work, and reading the article makes me realise that I just have to keep at it and the results will start turning up too.

Right…. time to prep for the interview…. by completing my next task.

<rant>

The lack of tolerance that some people have in day to day life really startles me; what people think is not really my business, but far too often people dont stop for a moment to think what the situation would be when the shoe is on the other foot.

People make trivial decision as part of their day to day tasks, and usually there is some level of logic involved in how they came to that decision. However, as part of ‘self-improvement’ their judgment is questioned and occasionally, a better method of action is suggested. Simple statistics tell us that people will probably acknowledge the suggestion at first but expletives muttered under their breath are not uncommon. Why? Well, because “what does the other person know what I was talking about!”.

Suggestions are made because a scenario is viewed differently from another set of eyes. In the same way certain things are done differently in different cultures, communities and societies. It is important to observe these differences and either integrate or accept into these. “Illogical” objections will just make you look silly!

The ultimate example of this is the 3minute video below, where the difference between logic in one part of the world seems like nonsense another!

</rant>

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K5SycZjGhI

Resolutions for the new year – have you kept yours as yet? More importantly, how many have you broken already?

I’m not sure what resolutions are meant to be. For me, resolutions are things to look forward in the year to; I don’t believe in working hard to achieve them, they have to be something which occur as part of my natural routine of life.

I have great expectations from 2010. 2008 and 2009 were horrible and decent years respectively, but this is what I am looking forward to in 2010:

1. Getting Married – For the longest time in my existence, I have thought of myself as someone who is slightly held back when it comes to being in the relationship. Then I met my fiancee, and she brings out my quirks, behaviors and mannerisms which generally stay shut away somewhere. Together, we can switch between multiple mental ages to deal with the challenges of life – that is what makes me love her even more, and I cannot wait to begin our life together in 2010.
2. Growing up – In 2010, I hope to ascend to a higher level of maturity; working hard on our marriage, managing our home, and pushing hard and upwards in my career – these will no doubt help me think about things from a more mature perspective; let’s hope that maturity does begin to kick in too.
3. Being part of the 8 Day Academy – This is something which I really am looking forward to. Find out more about the 8 Day Academy [here] and [here]. I am a huge advocate of education, and 2010 is earmarked as the year where more should be done to educate women. Education doesn’t translate to reading a book and passing exams; education is about having the ability to use any and every skill you have to move ahead and achieve in life. The 8DA aims to achieve this and raise awareness in communities that you don’t have to be book smart to be someone.
4. Stepping up a level or two in my career – Four and a half years as a professional, I am closing in towards the end of the 5 year plan. The time has come to start a new chapter, and progress up the ladder; I haven’t had a niche path in my career to date, but a solid career is built up on a particular specialization and add-ons are always a bonus around it – this is the plan for the next 5 years.
5. Traveling to new places – I haven’t had many opportunities to travel to new places, partly because I enjoy company when I travel. Starting this year, I will have that permanent companion with whom we can “see the world”!
6. Reading more books – One thing is absolutely certain – we are going to have a massive bookshelf at home – the both of us are readers and collectors of good books and publications. One aim this year is to read more than the 10 or so books which I read last year.
7. Achieving new qualifications – I love to study in bursts; being a huge believer in keeping life moving and refreshing your career, I really think constant education plays a huge part in shaping ones career. In 2010, I will be working on gaining 2 PRINCE2 certification.
8. Attending TEDx or even the TED global event – I have attended one TEDx event [TEDx London] and watched a huge number of [TED talks]. These are inspirational messages and words from people who are unique revolutionaries. In 2010, I will be looking to meet these speakers and swap ideas in person. The TED and TEDx  events are massive networking opportunities and provide an avenue to gain inspiration and insight to the rest of the world.
9. Meeting new people from twitter – I met almost 30 people, from twitter, in person in 2009; most of them were excellent personalities, and some outright strange and weird. The fact that I am typing this post is an assurance that I havent met a serial murderer tweeter so far. I loved the tweetup in Dubai, and it was great to put names and faces together, and also swap contact details with a couple of people.
10. Being happy – The biggest and most important thing which I want from 2010 is to be happy. The last 3 years have progressively worn out my happiness, and I have met and hope to spend my life with a person with whom I know I can be happy. Happiness will be achieved by keeping things simple, and staying humble; I trully believe that it is as simple as that.

What things are you looking forward to in 2010?

Composure under pressure is something which many people struggle with. This story from the road brings about with it a very similar tale.

Work has been extremely hectic over the last few weeks, and most of us are working atleast 6 days a week, and probably working more hours a week than we should be. As we approach the holiday season, fatigue and weariness kicks in, and people will perhaps demonstrate behavior which is attributed to the symptoms of tiredness.

I was in Zurich with a colleague of mine, working on a fragile client [let's call them Client A]. When we were not in Client A’s offices, we were stowed away safely in our hotel rooms – my colleague working on Client B and myself working on Client C. Client A work lasted between 9am and 7pm, and Client B and C work took place between 10pm and 1am. I think it is safe to say that we may be overworking ever so slightly!

While in Client A’s office, we were faced with a challenging proposition. The people who were supposed to attend the sessions were the CFA, his assistant, and a graduate student who was learning on the job. Over the course of the two days, the three were never in the room together; infact, the graduate spent more time with us, and with his lack of knowledge of the organisation or software, and high amount of ignorance resulted in the graduate winding up the CFA and the client claimed that the software did not do what they were sold by our sales team.

What followed can only be described as surreal.

Half way through day two, the CFA stormed into the meeting room and had a very heated exchange with my colleague. The end result was that my colleague refused to work under unacceptable pressures and conditions which the client was putting us under, and decided that we could not continue the session. Under her guidance, we packed our bags and left Client A’s office.

Emergency conversations then began between my colleague, the management of Client A and our company management. 30 minutes of talking later, we walked out of the -4C cold into the relative warmth of the meeting room. The CFA and his assistant re-appeared, and we completed the session over the remaining two hours.

I found the entire experience very very funny. The two people involved handbags at ten paces were highly experienced and senior people, but they couldn’t quite operate with any degree of composure when the going got tough. I guess I don’t quite know how it feels to have that sort of pressure applied on me directly, but perhaps it is the approach that both the CFA and my colleague should have reconsidered.

Fire cannot always be fought with fire in a professional environment, and perhaps 2 steps back is sometimes the actual way forward.

Look at the difference in size between the two fighters…

Nikolai Valuev (left) standing at 7ft2in, weighing 316lbs(144kg). David Haye (right) standing at 6ft4in, weighing at 218lbs(99kg). On Saturday night, they fought for the WBA heavyweight championship belt; the fight was an absolute mis-match. Any guesses who won?

If you guessed David Haye – you are spot on!

David versus Goliath is a term which is used very frequently, and while watching the re-run of the fight on Sunday morning, I saw, possibly for the first time, what this term actually meant!

Saying that, we face the David vs Goliath scenario far more frequently in our day to day activities than we think we do. The way we deal with it – well, it is different for each person. A lot of people freeze in this moment, a lot of us want to take a step back; perhaps we underestimate our ability against the situation we face.

Life has been kind to me [sarcasm] … it has dealt a huge number of challenges, pretty much on a week on week basis;watching the fight on Sunday morning and keeping on top of the buildup to the fight over the last month, I can compare some of my experiences to those employed by David Haye to become world champion. These are my top 5:

1. Respect the task at hand; there is nothing like slipping to failure because of overconfidence.
2. Maintain a positive intent, but be conservative in your approach.
3. Talk the talk, but don’t forget to walk the walk.
4. Ask questions. No matter how stupid they are, have the balls to ask questions.
5. Focus on profiting in whatever you do. Profit is in terms of results or experiences in both success or failure.

I’m sitting watching the paint dry on the walls, as I wait for the various bits of maintenance tasks to finish on my PCs. I couldnt help but think of my first full time job…. as an IT guy. Well, technically I was a software developer, but in a 4 people team -- I was an IT guy. I saw this video a few days ago, and it reminded me of the 200 or so blessed souls in that organization… Do try and enjoy it!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J9-Qr7oz-4

I picked this up from Seth Godin’s blog; they say that one should practice what they preach…. I’m glad that this is something which I definitely do… do you?