The one thing that I’ve learned is to keep cheonging (dashing) forward and not look back. Things have been moving pretty fast and furious for the past couple of months. My dedicated team has been very supportive and understanding. They cheong with me. They make things possible for us to move forward and not fall back.
I was told many times that I’m a bad businesswoman. I get eaten very easily by clients and because of the demand I put onto my shoulder, I cheong, break and then gets bitten. At times, because I want to get things done, after much delaying by unexpected situations, I will give in, and deliver more than what was planned for upon project confirmation. That means extra hours put in, more actions carried out and more money going out. I was scold “Stupid!”. How can I have let them take advantage of me like that? *dumbfounded* (Ok I digressed…)
When I say cheong forward and don’t look back, it doesn’t mean that you don’t review what your’ve done and just move blindly forward. The standard AAR (after action review) is still necessary, and learning from past experience and mistake is essential too. But don’t look back at what you were doing before, and then thinking whether or not you shouldn’t have taken that step forward. Don’t look back at the what ifs. Cheong for the why nots!
From my personal experience, here are some tips on cheonging forward:
- Keep a set of objectives and datelines (milestones), always set them at least a week in advance of actual plan, so that you’ll chase it and if chasing is delayed, there’s still time to make up the lost time.
- Take time to talk to your team. Move away from the work desks and get to a cosy corner. Talking and chilling out bonds the team and gives us all time to regroup and move faster.
- Too many meetings to attend and no time to work? Set aside ‘meeting slots’ on your weekly schedule. Once those slots are taken up, push the meetings to the following week.
- Move faster than your client.
- Use google calendar. Make your whole team to use it.
- Never turn down on any opportunities. You’ll never know what may come.
- Balance it, you’ll need both. – Do it for your portfolio and do it for the dough.
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Decade
