Reflecting on 2009

2009 has not been the best year for me, but indeed, I have grown as a person, learned new things from work, made new friends and went places, so I am not going to complain.

There are a few things that I want to take from 2009 and bring forward into 2010:

"It's not about being Miss Popular"
-- this is what my boss told me once. I was quite upset at first, but I realize he was right. I do have a tendency to get on everyone's good side. Whenever someone made a mistake, missed a deadline, delivered below expectation......I would try to listen, understand and be considerate towards his/her situation(potentially an excuse). I guess that's why people like me, but I have learned through the hard way that this is a no-no at work, because people tend to take advantage of you when you are nice. I need to be firm with my position, and make it clear to people that I mean what I say, instead of letting them manipulate me back. I need to care less of what others would think of me (I don't think people give a damn anyway) and just get the job done. Some might be unhappy, but I think they would at least respect me for doing my work.

"Follow up, follow up, and follow up again"
-- the exact thing that I need to do with myself and everyone else. One should never assume that people will do exactly what they are being told, or something will be done correctly according to instructions. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong -- the absolute truth with all the projects that I have worked on so far. Therefore, no shame in being a broken record, repeating yourself over and over again, because something will definitely go wrong, and it's always better that you know it earlier than later.

"Failure is not an option."
-- a very important attitude that I need to have to succeed. I have been doing alright in life, but I have not succeeded. One of the reasons might be my not giving 110% in the things I do. I have allowed myself to have reservations, and hence the excuse/option to fail. I had turned a blind eye towards problems and run from difficult situations because I was afraid of failing, not realizing that the act of running away is already choosing to fail. There is a Chinese idiom "破釜沉舟 (po4 fu3 chen2 zhou4)" which means cutting of one's way of retreat and be determined to fight to the end, and this shall be the spirit that I must have and follow from today onwards in everything that I do.