Maine Weekend

This last weekend I was up at Ferry Beach in Maine. I've gone previous years with Cece and the kids. The first year being just the three if us with baby Cameron and no Maggie. It's amazing to see how much they've grown since there is this regular mark in time. I seem to end up going every other year so it's quite noticeable even though I see them tons in between. 

This year I had prepared and packed stuff to entertain myself - reading, knitting, notebook. Because last time the kids were just getting to the age where they wanted to go off on their own and hang out with the other kids. No more 24/7 attention. Which is great although sad when you're no longer the center of their universe. 

Well no worries this year. Maggie was besties with me all weekend. As you can see, we spent a lot if time exploring the beach in addition to coloring and games. 

A bit tired after two nights on a creaky bunk bed. And a little guy who would try to wake me up without waking up anyone else. He was a little like Winston - trying to get me to stop pretending to sleep and get up. 

The weather was great (no rain) although very cold for this time of year. And I've gotten to a point where I know a lot of the community that goes on this retreat. I felt like a wedding crasher since I don't go to the church or are even from the town. But I could blend in since most people would ask if you were from the "other" service or Lynn. There were two UU churches that share the same retreat weekend. And there are two morning services for Cece's church. 

Met a lot of new people. Including this one couple who has a side business selling stuff on Amazon - not ebay. I never even heard of this option and they make pretty good money. Plus they get to shop a lot. I'm toying with the idea since I still live bargain hunting as a hobby but have been changing my ways to limit the amount if stuff I have and money spent. But if I could make a little money for something I love to do, well that would be sweet. Still need to explore. 

Monday night I had a great time having dinner with my cousin who was up from CT for a week long workshop. What they were work shopping was very similar to what I've been learning about and starting to practice. A lot of cognitive behavioral and mindfulness stuff. It was nice to swap lessons learned and reinforce the path I'm on. 

What I'm really enjoying reading right now is the Harvard Business Review magazine. I check them out of my library since they are pricey and I'm trying to reduce the stuff I own. 

There are some great articles and tidbits on management and leadership that resonate with my style. I have a new staff member starting next month, coming in from another department in the company. He was also considering a start up company in the field of energy. After talking with me and thinking about it, he came back to me and said that he really liked how my department acts like an entrepreneurial company but within a larger established company that can provide security. That's helped me as a develop a more focused mission. Instead of being reactive to the million things that pop up each day. I'm starting to see that I'm heading up an academic/start-up unit. So that in turn focuses attention to trainings, processes, resource development and continued innovation. 

I was just saying I've always been attracted to the academic and teaching world but didn't like the disconnect with real world applications and relevancy. So this is a nice platform - directing relevant research and tapping into my teaching side. It's nice to figure these things out. It's all about the context!

Clinique

I have to say I've tried different make ups but I keep coming back to Clinique which was the first real make up I was introduced to when I was young.

I've been waiting for the bonus time to stock up on supplies and try out new products I've been interested in. I realized I could benefit from a compact as I make my way through the day. I'm trying out a new primer and replenished one of my favs - All About Lips moisturizer. I've been swabbing out the extra at the bottom of the pump to make it stretch. I'm also trying out bronzer. 

The most interesting purchase is the Dramatically Different Moisturizer Gel. I've used the yellow lotion for decades and found out I should be using the oil free version - which they call gel. The oil version aggregates the redness. If only I knew all these years!

And out of all this I got not three but four gift bags. This last visit (my third) I was commenting I loved the shadow of one set and the lipstick of the other set. And guess what?  As she was bagging up my purchases she secretly threw in one bag of each - two bags!  

How sweet was that?!  I also got a free full size face wash and a $10 gift card for Macy's over the course of my visits and the different deals going on.  So a nice little make up hall. I'm set for a long while now with all my goodies. 

Compliment Friday

Building on my last post, I'm realizing I'm really starting to see the position and role I am in and fitting into it.  If my 20s were exploring and my 30s were being comfortable in my skin, I think my 40s are turning into seeing who I am to others and being a leader (or at least finally realizing I am a leader).

Yesterday, I had to go to a project interview at the end of the day.  It was for a new hotel project in Boston and the principal couldn't attend.  So it was me and the project manager.  I was going to speak to sustainability, energy, LEED, etc.  I had no time to prepare and basically was debriefed on our Uber ride over to the interview.  Walking back to the office afterwards, the PM was ecstatic how wonderful it went.  He had been nervous, and although he prepared, he had wanted to prepare more and in the end, he didn't even use what he had prepared. 

I realized that I was more experienced in this role of interviewing than my colleague.  Not only from practice and going to more of these, but also knowing how these things work and understanding the feel and approach.  It's all about how you connect with your audience and a few key things you say.  I've been delegating the interview requests these days, since there are more than I can find time for, but I had said yes to this last minute request because I had just gone through interviews this week as an owner.  I'm on the building committee in my town and we were interviewing an owner's representative.  We had three finalists come in and it was amazing to see how different they were and it was a great example of what not to do and what to do.  So I wanted to take my lessons learned and apply it.  Now we just have to wait to see if we won the project.  The owner has a favorite company that is not us, so we are the underdogs.

And then this morning, I got this lovely email from another former staff of mine - he's in a different department now, after starting in mine.  He had applied to graduate school and was giving me an update of what schools had gotten back to him, and had included this paragraph:

"I can’t thank you enough for helping me throughout the process. The recommendations are a lot of work and a very important part of the application. Beyond that, you’ve taken an active role in my career development from my first days at [company name], through my move to New York, and now with this application. You’ve offered some great advice and were always willing to listen. Thank you for all of your efforts, you have done nothing but open doors for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better manager at the start of my career."

 

I'm finding that if I embrace my role as mentor and role model, all the work interuptions by staff and their demands turn from a negative to a positive and start to feed the battery instead of draining it.  I just heard a term last night, "Reckless Optimism".  It's the idea that it's good "to hope for the best and try your hardest, even though the odds might be against you."  And as I had shared in my little talk this week about time/self management, my constant reminder to myself is to live life with "grace and good humor".

 

Self Management

I'm on my way home after presenting a session this evening at work. It was on time management and was to a group of women engineers at work. 

I realized as I was sharing my lessons learned about figuring out the root habits to address that I was probably one of the most advanced professionally. That I was the role model. It's strange to realize that I've transitioned to this position in my career. Even though it has happened slowly over time. It was like that time in sixth grade when I realized my role with my parents had flipped when it came to math. And I'm just now finally feeling like an adult to be honest. 

I left work with one of my staff (technically she's in a different department now). And someone I know thinks of me as a mentor. She shared how she really found the talk useful and loved how I had weaved in personal anecdotes. It was one of these things that I could have easily spent a day on but only spent max two hours pulling together. I was practicing my good habit of fitting the time to the task instead of letting the task go on endlessly in search of perfection. The Parkison Law is at play. The other thing I talked about is decision fatigue and spotlight effect. Interesting to see the science behind things. 

Passport

I feel very vulnerable right now - I just sent my passport in to be renewed. I've gone through this process before but I've also been so conditioned to not let my passport out of my possession. 

4-6 weeks and maybe a little less and I'll be all set for my next 10 years. 

Whether you travel a lot or a little I think you should always have a passport. Or have never traveled abroad. You need one for the possibilities. 

Hump day morning

Last night I was silently willing my staff to go home but I had a few folks working late which prevented me from implementing my April fools plan. 

I finally gave up and left for my committee meeting which was back home and when that ended at 9 I drove back into the city - popped up to our department and swapped out the name tags. 

4 minutes!  It only took me four minutes and a 20 minute drive each ways. That's how committed I am. I didn't mind since I've missed my car and had a good podcast on - Invisibilia which is an off shoot from This American Life.

You see I had an 8 am meeting in my town which precluded me from getting in before everyone this morning. 

But I just found out the meeting is on May first. Opps. The upside is that while waiting for my bus I ended up chatting with another young woman and as we were boarding the bus she gave me the nicest compliment, "I love your style. It's so classic". A double win. 

And I had been running out the door and had to let go that my gloves hat and bag where not the right combo.  It's the Paris jacket. I think this reinforces the idea that I need to make a pilgrimage every year to the fashion city.