According to Barbara Kovach in Survival on the Fast Track, there comes a time in the career of every ambitious person when it is necessary to slow down a bit. The Reason is this: At some point in your race up the ladder, some insecure-yet-powerful senior managers will begin to see you as competition. They will begin to focus on your flaws and look for reasons to push you off the track. Though your opinion once counted, you may begin to be ignored.
1. Give up a competitive orientation for cooperative one.
2. Develop interpersonal rather than achievement-oriented skills.
3. Replace an emphasis on substance with one style.
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In his insightful book on Personal Management, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Covey points out that many of the tasks we occupy ourselves with are unimportant, clutters, and may even be time wasting. He goes on to distinguish urgent from important in respect of our schedules.
“Urgent matters are usually visible. They press on us; they insist on action. They are often popular with others … they are pleasant, easy, fun to do but so often they are unimportant…Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes to your mission, your values, and your high priority goals.”
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Richard Rorty wrote that witty line which serves a good title on this post. Alas, how true! Satirically true. Ironically, if there is something that we always do well, and enjoy doing consistently, are those activities we do on weekends. On the job, or in our career pursuits, it is a different story. Don’t you know that half the enjoyment of life comes from doing things well. How frustrating it is just to settle for a half-done or mediocre job!
Most of us recognize there are some things we will never learn to do well, and it probably doesn’t make any difference whether we do or not. But our primary goals –those which- we set to accomplish in our careers or business –can be achieved with excellence.
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I am so tempted not to leave a post today, for it has been a very hectic week. 
But i knew, if I succumb to that temptation, it will be my first step to do it over and over again. I know myself that well, that when I succumb to a situation like that and have a nice justification, everything will start to crumble again. Ah! The will. The patience. “God give me patience -I need it NOW!”
Anyways, let me ask again: How well do you know yourself? Was it Shakespeare who wrote in the famous Hamlet: Know thyself?Learning to know yourself is not easy. One way of course is to know how you use your time and prioritize. And there is also a need for us to accept ourselves, who we are, including accepting our failings. We play a lot of roles everyday. We play the role of a professional, a boss, a father, a friend, a driver, and so on and so forth. All these roles entail functions and responsibilities and are governed by set of rules and standards. We need to accept those terms too. Can we?
Each is unique. Each to his own. Different people have different energy levels and require different amounts of time to rest and think. (Darn. It’s Saturday. Am I not supposed to be skin diving somewhere?) One person can’t perform on less than 8-hour sleep, while I can make it through the day with only an hour of sleep. The point being, one person may find the lack of sleep emotionally draining while the other finds it exhilarating. Each to his own. Do you know your limitations?
What is important is knowing yourself by recognizing your limitations and harnessing your gifts and strengths. If you know your impediments, work something out to make them into assets, rather than liabilities. Evaluate your daily routines at work, at play or at home and learn to put more efforts where you are failing. These things are easily done if you pause once in a while to reflect about or analyze your strides, goals, dreams, roles and motivations.
So, how well do you know yourself? Tell me, what have you done to really find out who you are?
According to Barbara Kovach in Survival on the Fast Track, there comes a time in the career of every ambitious person when it is necessary to slow down a bit. The Reason is this: At some point in your race up the ladder, some insecure-yet-powerful senior managers will begin to see you as competition. They will begin to focus on your flaws and look for reasons to push you off the track. Though your opinion once counted, you may begin to be ignored.
