Just Do It

Easier said then done. Gym, cutting a bad habit, eating healthier, going to work, the list goes on. When you don’t feel like it there is nothing you can do, you just won’t do it. But actually there is indeed one thing you can do. Distract yourself! Yes, that’s the key.

Let’s say going to the gym. You don’t feel like it? How about you just get ready as you play your favorite pop CD? Don’t feel like it? How about you call your friend and talk to her/him as you are walking on the treadmill? Even better watch the news, catch up on audio reading. I guarantee, when you less expect, one hour has passed and you worked out.

How about eating healthier? You purchased the avocados and carrots and cabbages and broccolis and absolutely do not feel like eating it! Two tips: 1. don’t over boil your vegetables, not only they become less tastier, they also lose their vitamins. 2. Play your favorite show while eating that healthy snack. When you less expect it, you are laughing and eating.

The key to everything is in your mind, if you don’t feel like doing it, distract yourself and still do it.

Keep Reading

So you have taken a step bigger than your legs (literal translation, disregard! But you get the image right?) what next? Nothing is working. The bills are pilling up! You have blown your savings and the meeting with your previous visionary CEO was not fruitful. Your job search unsuccessful! What now? Put your pride behind and go ask for your previous job back? Yes or no?

If you say yes, nothing wrong with it. But three important things: 1. You must have guts to deal with the humiliation of going back. But will your bills get paid? Than screw it! After a month back, nobody remembers, only you. Which brings me to point 2. Will you be happy back? If nothing changed, you won’t be happy. You can self indulge and stick to it for stability and comfort. But 3. Will you leave again? How disloyal to leave, come back, leave again. Hey, if you don’t have a baby, are sick or in the army, please don’t! Have the minimum respect please!

But you, like me, said no to going back and asking for your job back! Now what? Well, like Frans Johansson says, you just keep moving. Three things again: 1. Get uncomfortable, swallow your pride and search everywhere. 2. Do not stay at home. In no circumstances stay at home. You will apply for maybe 3 jobs, then eat, then sleep and there – the day has passed. Do not stay at home. Go to a coffee shop, go to the library. Network! Get moving. 3. Read my blog. Lol! I’m joking. Number three is about not loosing touch. Just because you are not working doesn’t mean you have to disconnect. Stay up to date with your field news. Just because I left my company doesn’t mean I have to leave my professional organizations. Not only because they may have jobs leads, but also because they have the latest news on what’s going on in the HR world. Instill attend the luncheons, I no longer sit at the front with my previous company but I do sit with other people, exchange ideas and network.

It’s important you keep going. This is not the time for depression, surround yourself with positive people, attach to people who inspire you and keep moving, keep reading the book of life.

Apart: y’all know I’m writing this to keep myself motivated right? That’s another thing. Read positive authors, inspiring, motivators, keep at it and soon something will come!

Did I Grab The Right Book?

Did this ever happened to you? You grab a book you were reading, start the next chapter but it seems that its a new author. The style has changed. The story is new or is pulling too many references from previous books. you double check! Am I really reading the same book?

This is what I asked myself after two months into my resignation. My savings were getting low. The job offers I supposed were coming, did not come. Have I acted right? I shouldn’t have left! How will I survive?

I always tend to forget the past, but back in 2000, I lost my scholarship. Not because of my grades but because of a failure of agreement between my country and the company sponsoring the scholarship. Everybody in the scholarship left. In my second year of microbiology I decided to stay. My father as a politician would try his best to help me. But times got tough! Politics is so unpredictable! In few months he could no longer help. In a F1 visa you can’t work outside if campus. Campus jobs pay minimum wage! International students for school alone pay triple the cost Americans pay, plus living expenses.

To work off campus you must apply for authorization proving economic hardship and paying a fee above $500, an amount I didn’t have at the time.

So what do you do? You braid hair, work taking tickets at the football game, you clean and serve tables, you do honest work for cash. But it wasn’t enough! So you don’t eat food food, you eat bread with chips, you drink water and often go to bed hungry. You pray a lot, you fail your classes but you continue trying your best. You live by favors but you don’t give up!

There is so much more to that story, but a thing about me, I forget. I didn’t remember all this until I grabbed my memories book to write about the hardship I was going through now and saw things I wrote in the past.

All of a sudden the strength came back. I knew I had to stay motivated. If not for myself and other people I must inspire, for my children.

A common thing was that thou I didn’t see it, all my friends saw much talent in me. I knew I had skills, but my friends always saw more. So what did I have to do? Surround myself with good friends!

What did my friends say? Keep trying. Keep applying. Keep moving. Keep being yourself.

I wasn’t quite sure I got the right book, but the life book is like this. It makes you uncomfortable. It prepares you for more. So you just keep reading, at the end it will all make sense.

In Between Chapters

You finished reading a chapter, you want to go back to double check if you got the information or because you really liked that chapter. But you are pressed for time. You have an exam in nine days and you must keep going. You have to continue reading this book of life.

But take a break. Go get a snack! Don’t sleep for too long, don’t eat too much because it will make you want to go to sleep, and above all don’t waste your time!!!! It is ok to think about the last chapter, but don’t waste time you could be devoting to the new chapter thinking about the last chapter.

Time To Go

I have been trying to write this post since May 31. I have written it nine different times in my mind and never put it on paper. This because it is so difficult to express, it is so hard to explain, it is so emotional that I still haven’t come to grips with it. Yet it is easy to say – I left the job I loved and devoted my all to. I resigned from the company I believed in, and that I thought I was going to grow and retire at. Why? This is the difficult part! Why so difficult? Because of my dream, because of the people and above all because of what Dr. Marla Gottschalk calls Psychological Contract.

In 2011 I was hired onto a completely new field, for a company I knew nothing about or working with people completely different than I. After initial clashes, great friendships were made. A mentorship developed and a new career began. I loved it and still love it!

But after two years the career path remained undefined, the compensation below expectations, and the amount of work continuously increasing. But the engagement remain the same. The effort to leave people better than I found them was much higher than making money or growing in my career.

So what made me leave? One thing – my potential. I got so comfortable that I stopped developing my skills, I got so busy I couldn’t even study for a certification exam. But my friends could always see my potential and they kept pushing, but my friends don’t pay my bills!!!

I decided I was going to make my employer see more of my potential, they said they did, but it took long for them to demonstrate it, and after much pushing and practically begging I was given a choice: start a new position, but continue also performing the duties of the previous, and get a reasonable pay raise. Why not accept it?

Because of that breached psychological contract . How difficult! The awesome work atmosphere. The enjoyment of ones duty. The flexibility. The family oriented and so understanding team. Would I be able to find it again? Was I ungrateful for all they did for me? Was I weak? Was I a quitter?

So many things went through my mind but three things stuck out:

1. I never started a project I didn’t have in mind to finish. The new position was interesting. But if I continued to struggle I would have to continue searching for jobs, once one found I would leave. I did not want to start a project I wasn’t going to complete.

2. Did I really think I could grow in that company? How long would that growth take? I kept seeing my co-workers and i wasn’t impress! if you did not make part of operations you were screwed! puff to HR becoming a strategic partner, pretty on paper, tougher to become action. HR = support services. would I be able to move from support services? Would I be properly compensated?

3. Were my skills fully utilized? Was I fulfilling my purpose on earth?

At peace but fearful, sad but hopeful I left after crying for many days. Often I think about going back, simply for two things – my projects have been completely stopped, this hurts me so much. And there I had the comfort of a regular paycheck, insurance and great leadership. But when I think about going back an old co-worker quits, another complains, another is fired and slowly I am reminded of why I left.

It hasn’t been easy at all, I still want to run and ask my mentor questions and opinions, I still want to help “my guys” as I used to call them. I want to feel the comradery and work together towards a purpose, core values and goals I strongly believed in.

But I left, and I must turn the page for a next chapter.

FCR

August, The Personal Month

So much has happened, that I haven’t had the time to sit and truly express my feelings, analyze my actions and write down my lessons learned. I will do this in August! I will share with you and officially with me, why I left a job I loved so much, how the job search has been a struggle, how it has been interesting developing another skill of mine and how fearful I have been to take the next step.

All this to show that we can train ourselves not to be fearful, not to be prisoners of our own selves and above all, to be meaningful people of our societies.

August won’t be easy at all, but like I say, if is not easy it’s worthy. The introspection, the realization and admissions of mistakes will only allow growth. After all, in September I will be 34, and if I don’t get myself properly trained, I won’t have anything to make my children, parents or friends proud.

So, stay tuned for August posts because those will be emotional, will be inspiring, will be groundbreaking, and above all very personal.

Fake it until you become it!

As I continue discovering my way around a new world to me, here it is something that inspired me and hopefully will also inspire you.

Click this link to hear Amy Cuddy’s presentation. It’s less than 20 minutes. I promise you will enjoy it. Fake Until You become It

Salt & Lemon

There is so much to write about! Communication, when to leave, a whole week of a water challenge, a whole month of exercise challenge, a spiritual guide to happiness, religion training, and what do I wake up to talk about? Salt and lemon!!?

This because I’m trying new things that I will soon discuss here. I started insanity, I’m starting a diet! Hold up! Not a diet to lose weight, a diet in the sense of healthier food. I love to eat. I can eat almost anything, in the appropriate portions of course!

Yesterday I tried a spinach, with strawberry, eggs and pecan salad. It was delicious! But I noticed everybody around me (truth be told, including me) was using all kinds of different sauces with the salad – ranch, vinaigrette, Italian, etc.

It occurred to me, why not just salt and lemon? In matter a fact, add a bit of olive oil and pepper (if you insist) to the mix.

Wouldn’t that be better than all the sauces filled with preservatives and other ingredients one can’t even imagine? I know those are tasty, but so is salt, lemon and olive oil. In matter a fact, a tea spoon of olive oil, when used with moderation is good for your health. It lowers your cholesterol.

I grew up with that – salt, lemon (sometimes vinegar) and olive oil on my salads and it was delicious. It was not until the US that I started using all this sauces and forgot how a simple dash of salt and lemon can make my salads also taste good.

Why don’t you try it and train yourself to avoid the sauces that can overtake the taste of your salad ingredients and instead enjoy indeed a much healthier version of your salad seasoned only with salt, lemon and olive oil.

Trrrrrrrrimmmmmm

I’m not sure if your alarm clock sounds like trrrrrrrrimmm or not, mine does and I absolutely despise the sound!!! I hit the snooze button, hit it again and then I’m late!!!!

But, like everything in life, waking up also requires training. Train yourself and your biological clock will become your alarm. Everyday, rather you went out last night, you were extremely tired or even only slept one hour, your biological clock will have you up at the same time. But how?

Here is how, from today, get your body used to the mornings: 1, put the alarm clock away from your bed. To get to that snooze button, you would have to get up. 2, instead of the trrrrrimmm sound choose to wake up with a song that makes you shake. I like samba, others conga, hip hop, whatever makes your body move. 3, take a shower in the morning. This, for me, is the key. As soon as I get in the shower I’m good to go. 4, make you eat a fruit or drink a juice. Most people skip breakfast.

Guess what, your body wants it, if you get it used to it, it will become part of the routine, you would look forward to that shaking in the morning, shower and healthy breakfast instead of the 3, 4, or even 5 cups of coffee.

Again, nothing good is easy to do. If you have been drinking coffee for years, it’s an addiction that will be difficult to break, but give it a try. Youngsters in college, start now, make this your routine and enjoy your not listening to that trrrrrrimmm sound because your biological clock wakes you up automatically.

The Exact Portion

I have been residing in the United States since May 1998, and from day one I was extremely surprised with the sizes in this country. From the coke cups, to lunch plates or any other portions, Americans exaggerate!!!!!

Not all, but most! With excuses as “is the sauce” or “I needed to be full,” most of the society finds excuses for being overweigh and goes on diets, gym adhesions, but never truly tackles the issue.

I’m generalizing, but the issue, in my eyes, has to do with portions! Let’s look at Europeans, Africans, Australians and Asians. How many are overweight compared to Americans? Is their food any different from Americans? Au contraire! The sauces are richer, there is butter, a lot of fried food, but there is balance! Balance on quantities!

Take the picture above as an example, the smaller portion of the coconut pie, though it may not be very filling it is enough to satiate the desire for a sweet and complete balanced meal.

The secret is in training yourself to have moderation, training yourself to eat to enjoy the food, satiate the taste, but not stuff yourself until you are completely full.

Also, is about keeping busy. Europeans, Africans, all these people are extremely active, not necessarily exercising in a gym, but staying active at work, walking instead of driving, catching the bus, riding a bike, anything that helps you keep active!

So the secret, the key is in training yourself to be moderate with your meal portions, balance your plates and always be active. Not and easy thing to do, but doable.