growth

Welcome 2023

2023-01-02 By Sachin Leave a Comment

2022 in review

At the end of last year, I entered 2022 without a plan and just let things happen.

As it turned out, I still didn’t:

Finish my M.Sc. project
Get a new job, or
Start a new business

So it was not much different to 2021 when I did have a plan. Maybe this year would be better… or I’ll just give up and do something different.

At least things opened back up from the pandemic lockdowns. Masks are gone, and large gatherings are back. I never thought I would miss in-person events, but I did. I started reconnecting with my networks, which still required some effort on my side.

I started to be a little more assertive and purposeful with my actions, and it seems to be working. I’m still not as productive as I want to be, but even that I’m questioning – why do I want to be so productive? And productive doing what? I need to choose better at what I want to be productive at.

After many years, I finally started my technical blog at essgeelabs.com. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but often never felt prepared. I just did it. Now I need to keep at it.

I still feel a bit burned out but took a little time to enjoy myself. Don’t know how much of a difference that made, but I want to do more of that.

The plan for 2023

Unlike last year, I do want to have a plan.

Start back my business

I’ve held back on this too long. I’ve grown comfortable, but also afraid. It’s time to face both and do something greater.

Become more active

Whether it’s my community or saving the planet, there is too much good to be done.

Travel

The pandemic is over… mostly, and travelling is back. I was never a big traveller, but I need to expand my mind some more. So I want to do a bit of travelling this year.

Close off loose ends

Whether it’s my M.Sc. project or unread books, time to simplify my life and focus on really important things. This could be bringing things to completion or saying I’ve never going to complete it and end it. Not going to waste the space on my ever-growing to-do list.

I do think that 2023 is going to be a better year for me, if only that it helps me to set a new direction for my life.

Cooking and Growing

2022-09-08 By Sachin Leave a Comment

I like cooking. I’m not particularly good at it, or very fast, but I like to do it anyway.

There’s something about taking a set of ingredients that all have a certain taste and putting them together to get something totally different. That act of creation seems almost magical.

It has helped me in so many ways to better myself.

Patience

Cooking takes time, especially for me. I take particularly long to cook, mainly because of my lack of experience so I’m very measured with my techniques. I don’t rush, and it helps me to be patient with myself and the elements that I’m working with.

Planning

If I’m cooking something I spend time researching and figuring out the ingredients and recipe for making that item. I don’t follow a single recipe, but instead, look at different ones, and using some basic understanding of how the cooking process works, develop my own. And I’m always checking and rechecking what I’m doing.

It means that I use measurements for everything, that way if something comes out well, I can follow this again in the future.

But even then, I change things next time because I like…

Experimentation

I tend to cook different things, rather than cooking the same thing over and over. And even if I’m cooking something I’ve done before, I try to see if I can make it better by trying a different technique or changing the ingredients.

I don’t particularly know if this will make me a better cook, but I like new experiences.

Enjoying the work

There’s a meme that says two hours to cook a meal that you’ll finish in 15 minutes and then you have all the dishes to wash.

When I’m cooking I’m not considering the work, but enjoying the practice. I’m not thinking about my problems and what I’m going to do about them, but I’m focusing on the task at hand.

It’s sometimes a welcomed release.

Delayed gratification

I tried baking cassava pone instead of buying it like I’m accustomed to. This takes a lot of time and effort to grate the ingredients, mix them, and bake them. In all, it took around 4 hours. And, it didn’t come out all that great, but I enjoyed the taste of my own labour at the end, and it tasted great.

In a world where everyone wants something instantly, cooking something from scratch is a change. Every time I cook, I’ve learned to wait to enjoy something I really like.

Facing failure

While making my pone, I got really excited about preparing the ingredients. It was coming along so well and I could barely contain myself.

Then while it was baking, the edges cooked nicely while the centre started to look really dry, which was not expected. I started to get anxious and disappointed that it wasn’t shaping out as well as I hoped. And while I hoped that somehow it would even out, it didn’t.

I was sad, but I resolved to try again as I still had ingredients left to make another batch. I didn’t let this failure get me down. However, it turned out that it tasted really good after all, so I was worked up for no reason.

Learning about myself

Cooking has allowed me to learn a little about myself. On how I approach things. About my creativity. My willingness to try something new, even if it means failing, but also seeing the successes.

It has allowed me to test myself and is a pretty good analogy for the rest of my life where I don’t often feel confident in many areas. If only I can face all those challenges the same way I approach a new recipe – with excitement and a sense of wonder.

Uncertainty in life

2021-10-04 By Sachin 2 Comments

After a series of unfortunate decisions, I found myself unemployed

Uncertainty is scary. Like driving in rainy weather, in the dark, and your lights are not working that well. But even when things look bleak, you can make it through.

Back in 2007, I was speaking to a good friend of mine. He wanted to start a business, and we talked about working together. But I wasn’t ready for something like that at that time, so he went ahead without me.

Three years later, in October of 2010, I thought I was ready and decided to join my friend to work with him in the business. The thing is, while I expected this to be a partnership with him, he had totally different expectations. I ended up being an employee at significantly reduced pay.

So, I left. And now I had no job.

That was in December. I took the time to enjoy Christmas and refresh my resume for a job search in the new year.

In January, an old client called me and asked me to do a job for them. I gave them a price, they agreed, and that’s how I started my consultancy business.

That first year was the most I ever made in my life up till then. I was in my glee.

But it was downhill after that. I could never replicate the first year’s success, and subsequent feast and famine cycles started to take a toll on me.

Am I really cut out for this? Should I go back to a steady job?

Those were the questions in my head.

Knowing that I had a family to take care of didn’t help me feel better about things.

I felt scared. I felt angry. I felt hopeless. I felt useless.

That went on for years.

Then one day, I was doing some work for a company when the manager who hired me got promoted. I asked if I could apply for his position, and he said to send in my resume. I got the interviews. And I got the job.

At first, I felt ashamed that I didn’t make it in my business. But I focused on getting the job done. Learning from it. And saving as much money as I could.

It’s been almost 5 years, and I think I’m ready to make another move. But again, uncertainty is scary. Really scary.

I’m sure many of you feel the same way. I’ve been certain, to uncertain, to certain, to uncertain, to certain and back to uncertain again. The cycle never stops.

But that’s the point.

You may be in a situation that you’re uncertain about now. But this too shall pass. Take time to learn and prepare yourself for the next step. And something will come along to give you certainty once again.

I’ve always thought that T&T must have the best drivers. Do you know why? Because you’re constantly dodging potholes, bad drivers, and dead animals. Smooth roads don’t make skilled drivers.

The road of life is not smooth. It’s potholed, winding and filled with bad drivers. But adversity and uncertainty have made you skilled.

Just keep driving, and you will make it out to more extraordinary things.

Same ole, same ole

2021-05-04 By Sachin Leave a Comment

Currently, I’m studying for the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) exam aiming to get back certified as many of them expired through the years.

But I was thinking, “why am I doing this?”

The answer is easy – it’s what I have always done.

It’s familiar and comfortable. It’s an area that I’ve been in for some time, and easy to keep going.

Is this a good answer, though? I’ve been really unhappy recently and want to change things. So why am I doing the same things I’ve always done and going in the same direction that I am going?

I could say that it’s because I have all these responsibilities that I need to continue to fulfil. After all, I do like what I do. But the answer is really that change is hard and scary, and it’s easier to be safe.

I should let go of those attachments and do something different. Try something new. Pursue other interests.

Some front-end design. A little artwork. Grow a kitchen garden. Build a robot.

There are so many other things to do out there; why stick with something that I somehow, by chance, got into.

So that’s what I’m going to do. Something different. Something new.

But first, let me complete the CISM. It’s still good to have a backup.

Letting others move on

2020-08-21 By Sachin Leave a Comment

One of my team members resigned yesterday. It was sudden, but not unexpected.

I am always aware that any members of my team could decide to leave at any time. I try as best as possible to challenge them and help keep them engaged. I’m not always successful.

One of the staff members asked me if we offered him any counteroffer or an incentive to stay. I said frankly that I wouldn’t do something like that. I have never made a counteroffer to anyone. While I may be sad, maybe upset, to see someone leave, I have to believe that they are doing what is best for them. I would not come in the way of their happiness.

Further, someone leaving, especially at a reasonably senior position, opens an opportunity for a junior person. Why take that away?

Now, I don’t see someone choosing the leave as a bad thing. It means that they’ve outgrown the organisation and need to move on. Unfortunately, we couldn’t accommodate, but that’s how it is in many cases. If there is a mass movement out, then that’s a different thing – acute dysfunction is at play. I don’t think we’re there yet.

I do hope for all the best for my teammate. I usually leave people who choose this path with my favourite quote:

“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.”
― Voltaire

Watch that step

2020-08-02 By Sachin Leave a Comment

Throughout my entire professional life, there’s the idea that there should always be a pattern of growth in your career; that the next role should be higher than the last one.

I believe in growth, but growth for the sake of growth is not ideal. Eventually, you may reach a place that you are either unhappy with, or worse, incompetent.

I see this often in engineering and technical fields, where the growth upwards takes them on a management track. But being an excellent technical person doesn’t make them excellent management material. Instead, it would be better to have senior technical roles for those types of people to grow into, but that’s not often available.

But there is another option not always explored; one where you take a step back. People don’t do this as they see it as a demotion, and loss of status is a really terrible feeling. This option can be a valuable one, though as it allows you to change directions before it becomes even more challenging to do so.

A step back is indeed what you need to do if you want to change careers later in your life. You will need to take a step, or two, or three, backwards while you start over.

And this is the sort of juncture that I find myself. A place where I could go backwards and chart a different course, or stay the path I’m on and suffer a little more with the hope that it gets better.

Either way, tread carefully.

Mentorship and Coaching

2020-07-30 By Sachin Leave a Comment

“If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, grow people.”
Chinese Proverb

I’ve worked hard for my success, but I’d be a fool not to realise that I didn’t do it alone. Throughout my career, I’ve been mentored and coached by many different people – friends, colleagues, bosses – to help me be the person I am today.

Because of that, I try as best as possible to help others anytime and anyhow I could. I believe that everyone can do great things. Of the many times, I’ve been privileged to coach and mentor someone I’ve had some level of success. There’s been a few failures, but the most part I am happy that I could help someone.

Some choose instead to see others as competition, and rather than building them up, try to break them down. I know it’s hard sometimes to see the people I helped when they were starting in their careers reach higher levels than I am at, but I still can’t see myself refusing to help someone.

I believe we all win when we all win. Help someone up today.

Toot one’s own horn

2020-07-17 By Sachin Leave a Comment

I always say to my IT team – 50% of our work is PR.

Now maybe that figure might be off, but a lot of our work should entail some form of PR (public relations if you don’t already know). This is because many people do not realise the work that IT does, especially in the backend.

More than that, though, many IT persons (and people in general) do not take note of their accomplishments. We generally notice it during interviews when asked questions like, “What are you most proud of?” or “Give a time that you overcame adversity?”

Perhaps it’s because we have always been taught to be humble and not talk about ourselves. So we’ve raised people not to recognise their successes, and further, not be willing to share those successes with others so that they may benefit.

Not being able to speak about your successes also limits your chances of growth in the organisation that you’re employed. You can’t get promoted if people don’t know the excellent work you’re doing.

Some simple ways of growing a habit of recording success:

Daily / weekly reports of things that went well and things that need improvement and share it with your boss and team.
Start a journal where you state things that went well, even if it was tiny.
Have a small knowledge sharing sessions, such as a lunch and learn, where you can share something you recently discovered or done.
Help another team member when they are struggling. Like the previous point, but this is more about building confidence in yourself.

These simple items are no way close to bragging, and you shouldn’t come out feeling inauthentic in any way. Give them a try.

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