Category Archives: Women

The Day After

Hi Everyone –

I know that you’re accustomed to Tuesday Truths so thank you for indulging me this additional post and if I start to ramble, it’s likely because my brain hasn’t quite geared up since I’ve had about 3 hours sleep.

It feels like I’m on an emotional roller coaster going from despair, disbelief, disappointment, and the urge to fight. I know that I’m not ready to fight another day right now. It rings hollow because I haven’t given myself the space to absorb this new reality. A lot of you are probably feeling similar reactions and I encourage you to allow yourself the time to recharge and be surrounded by your tribe. Love on them and one another. Be kind to yourself and give each other the time we all need to process these emotions in the ways that are most beneficial to each of us.

We have invested time and energy to building a country where inclusivity and social justice/equality levels the field for all and to see our fellow citizens choose divisiveness, xenophobia, and sexism cuts me to the core. We are a nation that celebrates its diversity (we have a record number of diverse women serving as U.S. Senators in the next Congress – Senators Elect Tammy Duckworth, Kamala Harris, & Catherine Cortez Masto) and breaking barriers (First Vietnamese American woman in Congress with Congresswoman Elect Stephanie Murphy; First African American woman to serve in the Delaware delegation, Congresswoman Elect Lisa Blunt Rochester; First Somali American to serve in the country as a member of the Minnesota State Legislature, State Representative Elect Ilhan Omar). These accomplishments are to be applauded and reminds me that our country values our diverse voices in the conversation. These women will be in the room where it happens and I hope that they will take us with them (they’re going to need reinforcements!).

Maintaining hope is difficult when the darkest of days are upon us. You’re probably feeling drained and exhausted. I hope that you’ll keep in mind the people who you may have connected with while on this journey, complete strangers who may live in places that you may have never thought to visit or know. We’re rooted in our ability to welcome love into our hearts from all sources.

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and I am thankful for the community that we’ve created. **group hug**

In the meantime, let’s all hold onto the words of the indefatigable Rep. John Lewis,”….those of us who are committed to the cause of justice need to pace ourselves because our struggle does not last for one day, one week or one year, but it is the struggle of a lifetime, and each generation must do its part. There will be progress, but there will also be setbacks. We must continue to have hope and be steeled in our faith . . .”

–Madalene

 

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v14

If you’re a staffer on the Hill, I hope you’re enjoying recess. I’m taking this time to get ready for another set of events come next week. That calendar is sure filling up! Not only am I booking fundraisers, I’m also booking campaign trainings! I’ve got one coming up in May in Boston and another one in June in Seattle, so if you’re in those cities or would like more information to pass along, let me know! I’m also planning on more skills specific campaign training as well (think fundraising, communications etc). The organization is geared towards AAPIs but we’re good Democrats and as a result, if you want to work in the progressive space, we’re happy to train you! We also encourage diversity so that our talent pool is reflective of the country so if you’re interested in getting more information, subscribe to the blog and you’ll be the first to know!

Let’s get to Tuesday Truths!

  • I am a one woman shop right now. I decided to “ease back” on my work load but yet, I feel like I’ve started down a path where I’m going to need to be hyper organized so that I don’t let things slip through the cracks. Productivity is the name of the game and these tips are making me more aware of how I’m hijacking my own success. #gamechanger
  • I had my 20 year college reunion this past November and maybe some of these life lessons are generational but as I reflect on my professional career, I wonder if life would have been more boring if I had just cut to the chase. Lessons are learned because you make mistakes and take the road with the twists and turns.
  • OH-EM-GEEE a political life lesson learned the HARD way. Fundraising and consultants can get shady but the saga that has surrounded this story is a cautionary tale for those who are candidates and those who are consultants. A solid reputation and ethics are the only way to go.
  • Are you an in state or in district staffer who is looking to get on the Hill? Got questions on how you make that transition? One tip from the Hill Navigator – use LinkedIn – good luck!
  • Does your work define you? Some people think that this is a negative concept while others think that it’s really about integration. This also comes into play when you think about your personal branding. If you allow work to define who you are as a person, how do you want others to define you? I know that my work is based in Democratic politics, no matter what you want to say about my other skills/interests/talents, that is always going to be the core. How I choose to engage in that arena is up to me. Here are ways that you can engage your brand with your work.
  • Fellow Females! Brush up on those persuasion skills – it’s going to help you as you progress into your careers.
  • We’ve all encountered the difficult co-worker: the one who seems to grate on your last nerve. How do you contend with them and keep your professionalism intact? We’ve got a few ideas here.

Got comments? Drop them below and let me know! Thanks for reading/sharing and don’t forget to subscribe!

— Madalene

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v12

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Thanks to all of the readers who did the survey from a couple of weeks ago! It was great to get your feedback and I’ll take your recommendations into account for writing future posts!

My current situation is that I’m in full on BGM (BUSY. GETTING. MONEY.) mode with the end of the quarter so #showmethemoney 🙂

Over the weekend, I did manage to spend a few hours with a dear friend who I’ve been fortunate to know for half of my life and it got me to thinking about when she and I would get together in college and dream of the future. I would probably tell my younger self to chill out and be slightly amazed that I accomplished my ever evolving list of goals. Why? Because I never had a plan but I did have a driving sense of ambition. Although my list of goals have changed, my curiosity continues to compel me along a path that is outside of my comfort zone and to challenge myself. There is occasion when I think about how my life would be different if I made different decisions but as I told another friend over the weekend, life is about living without regret and with the life that you’ve chosen. You can always change course or realize that you want to do something else. I had a quarter life crisis and went into a completely different industry because I thought it would be an opportunity to explore a different interest and realized that I was really a lot happier doing politics. People may judge your decisions but you’re the only person who has to live with your decisions. We make mistakes and learn from them so that we can not repeat them. Self reflection helps to shape the person that you’re meant to be. My younger self is certainly different than my current reality. I no longer have the same type of ambition that I had in my younger days and there’s only a certain amount of BS that I’m willing to take to do my job. I sometimes post articles about how comparing your story to someone’s can lead to negative results. Basing life changing decisions on what others may think can tilt your internal compass and at the end of the day, no one else is living your life but you. For the most part, I live without #FOMO because at this stage of the game, I give zero F*CKS. I know myself well enough when I’ve reached my limits. I know how to prepare so that I can be the best version of myself when necessary. This affects my decisions about getting exercise, taking clients, and recharging. I’m all for self improvement but also knowing how to maximize your energy to get to your goals in a way that works best for you is going to make the journey less bumpy.

So if you’re starting out, #hustle the game as much as you can so that it works for you and know that when you next talk to a dear friend who you’ve known for half of your lifetime that you’re going to wonder where did the time go and it’s highly likely that you’re more than going to be OK 🙂

Now onto Tuesday Truths!

  • Looking for ways that you can get ahead within your organization? Here’s 7 ways!
  • Here’s a commentary from Amy Errett, CEO and co-founder of Madison Reed in Silicon Valley on how to be a successful leader.
  • I recently met someone at a party who had a great way of introducing himself to strangers at the party. It wasn’t really what he said but the way he was able to connect with people from different backgrounds and experiences to strike up a conversation. Here’s an article that takes you through the steps but I’ve come to realize that it’s really about active listening and giving people the opportunity to talk about themselves. You’ll be talking to every stranger at the next networking event!

Thanks for reading/sharing!

— Madalene

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v11

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Hoping you’re wearing green so that you don’t get pinched (do you remember doing that as a kid or is that just something out of my own crazy childhood??). We’re changing things up a bit with an opinion piece but we still got Tuesday Truths!

Last week I was a panelist as well as the moderator for a Women’s Information Network (WIN) panel on Bridging the Generation Gap at the Workplace between Boomers, Generation X (my generation) and Millennials. It was a great interaction and we certainly created dialogue and prompted questions not only about generational uniqueness but also the layered nuances that each of us have experienced as women and to our individual experiences as women of color or as a member of the LGBT community. Intersectionality is something that we can’t ignore as all generations converge in the workplace.

With a less homogenous professional environment, we’re all navigating how to best move forward with our companies’ missions while handling office politics and a variety of personalities. How does anyone get anything accomplished? My associates are either getting younger or I’m just getting older 😉 In all seriousness, every cycle I tend to work with people who are recent college graduates and I always tell people that I’m not the perfect boss. However, I strive to create an environment where people feel that they are valued for their work.

Politics can be fast paced and expectations need to be set from the beginning. My office’s official hours are from 10am-6pm. Since it’s somewhat casual being that my house is also my office, I don’t really want anyone to have to stay past 6pm and with such a late start time (I remember working in campaign season when I had to report in at 7:30am), there really is no reason to why anyone should be late. I’m such a stickler with being on time (my definition of being on time is 15 minutes before the start time) that if you start off late with me, you’re going to get major attitude. Knowing what your manager considers important that may not be important to you, is key to making your own life easier. I say this from the get-go. You should be beating me to events and there are going to be times when you’ll beat me to the office because I’m doing things outside of the office that informs our work. If it’s the height of fundraising and we’re doing west coast events, we’re working later because we deal with the time difference and then we may have east coast events the next day where we need to be at the site by 7:30am. It can all be a blur but I recognize that everyone puts in a lot of hours and once the quarter starts anew, I want my team to feel refreshed – take a few hours off, blow off some steam and lets get back to work. I try to take my team to lunch once a week so that we all get a chance to ask questions of one another that is outside of the work setting. It’s a good way for people to socialize and to get to know one another better. I talk more about what we’re doing and why. A lot of my former staff enjoyed the lunches for the food alone but it was also a forum for them to ask questions and to learn. It also better informs me of what my team maybe facing if I’m too busy during the week to take notice of any problems. I’m not here to make friends but I’m here to empower you to have a better job performance. I liken it to being a coach. From the beginning, there’s always an understanding that staff will not be working for me long because it’s a shared goal to get you to the next place. A lot of jobs don’t have that understanding because they’re bigger and built to engage individuals to fulfill a particular function. When I worked on presidential campaigns, there wasn’t an employee manual. My role was to get my voter contact numbers in and move the needle forward. We’re not too concerned about the touchy feely aspects of managing. There were no such things as job performance reviews or a real HR department. So when it’s time to transition to a work place where those things do exist, it can be awkward.

Expectations are how partnerships are formed and team work product is evaluated. I will readily admit to when I screw up to my staff. They expect me to give them clear instructions and when I don’t, it shows in their work. Procedures and processes are very clear cut (we have memos and outlines on just about everything) so when we don’t follow them, we have created situations that will cause problems. I ask what’s not working and why. If there has been a fundamental change (a client has asked for a new procedure etc), we adapt and change the memos to reflect that so that we’re all on the same page. If you as a staffer can help create more efficient processes, your value has increased in my book. Less time working on getting something done with the same quality of work is a good thing. All that being said, I’m working in a profession that allows for a lot of flexibility. Those individuals who are at a different economic status may be working hourly positions and that is a different environment in terms of negotiating and expectations. There is no one size fits all. It gets tricky when women are advocating on behalf of women when the constituency in itself doesn’t fit into the same mold either. I respect Sheryl Sandberg’s efforts because it brings a necessary conversation but we also need to engage those individuals who don’t have the same kind of flexibility. The New Republic highlights that in the article about #leanintogether.

You see that I haven’t really talked yet about intersectionality even though it’s a topic that is just underneath it all. Generational uniqueness in communicating with one another is a challenge all into itself and then layer anything else on top of that and you have quite a pickle. How do we have better conversations so that our generational uniqueness allows us to evolve and better understand one another? Is it possible to educate? As a person of color, I grew up with an Asian mother and a Caucasian father in a predominantly African American neighborhood but I would have to remind myself that I was Asian American by looking in the mirror. Why? Because I really didn’t take notice of race and in that I had to learn about challenges and discrimination through the experiences of my friends and colleagues. I didn’t have real first hand knowledge and that is an example of the privilege that I grew up with in my life. As a result, I try to inform myself by talking with others in my community of their experiences and learn about micro aggressions/prejudices that are common. Just like we can’t pigeonhole generations, every constituency has had varying degrees of prejudice within their own constituency. This topic is never going to be comfortable but the more it’s discussed in a safe environment without judgement and fosters steps for improvement, it helps all of us to evolve.

I was asked earlier about an article that I shared about how allies can best help in this cause so I’m sharing it here and I also wanted to share a post where it helps to outline a way to which a dialogue can get started that may be a good jumping point for your own workplace. Got comments/questions – drop them in the comments section!!

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Now for Tuesday Truths!

  • Even as I try to provide a resource for those who are less experienced, I also strive to provoke thought to my peers. Here’s a good one as we start to reach a point in our lives when we begin to think about life after work: retirement! In my personal definition, it means that I will still take an active part in politics and be happy to watch from the sidelines, but it also includes time to explore new adventures and interests.
  • If you’re just starting out in your career and want a little direction so that you’re going down a strategic path, you may want to check out these steps and advice from leaders who want to share their experiences. If you’re already on your path but need help to focus or you’re feeling stagnant in your current position, these same steps can help you as well. All great advice to having a better experience in your career.
  • It doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m a huge advocate for training. I spent part of my weekend training the DC chapter of the New Leaders Council on fundraising. Having started my political career in the Training Department of the DNC, it really has affected my perspective on how training helps to engage our constituencies. A former DNC colleague of mine, Joe Fuld makes an excellent point about the future of the progressive movement and training in a recent blog post. Check it out!

Thanks for reading/sharing and if you have comments, drop them in the comments section!

— Madalene

 

 

 

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v8

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We’re in full swing! Congress has returned from their district work period and I’ve got multiple fundraisers on the same day. #politicscanbefun

This week, I’m a Sponsor for the Women’s Information Network’s (WIN) Young Women of Achievement awards. I’m honored to be an Advisory Board member as well as a past member of the organization so if you would like to see your support well invested in helping young pro-choice professional women succeed then please consider contributing to this great group! I appreciate them for all of their support of my work (thanks for reading/sharing) and know that the future is bright with these women evolving into true leaders.

Let’s get to reading!

  • NYFW concluded last week and they’ve got a few suggestions for work attire. If you’ve got the budget, here are 4 suggestions that can up your office wardrobe.
  • These qualities are definitely what I’m looking for when I’m in need of an associate or an intern and I hope that I exhibited this kind of behavior when I worked for my previous employers. A great standard when thinking about how you become an invaluable resource to the team.
  • As a bonafide Gen Xer, I’m always looking for ways to communicate with the Boomers and the Millennials. As the workforce continues to evolve, everyone needs to find ways to effectively express the values and vision of their organization. We’re not so different after all.
  • For those individuals who wonder if the only route to becoming a Hill staffer is to intern, here’s some solid advice whether you can skip that step.
  • I’ve experienced burnout (when I was 25, I took time off from politics to run my own catering company and work at a James Beard winning restaurant as a manager) so I know the feeling of waking up in the morning and realizing that you don’t want to go to work. I also remember the elation I felt when I worked at another job, waking up so early because I was so excited to get to work. BIG DIFFERENCE. Here how’s to tell the difference between being in a rut and feeling burned out so that you can decode work stress.

Thanks for reading/sharing! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave me your comments!

– Madalene

 

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v7

mardi gras sign

Happy Mardi Gras! If I was still in school at Tulane, I’d have today off. Instead, I’m in a congressional recess and a deep freeze so obviously, I planned incorrectly when it came to my travel schedule because it makes total sense that I should have made a trip to California for one of my clients. #poorplanning (addendum: It’s an official snow day in DC so I’m still working in my office but OPM closed the government due to the weather conditions so it’s kinda like I’m in NOLA but definitely NOT REALLY)

So instead, I’ll keep warm reading for the rest of the week!

  • I’m accustomed to doing regular check-ins with my staff, whether they be my associate or my interns. My office isn’t structured at all (my office is in my house so there’s no corporate feel, we tend to sit around my conference table aka my dining room, people can listen to my phone conversations unless I step out to another part of the house) but we have a chain of command and we have set procedures for almost everything we do. When giving feedback, it’s good to be direct but also personal so that the staff recognizes that you as the supervisor acknowledges that you are helping them improve. This kind of feedback is helpful to everyone, even if you think it’s time consuming. Sometimes you get trapped in the feeling that it’s better to do an assignment yourself than take the time to train the staff or to help them improve. Yes, it would be faster but taking the time means that you’re also learning the skill of teaching your staff so it’s a win-win. So when you find yourself short on time, use these tips to giving feedback.
  • When Jon Stewart decided that he would end his run from the Daily Show, I think there was a collective outcry (at least on my Twitter & Facebook feeds). He brought a wicked sense of humor to the news and cultural topics, but its his work style that really demonstrates his leadership skills.
  • I often am asked how I stay organized and I really don’t have a simple answer. I use Outlook calendar, a notebook, sticky notes, excel and myriad of other resources. For some reason, I manage to keep it altogether, however my fear is that I’m going to miss an event that I forgot to put on my calendar (hello anniversary!). I would like to be more efficient to give myself more ease of mind so I might try this system called Bullet Journaling and see if it gets me more organized.
  • Do you have self doubt or feel that negative thoughts dominant your thought process? It’s normal to question yourself but if you feel that self doubt is creeping this info graphic can give you techniques to combat them. YOU GOT THIS!
  • Did you know that it takes only seconds for a stranger to “assess” you in a first impression?  That includes potential employers and networking prospects. They say that there’s a science to it but I’m not sure if it’s pre-conceived notions that bring on these assessments. What do you think?
  • Which leads me to share how People are unconsciously sexist about how Women look at Work – dark colors and more masculine cuts are seen as more aggressive and forceful – qualities that are not seen as positive ones for women. My take is to wear what brings out the best in you because I aways like to say that confidence is the best accessory.
  • What does it mean to be female and young in Congress? Former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman shares her experiences and it translates well to females who are in leadership roles. From an early age, I was usually the youngest person in the room (I skipped a grade in elementary school) so I was accustomed to being young and doing things early. It also meant that I had to be more prepared so that people would take me seriously. Anything else you would add to the list?

Thanks for reading/sharing and don’t forget to subscribe!

— Madalene

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v4

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Winter is barreling ahead full steam so we’re bracing for some crazy snowfall up and down the mid-Atlantic so I hope everyone on the east coast is staying safe and keeping warm. It might be a good time to get in some Tuesday Truths!

  • Regardless of what level of seniority you’ve obtained, you’ll always looking to improve. That might mean taking on more responsibility so that you can get to the next level, or wanting a promotion because you’re feeling professionally stagnant from mastering your current position. As a result, there will be skills that you will need to learn. Undoubtedly, you’ll encounter moments where you will have no clue how to do something. No one wants to feel like an “impostor” but you want to appear like a competent person as you maneuver through this experience. Here are some tips on how to best fake it til you make it so that you can continue to show confidence while learning along the way.
  • My colleagues and I are always on the lookout for talent and for individuals who exhibit qualities of future leaders. How can you show that you’re a leader if you’re a staff assistant or have no management skills? One quality that I look for is when someone helps others, not just to those who are their managers but also to those who have less experience. If you don’t manage the interns, but interact with them, how do you help them succeed? Your actions, as well as attitude determines whether people can see your leadership abilities and potential so take advantage of doing more than what is your scope of work.
  • Which leads me to when you have to manage someone who you may not particularly like. There are going to be times when a you have a member of your team who you may not have hired, but you have to manage. I tend to get along with everyone as I try to respect everyone’s roles. As long as you respect my role, I can respect yours. That includes understanding my position within the hierarchy of the management infrastructure as well as my history with the principal(s). I may look like I’m in my early 30’s but I have experience that exhibits itself by my actions. Whenever there’s a team member who rubs me the wrong way, I try to remember that as a manager, I’m above the drama and it’s my goal to have the team work as efficiently as possible by tapping into the strengths of the individuals and helping them with their weaknesses. If you’re the person rubbing people the wrong way, you don’t have to please everyone and personality doesn’t necessary fit into a neat box but you should recognize that some traits can be improved upon with a bit of polish and a boost of confidence. It’s really a relationship of all three articles.
  • I am a total believer about making your own luck. Does that make me a hippie dippy/glass half full/unicorn chasing rainbows kind of gal? Perhaps but I also try to pair that attitude with a high dose of pragmatic reality. I’ve had my share of disappointment but I don’t think I was ever really disillusioned. It’s about setting a mentality that allows for failure (yes, failure because we’re not perfect) while looking towards achieving attainable measures of success.
  • Since a lot of my clients happen to be men (OK all of them are men), I recognize that as a woman, I’m giving counsel to people who trust me for my political acumen. Fortunately, I’m not the only female to provide expertise on these teams so it helps to have a welcome environment to express opinions. I’m an only child so growing up I always had my family’s attention and with an AAPI mother, I was taught to have a more AAPI attitude towards deference to my elders (if there’s ever a hierarchy, it certainly dwells in an AAPI family) so talking back was certainly a no-no. I didn’t find my voice with my family until much later in life but I always had my voice for those people outside. I’ve enjoyed reading how we can nurture our younger females so that they don’t ever lose their voice. Which also leads me to how adult women can get their male colleagues to stop “mansplaining”. I have an Irish American husband who is the oldest of 5 and when I’m at his family’s house, I have to take a break because I’m not accustomed to having such a boisterous family lovingly talk over one another – a managed chaos that comes with family habits but not one suitable to business meetings when someone (gender neural at times) hijacks an idea or interrupts you when you’re speaking. This is assuming that you’re expressing yourself with authority and doing it in a manner that demands attention. I speak at meetings only when I feel like I’m adding to the conversation. This may or may not work for you. If I feel that my assessment or summary is worthy of discussion, I don’t hesitate to initiate it when appropriate. People have noted my style as to be calm and deliberative so that when I speak, people listen. When I’m talking and someone decides to talk over me, I speak louder because I don’t allow the person to be a distraction. I work with people who have been in politics for a long time and as such, we have worked on multiple campaigns together and provide mutual respect. So don’t hesitate to demand that respect by how you present yourselves and SHUT IT DOWN when someone thinks that they can.
  • Have you ever thought about taking a life audit? I’ve done it informally throughout my career so I could assess if I was creating a life that I wanted to live and love. I have felt, at times that I wasn’t living up to my potential and made choices accordingly. One of the reasons why I started my consulting business was because I wanted to be my own boss. It’s times like these when I have had my best periods of self discovery. Although challenging, this personal journey can make a difference in how you view your life. I’ll share my results if you share yours!

Hope everyone is staying safe on the east coast! Thanks for reading/sharing and let me know your comments!

— Madalene

 

Tuesday Truths 2015 edition v2

We continue to see gloomy weather in DC and I think we’re still reeling from the announcement that Senator Boxer will not be running for re-election this cycle (coincidence?). I hope you’re having a good start to the work week wherever you’re situated!

  • The US Senate has always been considered an exclusive club. Can you believe that there have only been 44 women who have ever served? 44 – EVER in the history of the US Senate. With the recent announcement from Senator Boxer that she would not seek re-election to his Senate seat, is this a chance for another woman to take a place in HERstory? Reading this recent Politico article about the women who have served in this elected body was quite fascinating and I thank all of them for all of their work in making the Senate a more equal institution. We still have a long way to go but these women have certainly paved the way.
  • Most of you know that I advocate mentoring/championing those who are less experienced. As a woman of color, I especially believe that we need to support one another and teach those who would benefit from our experiences. Finding mentors within our communities shouldn’t be challenging yet this article shows that it can be quite a hurdle.
  • Although I’m no longer a young professional, I could heed some of these time management tips myself!

Thanks fore reading/sharing! If you don’t want to miss a post, remember to subscribe!

— Madalene

 

Tuesday Truths

time to drink champagne

Photo credit: Time to Drink Champagne but probably not dance on the table if you’re at your office holiday party 🙂

I’m officially taking a holiday from work so if you’re doing the same, I hope you’re enjoying yourselves and if not, I hope this post is helping you get through the work day!

It’s the end of the year so that usually means resolutions and an even more determined effort to get it together for the start of the new year. My new year’s resolution (almost every year!) is to have more fun! Everyone tells me how much I work but to be perfectly honest, I think of work as fun (yeah yeah – there are definitely times when I get frustrated and want to do bodily harm but MOST of the time, I’m feelin’ pretty good with where I am in the world). Remember you’re only competing with yourself so don’t compare someone else’s story to yours. We ALL come with our own baggage and that means we also have different paths to reach our definition of success. I’m always open to improvement!

So get to reading!

  • So in that vein, I read an article about Career Choices – granted, people may not have a lot of options when it comes to making career choices. You may have been “Funemployed” for longer than you anticipated so taking a job out of necessity may be a priority because we all got bills, bills, bills but if you could decide how to move ahead in career without much consequence, these choices make a whole lotta sense!
  • There are sooooo many lists of things that successful people do everyday – really??? I would get confused making sure that I was doing everything but this list makes so much sense and it’s totally do-able. Remember success is personally defined! My biggest problem is actually the “stop planning and just do it” – Perfect is the enemy of the good 🙂
  • I like to think that I’m a good wing woman for my single female friends when we’re out and about but you should consider being a career wing”person”. So take a look around your office dynamic and see who’s got your back. They may be helping you more than you know!
  • My fellow #APIAs what do you think about why we excel in academics? I skipped a grade when I was younger, probably due to the fact that my mom used the summers to help me increase my math and reading skills. I usually hated those breaks because while the other kids were out playing and having fun, I was doing math problems but hey, I loved being the youngest person in all of my classes 😉 I may or may not have been the snotting kid in class #justsayin’
  • Why mindfulness may help you achieve your goals – living in the present may help that attention deficit.

Enjoy the holidays! If you liked the post, feel free to share and subscribe! Thanks for reading! See you in 2015!

— Madalene

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday Truths

 Little Girls with Big Dreams Become Women with Vision — Unknown

We’re rolling into the last month of 2014 and it’s really all about getting ready for the 1st QTR of 2015. The glamorous life of a fundraiser!! In all seriousness, I’m going through closing reports and reviewing what was raised, where it was raised, and who it was raised from – my life is about analyzing numbers and seeing the sources of income. Basically looking at the “sales history” and predicting how this will unfold for the 2015 finance plan.

So in the meantime, enjoy the Tuesday Truths!

  • Guilty as charged with the messy desk but it’s weird since I’m a little OCD.
  • Looking to answer the interview question of “Tell me about how you solved a work problem”? Here’s how Elon Musk evaluates your ability. (video)
  • I’ve been fortunate to mentor individuals in their career paths so if you’re not an entry level professional but want ideas to find a mentor, here are a few ways that you can start your search.

As always, hit me up on your comments and feel free to share with your networks! Thanks for reading.

– Madalene