67 is an odd number. But in between those I'm getting 5 more paychecks, I'm getting 3 of my bills paid in full, I'm getting 1 assessment, 14 days of leave, and 0 clue with what to do with my life.
You know how I think I'm a pretty organized person? If you didn't I'm telling you now. I think so. But lately, I just feel like my head is a big clutter box.
The next and last 67 days of my employment is pretty scary. Mostly because I don't know what I'll do with my life from here on. Am I going to enter adulthood as a bum? How am I going to support myself? I'm jumping off a plane hoping I can build a parachute out of the falling debris. That's pretty scary if you ask me. I also got that from entrepreneur class. I'm not sure if it's a class, a seminar, an article or what but I'm pretty sure that concept came from there.
Who has been in this place? Can you email me your advice? I really need it. I'll appreciate if you do.
Much love and thanks,
Paula
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2016
Sunday, November 1, 2015
With Great Money Come Great Responsibility
In the few months of my employment I have negotiated my salary thrice that resulted to an increase every time. Of course, I also negotiate rates from suppliers and efficiency of banks. I talk money, saving and earning more.
Starting out in my current company I was the lowest paid. Which is understandable considering my tenure. After about half a year I've climbed the steps.
Now you must also understand how flexible and free my schedule and work load was. I was not doing much. And every time I negotiated the work increased. (The second negotiation happened after the increase of work though.)
Why am I telling you this? The point is if you work or think too little for the company, you get paid as little. If you work more or think more, you get an increase.
Consider fast food chain employees. Hard labor, fixed hours, very little thinking involved - minimum wage. But if you graduate college and put to use your degree - professional fee. If you think as hard as you work you can start your own practice. If you can lead people all the more earnings.
Tomorrow I'm negotiating my contract. Which I'm sure would involve taking on more responsibilities and more people to handle. But hey as long as I can manage my time properly I'm all for it.
Starting out in my current company I was the lowest paid. Which is understandable considering my tenure. After about half a year I've climbed the steps.
Now you must also understand how flexible and free my schedule and work load was. I was not doing much. And every time I negotiated the work increased. (The second negotiation happened after the increase of work though.)
Why am I telling you this? The point is if you work or think too little for the company, you get paid as little. If you work more or think more, you get an increase.
Consider fast food chain employees. Hard labor, fixed hours, very little thinking involved - minimum wage. But if you graduate college and put to use your degree - professional fee. If you think as hard as you work you can start your own practice. If you can lead people all the more earnings.
Tomorrow I'm negotiating my contract. Which I'm sure would involve taking on more responsibilities and more people to handle. But hey as long as I can manage my time properly I'm all for it.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Trading in money for time
So you probably heard the sad news that I've decided to stop studying in a fashion school and prepare for my laws exam early next year. Maybe what you didn't know is that I died juggling work and school on weekdays. Sure they're 3 blocks away from each other but that doesn't help any. I remember going back and forth five times because I had to be in both places once.
And then it got me thinking, just how much do I value my time? And I factored in the company. Are they going to give me another raise? Or did I make the yearly quota? Being the finance girl of the company I know the position I'm in. And I need the time more than the money.
So similar to how you write a letter to your HR about getting a raise, its the same as writing to get more free time. Nothing final yet but I'm looking at a 3 day work week. I still have the same work load but I get the time to study. *wink wink*
Its all about negotiating. If you believe in yourself and how much you contribute to the company I think you can get anything you want.
Xo,
Paula
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Why it pays to begin your day early
As a young girl living in the country side and working in the bustling Metropolis (imagine London the far drive to the countryside,) there are several reasons why it pays to start each day early.
I'm going to share how my morning routine looks like with you first. Just so you know how early I start my day and when I actually start working.
I don't know about you guys but for me, I need a quiet alone time to start my day. This usually happens at 1 or 2 am. I meditate on the day that passed and the day that's beginning. This is normally just deep breathing and thinking. Dark, quiet, background music playing softly. Now the good thing about this is nobody is awake yet. So you can really enjoy that quiet. I reach out to my friends abroad and respond to personal emails and messages. See, to wake up early one must sleep early and get enough rest. So any emails or messages that come in at night I respond to in the morning.
After that, I get up. I stretch. I get a light snack. I do all the hygienic stuff like shower and brush my teeth. When I'm done I prepare for the commute to work. Now when you begin your day early you can take the public commute. Chances are there is no traffic congestion yet and there is little to no chance that you will be late. I do this at 6am.
The commute without the heavy traffic is about 45 minutes on public transport, and about 30 minutes if you drive. I spend that time 15 minutes to read and 30 minutes to sleep. When I wake up I'm at my stop.
This is the first reason why it pays to start your day early:
Beginning early, clears away chances of stress.
Now if you're like me who is paid on a project basis and not an hour basis, you get to have a free schedule which means you can start and end any time you choose.
Which brings us to the second reason:
Arriving to work early lets you get ahead. You start early, you finish early.
That's very true for me. I normally finish my work early so I can leave early. And if you're studying this gives you plenty of time to get to school. This happens about 1pm.
And that's third reason:
You can spend half the day doing something you're passionate about.
In my case its fashion school. It can be something else to somebody else. You can use the extra time to spend with your family. I don't know. Whatever you feel like will be valuable to you. Take your partner out. Host a dinner. Pick up your children. Even if you factor in the traffic at 1pm? Its not as bad as traffic at 4-8pm. You'll get to where you're going in under an hour depending on how far away it is.
To do this, there is one rule. To strike a balance. You can't keep going to midnight parties and wake up at 1am. You'll be exhausted and when you're tired you're not conditioned to work, which is stressful. So if you still party at night, this is not for you. I would suggest you get enough rest to prepare for the next day. Again, balance.
Rest is equally important to work. You can start early or late. I chose to start early and gave you my reasons.
Xo,
P
I'm going to share how my morning routine looks like with you first. Just so you know how early I start my day and when I actually start working.
I don't know about you guys but for me, I need a quiet alone time to start my day. This usually happens at 1 or 2 am. I meditate on the day that passed and the day that's beginning. This is normally just deep breathing and thinking. Dark, quiet, background music playing softly. Now the good thing about this is nobody is awake yet. So you can really enjoy that quiet. I reach out to my friends abroad and respond to personal emails and messages. See, to wake up early one must sleep early and get enough rest. So any emails or messages that come in at night I respond to in the morning.
After that, I get up. I stretch. I get a light snack. I do all the hygienic stuff like shower and brush my teeth. When I'm done I prepare for the commute to work. Now when you begin your day early you can take the public commute. Chances are there is no traffic congestion yet and there is little to no chance that you will be late. I do this at 6am.
The commute without the heavy traffic is about 45 minutes on public transport, and about 30 minutes if you drive. I spend that time 15 minutes to read and 30 minutes to sleep. When I wake up I'm at my stop.
This is the first reason why it pays to start your day early:
Beginning early, clears away chances of stress.
Now if you're like me who is paid on a project basis and not an hour basis, you get to have a free schedule which means you can start and end any time you choose.
Which brings us to the second reason:
Arriving to work early lets you get ahead. You start early, you finish early.
That's very true for me. I normally finish my work early so I can leave early. And if you're studying this gives you plenty of time to get to school. This happens about 1pm.
And that's third reason:
You can spend half the day doing something you're passionate about.
In my case its fashion school. It can be something else to somebody else. You can use the extra time to spend with your family. I don't know. Whatever you feel like will be valuable to you. Take your partner out. Host a dinner. Pick up your children. Even if you factor in the traffic at 1pm? Its not as bad as traffic at 4-8pm. You'll get to where you're going in under an hour depending on how far away it is.
To do this, there is one rule. To strike a balance. You can't keep going to midnight parties and wake up at 1am. You'll be exhausted and when you're tired you're not conditioned to work, which is stressful. So if you still party at night, this is not for you. I would suggest you get enough rest to prepare for the next day. Again, balance.
Rest is equally important to work. You can start early or late. I chose to start early and gave you my reasons.
Xo,
P
Monday, October 19, 2015
Work, study, life balance
Do you ever get that feeling where you are alone on a weekend and half the time you're trying to get more sleep half the time you're still thinking about work. And all of the time your head goes back to the checklist of requirements that never seem to end.
My finals week was moved from the last to this week. And frankly I thought I would make the deadline last week. But when your suppliers decide to not tell you there are no stocks left to accomodate you, and when the other backs out even with the additional week you still kind of panic Additional pressure if your boss is your professor's friend and they both expect you to raise the standards to three levels up.
I have not seen my friends. I have not been to classes. All I have been doing is working. And like everyone says when your life is seemingly a mess and about to go up in flames that's when you get promoted. And I'm barely hanging on. My life is about to be toast. Or roast even.
So for this post. There are no tips. Just remember to know your priorities. Make sure to give time for what is important. At the end of it all you have to be able to live with what you chose from the beginning.
Because it does not just happen. Your life doesn't become a mess over night. It is a series of choices you made that makes your life a mess. It is premeditated and thought upon over and over. Do something about it now while you can. My life is so hard to manage now but I'm trying.
Xo,
P
My finals week was moved from the last to this week. And frankly I thought I would make the deadline last week. But when your suppliers decide to not tell you there are no stocks left to accomodate you, and when the other backs out even with the additional week you still kind of panic Additional pressure if your boss is your professor's friend and they both expect you to raise the standards to three levels up.
I have not seen my friends. I have not been to classes. All I have been doing is working. And like everyone says when your life is seemingly a mess and about to go up in flames that's when you get promoted. And I'm barely hanging on. My life is about to be toast. Or roast even.
So for this post. There are no tips. Just remember to know your priorities. Make sure to give time for what is important. At the end of it all you have to be able to live with what you chose from the beginning.
Because it does not just happen. Your life doesn't become a mess over night. It is a series of choices you made that makes your life a mess. It is premeditated and thought upon over and over. Do something about it now while you can. My life is so hard to manage now but I'm trying.
Xo,
P
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Rest is just as important as Work
TGIF meant very little to me. It meant close yo nothing actually. Until this week. Never have I thought that I would see a working week that looked like this. Where it starts at 6am and ends at 9pm. Hustling every minute of it.
Suddenly weekends meant more to me than anything. Weekends were developed historically to promote recreational activities and motivate workers to spend money. This improved the economy a great deal.
I don't know if the struggle is coming from my recent vacation. Maybe I'm not over staying at the beach and swimming with the fishes. Maybe its really just a crazy week. And maybe we don't need sleep. So while I accumulate baggage under my eyes, and pretended I am working hard to improve company standing, other people rest.
I take calls until 11pm and maybe I have been over working. It is my father's words that I go back to when I'm in such stressful hectic situation such as work. He said, "separate work from personal life. Strike a balance between the two."
I am excited for the weekend. I expect to have a wonderful lunch with friends and sleep long hours.
I hope that you guys value rest as much as you value work. Make sure to keep the fire burning. Rest when you should. Work when you should. Stay lovely.
Xo,
Paula
Suddenly weekends meant more to me than anything. Weekends were developed historically to promote recreational activities and motivate workers to spend money. This improved the economy a great deal.
I don't know if the struggle is coming from my recent vacation. Maybe I'm not over staying at the beach and swimming with the fishes. Maybe its really just a crazy week. And maybe we don't need sleep. So while I accumulate baggage under my eyes, and pretended I am working hard to improve company standing, other people rest.
I take calls until 11pm and maybe I have been over working. It is my father's words that I go back to when I'm in such stressful hectic situation such as work. He said, "separate work from personal life. Strike a balance between the two."
I am excited for the weekend. I expect to have a wonderful lunch with friends and sleep long hours.
I hope that you guys value rest as much as you value work. Make sure to keep the fire burning. Rest when you should. Work when you should. Stay lovely.
Xo,
Paula
Sunday, September 20, 2015
From a 9hr/day shift to 4hr/day shift
Hi again,
Please don't think I'm a lazy ass girl who is living large through my parents bank accounts and trust fund. Although I'm totally for parents who set up trust funds for their children. This is not the case. My parents are not politicians, they aren't in show business either. If you're Filipino you know that those are the top 2 groups that are wealthy in the country. You either have to have artista parents or politiko parents to be wealthy. Or you're Chinese.
We are not the Sys. I think anybody who knows me can say easy that I look more European than Chinese. Since I don't have Chinese businessmen, or show business personalities, or politicians for parents please don't say that I'm living off of their wealth.
Also please don't think I'm criticizing people who work more than 8 hours a day. Honestly I look up to them because I get easily tired and exhausted of what I do and people who are driven enough by need who can do it five times sometimes even six times a week should be someone who is admired not criticized.
I've tried that 9 hours a day shift before. And Lord knows it wasn't easy. You can get fuelled by money in the beginning but after a while you'll realize you're no longer alive and you've morphed into a workaholic zombie who functions on caffeine going from shift to shift until the weekend so you can sleep. I've grown all too familiar with this because i was maintaining a relationship (long distance) and studying at the same time. And boy this was no easy task. Especially when the guy you're with doesn't even know you're working. (I wanted to tell him, I did, but he kept saying "just focus on your studies.") What drove me was peer pressure and that need to earn money. Because when everyone you know starts rubbing it in your face that you're unemployed and early 20s, you really feel the need to start making cash so you can all shop designer clothes that you can't afford and drink expensive coffee and eat good food together while you talk about each other's weekend plans.
After getting my diploma in my 4.5 years in college, I immediately packed my office stuff, handed in my resignation, and went on a 3 month long vacation. (Don't worry I used the money I saved up for shopping to travel. Think Ferragamos converted into plane tickets.)
So, 3 months later I am now a Fashion student, still in between being broke and being well off. I work in a local bag company with a slightly famous designer. I make half of what I made when I was in a bigger firm where people are half ready to kill you when you don't meet what they need. I've transitioned from a 9 hour work day to a 4 hour work day with no requirement of days. I can come when I want.) and I've never felt as productive as I did before.
Knowing what needs to be done and being disciplined enough to get it done without having to be reminded and being forced to take on a 9 hour shift is something that I'm grateful for with my current job. It has taught me love of work (although in general I still think I'm not cut out for employment.) This job is flexible enough to meet my needs and still make sure the company didn't lose money by paying me a month's salary.
It's given me enough time to study, and work at the same time without feeling like i would die tomorrow because of exhaustion. It's giving me time to unwind when i feel too overwhelmed. And it's ensured that the quality of work I deliver is the best.
Working a 9 hour shift doesn't mean that you're working or doing more than a person who works 4 hours. I know a bunch of people who works double shifts getting paid for each minute but are not able to deliver the products or services that they are being paid for. Productivity's not about the hours.
Not everyone gets this opportunity at such young age. Maybe that is why I'm thankful for my job. Gratitude for my job makes me perform and do my best. Always deliver more than expected.
Xo,
Paula
Please don't think I'm a lazy ass girl who is living large through my parents bank accounts and trust fund. Although I'm totally for parents who set up trust funds for their children. This is not the case. My parents are not politicians, they aren't in show business either. If you're Filipino you know that those are the top 2 groups that are wealthy in the country. You either have to have artista parents or politiko parents to be wealthy. Or you're Chinese.
We are not the Sys. I think anybody who knows me can say easy that I look more European than Chinese. Since I don't have Chinese businessmen, or show business personalities, or politicians for parents please don't say that I'm living off of their wealth.
Also please don't think I'm criticizing people who work more than 8 hours a day. Honestly I look up to them because I get easily tired and exhausted of what I do and people who are driven enough by need who can do it five times sometimes even six times a week should be someone who is admired not criticized.
I've tried that 9 hours a day shift before. And Lord knows it wasn't easy. You can get fuelled by money in the beginning but after a while you'll realize you're no longer alive and you've morphed into a workaholic zombie who functions on caffeine going from shift to shift until the weekend so you can sleep. I've grown all too familiar with this because i was maintaining a relationship (long distance) and studying at the same time. And boy this was no easy task. Especially when the guy you're with doesn't even know you're working. (I wanted to tell him, I did, but he kept saying "just focus on your studies.") What drove me was peer pressure and that need to earn money. Because when everyone you know starts rubbing it in your face that you're unemployed and early 20s, you really feel the need to start making cash so you can all shop designer clothes that you can't afford and drink expensive coffee and eat good food together while you talk about each other's weekend plans.
After getting my diploma in my 4.5 years in college, I immediately packed my office stuff, handed in my resignation, and went on a 3 month long vacation. (Don't worry I used the money I saved up for shopping to travel. Think Ferragamos converted into plane tickets.)
So, 3 months later I am now a Fashion student, still in between being broke and being well off. I work in a local bag company with a slightly famous designer. I make half of what I made when I was in a bigger firm where people are half ready to kill you when you don't meet what they need. I've transitioned from a 9 hour work day to a 4 hour work day with no requirement of days. I can come when I want.) and I've never felt as productive as I did before.
Knowing what needs to be done and being disciplined enough to get it done without having to be reminded and being forced to take on a 9 hour shift is something that I'm grateful for with my current job. It has taught me love of work (although in general I still think I'm not cut out for employment.) This job is flexible enough to meet my needs and still make sure the company didn't lose money by paying me a month's salary.
It's given me enough time to study, and work at the same time without feeling like i would die tomorrow because of exhaustion. It's giving me time to unwind when i feel too overwhelmed. And it's ensured that the quality of work I deliver is the best.
Working a 9 hour shift doesn't mean that you're working or doing more than a person who works 4 hours. I know a bunch of people who works double shifts getting paid for each minute but are not able to deliver the products or services that they are being paid for. Productivity's not about the hours.
Not everyone gets this opportunity at such young age. Maybe that is why I'm thankful for my job. Gratitude for my job makes me perform and do my best. Always deliver more than expected.
Xo,
Paula
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