Word Definitions: Self-Awareness

I was looking up the dictionaries online trying to find a definition of what is "self-awareness" or being "self-aware". I guess the closest I got to an objective definition was this from Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

• Main Entry: self–aware·ness
• Function: noun
• Date: 1880
• : an awareness of one's own personality or individuality

hmm... a definition that is defined by even more abstract concepts of personality and individuality.

Anyway this was what prompted me to wonder about this word. How often are we aware of how we behave in others' company? Are we too loud, too soft, too assertive, too timid, showing too much ego for our own good? Are we being intrusive or are we giving others the kind of quiet and private space they need to function?

Maybe some food for thought before the next time we carry out a conversation with another person / a group of people in the workspace.

It's easy to say... but act on it too!

Maybe I'm just being difficult... but I get really peeved when I get requests from people who have no clue what they are asking. And this, I refer to people who think they know what they want (and therefore they request for it) but they have no idea how to get it done or what is required to get it done... and worse, doesn't take responsibility for their own role in getting it done.

A simple example is a question like "I need to market product X and reach out to potential customers through a website. Please help to do up a website for product X."

Seem like a pretty straightforward request, right? Wrong. Because when one probes further with basic questions like:
- What is product X?
- How is product X different from other competitors' products?
- How does product X fit in with the rest of the company's product?
- How should it be positioned to the customer?
- What are the benefits of using product X?
- What are the specifications for product X?
- How soon will product X be ready?

... the person who made the request had no clue. And I get especially peeved when that person happens to be directly involved in the development, marketing and positioning of product X. If that person, whose role is to drive product X, is not doing his / her job to act on his / her responsibilities and find out or even have some clue about these questions, how can he/she expect others to be able to support his work?

In other words, it is always very easy to say things and express what you want in words.... but you need to act on it and make sure you do your part too. If you did not, don't blame others...

Adventures of the missing notepad

Often in our lives, we face situations that require quite a bit of courage to confront and face up to. It doesn't even have to involve encounters with people in power, in terror or even encounters of the third kind. It can be a really mundane situation where one fails to find their courage. And my little notepad went on an adventure today that serves to show just that.

Came into my office in the morning and everything looked fine on my desk. Having booted up my computer, i went to get my daily dose of Kopi-O. By the time I came back 30 minutes later with the intention to prepare for an external meeting, I noticed my notepad went missing. And it's not a small, post-it pad sized thing. It's hardcover A5 sized notepad with quite a lot of pages on it... and obviously my scribblings of notes from other meetings and projects.

I clearly remembered I didn't attend any meetings the day before and it was still sitting at its usual position when I left the office the previous day. Where did it go? If someone had borrowed it, at least leave a note or something? My entire morning was burnt up in angry fumes... because I was frustrated that my notes could be gone. And I still needed some of that for reference for the projects I was doing.

Sent out a mass mail to the entire office asking that if someone had borrowed it or taken it by mistake to please return it to me. No news for the entire day and I was resigned to start a new one.

Two hours before knock-off time, it came back... by proxy, with an innocent looking post-it sticker on it saying someone left it in the boardroom. Someone?? hello? Is that person trying to make it seem that I misplaced it?? I wasn't even near the boardroom for 2 WHOLE DAYS as I was busy working on something at my desk. And the boardroom is situated way AWAY from my desk... at the OTHER wing of the building?

Come on... it doesn't hurt to just own up to it... whether that person had intentionally borrowed it for want of writing materials or taken it by mistake. But committed the act and then leave it in a meeting room pretending you don't know how it got there... that's just plain, absurd cowardice.