Yesterday was not an excelent day! The best way to describe it is an expression that I learn a few days ago.
Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
(BOHICA) An utterance of frustration by computer support personnel who anticipate being told (usually via phone) to do something that can't be done, by a boss who doesn't know his ass from deep center field about what he's asking his minions to do.
The actual event went well (it wasn’t wonderful, but it went well) and the final result was as expected, but the feeling before (and during) the discussion is very well described by BOHICA.
One of the factor that affects personal relationships is the level of assertiveness.
Assertiveness is a communication skill that can be defined by:
- the ability to clearly identify and express thoughts and ideias
- the ability to defend ideas by supporting then in valid arguments
- doing the previous while respecting the limits of the self and the others
One should be able to improve their assertiveness by always communicating open and honestly, about every aspects of work or life. This kind of communication is based on a balance between the time you are speaking and the time you are listening.
I love to learn new stuff with my little daughter. She is reaching a age where lots a questions must be answered. The last question was about the meaning of PM that appears just after the time in the digital clock from my task bar.
The question caught me completely off guard, but I like to answer all my daughter’s questions… from the easiest to the most complicated!!! So, after a joint googling adventure we found the meaning of PM/AM.
From wikipedia we got: “The 12-hour clock is a timekeeping convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods called ante meridiem (a.m., Latin “before noon”) and post meridiem (p.m., “after noon”).”.
Quite nice, acquiring knowledge this way!!!
The acronym ISO stands for a lot of different things, but for this post ISO will be used to define Film Speed, as it is known in Photography.
Film speed describes the index of sensitivity of the film used by analogical cameras, and is also used describe the speed of light capture in most common digital cameras.
A film may have a low ISO index (called slow film) meaning that it is less sensitive, and thus, needing more time of exposure. On the other side, a high ISO index film (called fast film) is very sensitive needing less time of exposure.
Another thing to consider is that using a fast film your photos will seem to be more grainy. So I try to use the lowest ISO possible. As a rule of thumb: use ISO from 80 to 200, for sunny days outdoor photos; ISO 400 for usual indoor/shady photography; anything higher, from 800 to 1600 is used only if the lighting conditions make it necessary.
In practical terms, try the film speed simulator available here, and see for yourself the differences between using different levels of film sensitivity.
Some time ago, during one of many futile discussions with my colleagues, the differences between being considered a geek, a nerd or a dork had the focus of attention. After a significant amount of babbling, someone (a.k.a. yours truly…) opened Firefox, and googled the following definitions:
- “Dork is a term used to describe someone who has unusual interests and is, at times, silly and stupid. [...] The term occasionally implies stupidity, [...] and it can paradoxically imply an unadmirable (bookish, academic) intelligence“ in Wikipedia
- “The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.” in Wikipedia
- “Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities.” again, from Wikipedia
And still, the discussion continued… In fact, all the above expressions are very similar forms of describing people who have somehow different interests from the overall population.
This being said, I proudly consider myself a geek (not a dork nor a nerd… and let’s not discuss this again)!
Expectation can be defined in several ways. According to the wikipedia, expectation is “a belief that is centred on the future”; or following the dictionary.com, expectation is “the act or state of looking forward or anticipating” or “an expectant mental attitude”. Personal expectations refer to the way each personality looks forward into the future. It can be in terms of health, family or career.
This post is about managing expectation in terms of a professional career. When someone plans for the short or long-term future, he is creating some kind of expectations. The kind of expectations is closely connected with the current job. Whether your are being asked to or asking someone to do something, influences the way you create expectation on the final product.
To avoid ambiguity about expected results, each work plan detail and expected outcome should be thoroughly discussed and agreed upon. Even when an agreement is reached, the expectation levels must be monitored to avoid disappointment.
In a society (as happens to be the case when inside a company), the attention to the level of expectation in the people around you is very important. Expectation management is necessary to create a stable equilibrium between expectation and results, and is essentially a periodic monitoring process.
Almost everyone has expectations, personal expectations. It is natural that each person should rise or lower their expectation according their state-of-mind (I know I do!). The way to create a stable level of expectation is to offer an adequate level of compensation in demand of the corresponding workload.
At the moment, my state of mind is making me feel that I’m not receiving as must as I’m being asked for. Let’s hope this changes quickly.
