You Are Important

A great thought provoking article in European Business Review about the challenges in the change of work environment as we know it came to my attention a while ago. Below is my take on underlying issues and possible solutions.

I think the underlying problem lies in every individual’s, especially highly visible and influential role model's, lack of clear and guiding answers backed by strong and willful actions to questions such as “who am I?,” “what is my legacy?,” and “what my behavior is projecting onto my immediate and global society?” 

I believe a deeper awareness and actions guided by the answers to such questions would have a significant impact on fiscal priorities and immeasurably positive shifts in the global economy.  Today more than before individuals are starting to slowly realize the impact of their behavior and that universal measurement of success (set by dominating culture) does not fit all, yet many are still locked into the framework of how one’s life ought to be highly ifluenced by the outgrown set of rules.  As this becomes apparent, the challenge becomes that humans are creatures of habit and domination style, although increasingly painful, is comfortable.  At the same time partnership system although appealing is terribly terrifying due to inevitably painful process of change with unknown and unpredictable future.  I believe this fear stems from lack of faith and trust in the process of growth and evolution as well as our kind and compassionate Universe and people to support and guide us through the process of change. Such fears slow down or temporary halt human evolution.  However, I believe in the resilience of the human race. 

The movement towards partnership based system is well on its way and gaining strength.  The only question is a question of time but with proper leadership and grass movement support can be resolved in an instant.

Therefore, my questions are “who are you?”, “what legacy do you want to leave behind?,” and “what your behavior is projecting onto your immediate and global society?”

Bragging Rights at Work

It has been over two months how I have been back to accounting world after 17 month break.  While at the new job I have noticed that a lot of people with wealth of knowledge about the company have left.  Recently it has been announced that a key figure has been replaced and today I learned about the imminent departure of another member from my department.  On one hand I realize that economy is picking up and people are looking for a change. However, I felt sad as I really liked the person who was leaving.  I was pleasantly surprised by managements' concern and the initiated discussion over the company-sponsored lunch.  They seemed genuinely concerned and sincerely open to suggestions how to improve work environment.

My co-workers had many excellent suggestions: timely and appropriate equity increases (from my professional experience that was accomplished by changing jobs), less segregated and more teamwork design of responsibilities, outside work team-building activities.

Their genuine effort got me thinking what would give me bragging rights at work?

I realized that one of the things I would love to see is compensation based on direct output.  It might be hard to quantify in accounting but I think it is possible.  Starting with base line of expectations and compensation the focus could be on overall company's goals simplified to smaller projects. Project could be assigned a dollar amount. I realize that this would entail close management-staff interaction and much greater preparation, training and time investment on management's part.  Annual goal setting would become more meaningful. Such change would redesign management's role in itself, which often times entails more work upfront. Over the long run this effort would result in higher employee development and satisfaction, higher amount of work entrusted to employees with appropriate skill set (as upper management would be closely familiar with their staff, their current skill level, as well as possibilities and interests of future development).  Such approach to work would result in more rapid company's advancement due to facilitation of all inclusive and highly participatory environment.

Another item on my list is flexible work hours and work arrangements.  There are times that everybody need to be together at the office to produce results, like month end close in accounting. On a regular month busy time lasts a week or so when quarter or year-end close last longer.  For the rest of the month accountant's time is occupied with preparation of various schedules and/or projects. Many of those items can be completed outside the office.  As long as an accountant has internet access many tasks can be completed at the office, home or anywhere else in the world. Most still commute to the office on the daily basis.  Interesting phenomena is becoming increasingly obvious that physical presence does not necessarily means more face-to-face, personal interaction.  For convenience and documentation purposes email is used to communicate information to the person sitting next to you! I believe that overall flexible schedule and work arrangements would help improve health of organization.  Commuters will have more precious time to spend with their families, working out or maybe even working instead of being stuck in traffic.  The increased quality of life would increase productivity per employee as well as rate of retention.  I realize that this would be a big shift from how work has been done in the past and might require appropriate adjustments based on the events and activities at hand.  Overall I believe that suggested flexibility and openness would give more ownership to the person in charge resulting in higher rate of retention and production per employee.

Third item on my list is more time off in vacation days.  In the United States two weeks vacation package seems to be pretty standard.  In many developed world countries vacation time average four weeks.  I think there are many benefits for increased time off.  Today we are increasingly more dependent on each other than ever before and such trend will continue.  World wide communication takes place via our smartphones, which at this point never leave our sight. Yet best experiences and friendships are formed on a face-to-face basis.  Human is a curious creature and the charm of packing your car for a road trip or boarding a plane for a new destination is as present as ever.  Not until you walk the streets of a city, sit down for a meal at a local eatery or have a chat with a stranger you can receive a gift of understanding of oneness.  Even with all the changes in the world over last 30 years, friendships and recognition of yourself in the other person is accomplished by an old fashioned and outdated face to face interaction. This is accomplished by taking yourself out of your daily circumstances and going on a trip, which is accomplished via time off from work.  It is also quite beneficial if a person decides to use his or her time off by relaxing or organizing their home. The house work will get done physically present in the office or not.  By having an opportunity to live a life outside the office people will be more refreshed and productive at work.

Last point I decided to leave for meditation.  I am not fully convinced if meditation is an individual or company wide decision as benefits such as stress relief, higher clarity, productivity and creativity would be highly desirable for any company in any field.  Oprah, Dr Oz and many others sponsored and hold twice a day meditation sessions in their companies; they have been outspoken about many benefits not only to individual employees and their personal lives but the company's bottom line as well.  It is an investment for a company and just like anything else it depends on a case-to-case basis how much willingness there is to invest. Here is an example of how Wall Street using TM to help with their stress.

What would give you bragging rights at work? Please feel share your comments below as well as the post.

Food Matters!

Thank you, Food Babe! I was so excited to see MailOnline’s article regarding the petition and the response it was getting regarding Subway sandwiches. It is one of the examples that food matters and I am so happy to witness and participate in the movement of less contaminated food supply in the United States. If we all educated ourselves about food and stand together, we can make a positive difference. What an awesome time to live in! Over the last couple of years I was on a personal journey to shed extra pounds. I wanted to do this in a healthy and sustainable way. I grew up on meat and potatoes with little veggies and fruits in my diet. It was a norm to gain weight and develop diseases as the years progressed. I did not want that for myself so I was determined to find a better way. In the back of my head I knew that food would play a big part in my journey.

Growing up I was as far from sports as one can be. In my early twenties, I started working out, attending yoga. It was new to me and high stress in corporate America was one of the big reasons that had me coming back. Throughout the process I loved seeing my body strengthening and shrinking in size. Yet I soon realized that without changing my eating habits I can only go so far. I was eager to learn and many teachers via different channels came my way. Food combination, vegetarian, vegan, raw; you name it, I tried it! Fasting and cleansing? Bring it on! Like everything in life, it was and still is very much a process. Not an overnight event. As I was learning of different foods and many ways of how to incorporate them in my diet, my taste buds were changing and my world, literally, expanding.

As my appreciation for food’s quality and variety in my life grew, I also learned about something that was not on my radar before – chemicals in the food. I started checking ingredients lists and was blown away by the fact the bread was made out of many ingredients I did not recognize nor could pronounce! I always assumed bread was made out of flour, water, salt, sugar and yeast. Looking back I smile at my own innocence. Then I came across a thought of “with every bite you either feed or heal a disease”, which made perfect sense to me yet many educated people in medical, media and other communities seemed totally oblivious to the totally, what seemed to me, logical and common sense fact: how can we be healthy without nutritious food? Chicken provides highly needed protein yet what else comes from an animal that was fed growth hormones and antibiotics? Very few were acknowledging much less talking about its impact on our health. I was disappointed to say the least. I wanted to scream that food matters! Also, having to re-consider every product I used, as I had little trust in its supplier, made life very complicated.

Over last year and a half I was fortunate to travel outside the United States and experience food in many parts of our beautiful World. I did not hesitate and ate everything, as I think food is part of excitement and joy in life. You should see how ecstatic I was to find a bag of chips in London’s airport that had no artificial flavoring or coloring! I had sweats, lattes, grains, meats, veggies. I loved it all. My body loved this journey even more decreasing to US size 2 or 4. I don’t remember being this small in my adult years! As I did not restrict my diet I took this beautiful and totally unanticipated result in my body as a proof of the positive impact due to lack of GMOs, artificial flavoring, coloring along with many other chemicals I am not able to recognize in the food. Therefore, Food Babe’s petition made me excited and started my juices flowing. Health is a base for everything and food we consume is at its core. We can make a difference and lead better lives if we all stand up and stand together for higher quality in foods we consume.

Below see the articles that may peak your interest:

The Raw Secrets. The Most Complete Book On Living On An Optimal Raw Food Diet For Better Health.

Click Here!Kristen Suzanne's EASY Raw Vegan TRANSITION Recipes

Click Here!The Quinoa Super Diet

What if... 2014

As I was listening to the personal development session I felt prompted to write down my goals for 2014. Each one of them started with a what if or would it not be cool if statement. I have done it many times before yet this time felt different. I did not have to think about it, I was just writing them down one after the other. In an eye blink I had well over ten points as goals. Once I stopped and scanned them over I was surprised to realize how different they are from what I am doing now. I was also amazed how different my life would be if most or all of them would come true. Every year I would set goals to improve something about my life or myself. However, this time around they were not about improvements but major shifts. They scared my ego as to achieve those goals I would have to once again let go of the life as I knew it while currently I am on the path to rebuilding it. This was the life I knew how to build and lead as I have done it before. It offers a sense of comfort and security. Yet at the same time my soul rejoiced. Deep inside I felt happy and joyous for these goals. At the present time, beginning of 2014, they mean lots of changes, first times for many things, working through my various mental blocks and becoming even more comfortable in the uncomfortable situations. Yet my soul rejoiced, I felt happy inside as I knew that those goals would take me on the road of fulfillment. They were not simple but felt good and right for me at my present stage of life. I put them safe in the drawer where I can find them at the end of 2014. My intent is to learn to let go of control and let the Universe run its course and support me one step at the time. I am trying to learn not to stress about the due dates and deadlines yet follow through completely what I feel inspired and prompted to do at the given time.

Would you surprise yourself writing out what if statements and letting your imagination and heart run as it pleases? What would happen if you would let yourself openly dream about your tomorrows, write it down and allow the Universe guide you in following through? Please follow your inspiration to share your thoughts or the blog post!

Human Doing vs Being

I feel frustrated as I am busy with work and after work activities but at the same time I feel like I am getting stuck and things are not going anywhere. I have so many dreams/goals I want to accomplish apart from work and could be investing my time working on them but some kind of block is keeping me away. I feel frustration rising within me as I am not where I want to be. Then I stop myself and wonder if I am getting ahead of myself? I am back in the empowerment phase where I want to fully engage and keep working to enjoy the results. I am back into the phase I am trying to exit. Instead of enjoying the day, where I am and breathing deeply I am frustrated on the things that did not happen the way I wanted and on the timeline I wanted. For the last couple of months I have been trying to train myself to let go of the need for results and the timelines.

It is big for me as I have been programmed to do the opposite. Being back in accounting world and going through year end reporting really reinforces my old habits and behavior patterns. Then I had to stop and ask myself, how do I change my perception on the current situation to help change my habits? If you change your perception you change your world, right? It sounds nice but sometimes enjoying the sun and the play until the inspiration comes can be harder than one things. Sad, is it not? Take a deep breath, smile and relax.

Two of a Kind

Growing up my sister and I were always treated as one child or twins if we were lucky that day. We were born 18 months apart and looked a lot alike (still do). I was more outspoken and my sister was the tiny, quite one. Over the years we were successful in establishing our own identities and loving one another with all of our similarities and differences. We are still very much attached by the hip: we have similar facial features, body language, talking pattern, we like similar clothes, and the list goes on. Nonetheless at the same time we are on our own very distinct journeys. I knew this all along but the recent death of our father really brought it home for me. We were young when our parents divorced and we were right in the middle of all the pain and anger that was present for many years after divorce was finalized. Growing up our father was not a present figure in our lives. All children love their parents, we were no exception, but we were not close. When we found out he was sick over the last seven years of his life my sister built a relationship with him. We would talk about it briefly but not until he died I realized how beautiful this gift they shared was. When my sister broke the news about his passing, I lit the candle for him, prayed for peace over his soul and this was it for me. I was pleasantly surprised to witness how deeply my sister grieved. It was beautiful and it made me realize, once again, that no two people are the same.

Knowingly or not, we both received beautiful gifts from him. My sister received warmth, friendship and support. I received the understanding of my "negative programming" empowering me to release unhealthy patterns in my life, which I was desparate for at the time. All those gifts came at different times, places and in different ways. Yet they were perfect for each of us to support us on our journey of life. This was just another proof how wonderfully we are supported by the kind and compassionate Universe of ours.

First One!

I wanted my first post to be about my mother, the most important person in my life. Even now, at 31 years of age, unconsciously her teachings programmed in me are guiding my life one way or another. Growing up we had a very close and loving relationship. Difficulties arose during the late teen years as I wanted to branch out on my own and saw her behavior as controlling rather than loving and caring. I moved out as soon as I secured a job after graduating with a bachelor’s degree and got married in secret as to draw a line between her and I as proof that I am all grown up now. Over next ten years we had little to no contact. It was extremely painful yet I felt I had to take a step back to learn who I was and who I wanted to become. I worked tirelessly on clarifying things I did not like about myself (like lack of self control) and changing it with different behavior. Later I found out that it was called a cognitive behavior therapy. We would get together for holidays or other gatherings but never really talked much. I kept my distance as I saw her behavior as a constant attack and was not aware I was acting the same. She was one of the last people to find out when I was getting a divorce. The process of divorce brought me to my knees and gave me many gifts. Life was not working for me as I knew it and I was desperate. The kind and passionate Universe we live in sent me many teachers I was craving for. I was able to use these new tools over past holidays and experience a miraculous shift in my relationship with my mother. She was visiting for two weeks. The first week was very difficult as she was not feeling well and her stress increased by the hour as the advice on the effort to improve her health she was getting did not seem to help much. I tried very hard not to absorb the negativity and heaviness being kind and passionate at the same time. It was difficult as this was really personal and brought many memories from my childhood yet this time around I saw her more than my mother. I saw her as a person that was suffering internally and externally and was in high need of love through this ordeal. I prayed for guidance and things shifted during the second week. Looking back I can honestly say that first time in many, many years I enjoyed her company. A health scare prompted a deep and open conversation I would have not imagined in a million years. We actually enjoyed each others’ company so much we spent the whole weekend together having lunch, walking around town, etc. The Course says that miracles are taking place naturally but this was supernatural to me.