Spring is coming; the time of renewal

[azekeil]

Life has been steadily improving; there's an element of self-imposed limbo as I work out what I actually want to aim for next in my life. I'm not planning to rush any decisions on this front. In the mean time I have been indulging my hobbies and doing some gentle socialising, and plan to continue in this vein for some time.

Work progresses well. Some recent leadership training that focused on the softer skills has left a lasting impression with me through the common sense principles and the skill of the trainer to cut to the core of what is actually important and expose skills we all have but bury under a clamour of noise from every day life. Only time will tell if I'm able to put the simple principles into practise.

One thing it did do is break through my general fear of not getting involved. If I'm being honest I think it's something that's not peculiar to just myself but to many people. All of us on the course are now involved in raising money for Comic Relief; I personally will be cycling to and from work, 8 miles each way. While not stellar, this will be no mean feat for unfit me, including doing a full day's work. On the second and last day of the course we had to organise ourselves and perform a number of tasks, including performing a song and dance whilst being filmed (something colleagues have declined on previous courses). One of the other tasks was to build and launch a rocket. I took some video of the launch :)

It felt really good to be involved; for the charity fundraising I grabbed a big curly red-haired wig and wandered round the offices - people responded well to the unusual appearance of their work colleague. Normally I would shy away from making a fool of myself especially at my place of work. I also shy away from selling - I deeply dislike the concept, the implication of manipulation - the whole thing. But my enthusiasm and will enabled me to gather quite a few pledges which left me feeling very satisfied with my contribution.

As you can see, I've a number of things to reflect on over the coming months.

Comments

[da-pol.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you're becoming happier being you from the above. Yay if this is the case - everybody should be happier being themselves.

Just applied for a job at your place - do I want to work there?

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yes. In fact we should talk about it more - we can share a recruitment bonus and I can give you a lot more info about the role, the people and so forth. Feel free to give me a call..

[da-pol.livejournal.com]

I don't actually have a contact number for you - can you e-mail it to me?

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I would, but I don't appear to have your email address, nor does it appear to be on your profile. Mine should be on my profile page. I tried emailing your LJ address and texting to the number I have for you..

[woz.livejournal.com]

Good to hear you're doing well.

I'm surprised to hear you feel selling is implied manipulation. Perhaps you have been near too many unscrupulous double glazing salesmen? I see it as simply matching a need to a solution. Long gone are the days of hard selling or aggressive sales techniques. They are unsuccessful in most cases anyway.

I love being in consultative sales roles. you get paid to travel around, meet lots of people and natter to them about their business.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I agree my most recent experience and your description is a lot more paletable; I suspect the real reason I don't like selling is that I'm not very good at it both as the seller and the buyer...