Do you have any proud moments…
… from work?
Um…
I didn’t mention this before, but the reason I finally decided to go to Utah* is because my mom was headed there for a work conference. I figured I could do my own thing while she was in the conference and we could hang out at night.
I promise I took pictures other than at the Salt Flats. They were just sooooo cool.
Anyways. My mom was super jazzed about work** and was telling me how much she loves her job on our Saturday night drive back from the Salt Flats. Earlier in the year, she worked hard on putting together a performance plan for a team, then reviewed it with them. The team leader saw immediate improvement after my mom facilitated the review. My mom said she felt so proud that something she spent the time to create and implement actually helped another team perform their job better. Then she asked me, “Have you had any really proud moments like that at work lately?”
Chirp.
I couldn’t come up with anything, and she remembered right after asking that I had earlier told her that I was trying to avoid thinking about work while on vacation. Ha ha.
But.
I thought about that question more as I came home. And while I still cannot think of an example for my day job, I can for my night job.
I was really nervous to teach my first strength class. It’s one thing to do strength moves on your own. But to have people pay to take a class you teach?! Uhhhh… I wanted it to be awesome. So anyway, my trainer and I developed the first class structure together, then I followed that for the next two weeks with a few tweaks that I went over with him***. For the second cycle, I was proud that I came up with some ideas on my own. I’m on the third cycle now. My trainer just gave me some ideas and I put it together and showed it to him, and he liked it.
Well, guess what? I taught it Monday night last week, and thought it was mediocre. There are a lot of reasons for that. It was hard to be peppy and teach last Monday night. Anyway, moving on…
So this week I revamped the workout before I taught it. And I liked it a lot better. And I was proud that I did that on my own. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t be able to come up with whole body workouts on my own. Duh. I know all this stuff. Especially as I study more. I just had to start doing it to realize that I could.
So! Mom! You don’t read my blog, but I found my proud “work” moment. Ta da!
Tell me your proud work moment. Or any proud moment. Or tricks you use not to think about work while on vacation. Ha.
*After wanting to for quite some time
**Because of the conference
***I teach a workout for three weeks then go on to something new
Themocracy
My latest proud moment was not punching an asshole customer in the throat. 🙂 It was a HUGE accomplishment because I REALLY wanted to.
LOL, I want to ask more about what happened but feel like maybe I shouldn’t?!
I feel accomplished at work often and also I feel dumb. I still have so much to learn about my job and I have been doing it for 4 years but thankfully I work with some nice people who help to teach me and value my opinion on things.
There will always be stuff we don’t know! It’s awesome that you have great teachers there 🙂
I can’t tell you enough how refreshing your posts are lately. You can see in your smile how awesome you feel and it’s truly inspiring!
My proud work moment has been learning to ask for help. Sounds silly but I do a lot of work for my assistant if we’re busy, etc. Nice thought but me being overwhelmed hurts us both. 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Yes! Ask for help when you need it! And sometimes, just knowing that it is okay to ask, makes me feel better. My day time work is good about that. I know I can reach out if I need help. It’s good to have that support!
Chirp chirp over here. Nope. Nada as of late. Haven’t had moment like that since my AF days. 🙂
Maybe at the new job! 🙂
I’m glad you can at least feel proud about your new job! I don’t often feel proud about things in my job but I do like it when I have a complicated problem to solve (usually math related) and figure out a way to solve it (usually estimating missing data or adjusting for something). It’s not as rewarding as helping others but it makes me feel good about my job.
It doesn’t have to be about helping others! Solving something complicated is definitely something of which to be proud!
First off- you and your Mom are so stinkin cute!!! And secondly- that’s an awesome win at your 2nd job! I have had a few highlights at my current job that I’m proud of…but as for a current one…I’m got nothin. (It’s probably because I’m kinda in a rut at the moment– a little frustrated with some projects, policies, people, etc. but that’s another story!!) And tricks for not thinking about work?! That’s tough. But go on a cruise where you don’t get cell service, emails, Facebook, etc and that won’t give you a choice– that worked for me haha!
Thank you 🙂
I feel ya on the rut!
I don’t mind traveling places w/o cell service! That is a good way to get away!
That is so exciting that your mom is loving her job so much AND making such a big impact. No wonder she is so jazzed about it. That must feel amazing.
Apparently I’m receiving a distinguished service award at work next month. Not sure what for yet, but apparently someone thinks I’m doing a good job! Also, the presentation we gave at our conference in AZ received glowing remarks afterward so that made me feel good.
I am excited for her too! 😀 She feels so lucky to have this job 🙂
Congratulations! So you don’t even know who nominated you?! LOL!
Love this post and I love, love, love that you found your proud moment. Those pictures of the trip are gorgeous, and I’m glad you got to spend some quality time with your mom.
I have a hard time finding those moments at the day job as well. Usually I’m just happy to make it through the day or not mess something up. Very rarely do I look at a piece that I’ve written and say, “Wow! That’s a really inspired work of writing!” Even in my night job, I’m just happy to not mess up and meet expectations. I guess I’m just happy to do the things I’m supposed to do what I’m supposed to, which is lame.
BTW, I’m too lazy to go back on previous post and comment. I’m through Chapter Three of science and five of the big book. I feel like it’s going SO slowly and that I’m never going to get it all. But, I do have meetings at two different Y branches about teaching!
Hey, it’s not lame to just want to do your job and do it right. That is why I struggled to come up with something when my mom asked me!
I feel the EXACT same way as you about the books! It makes me feel better to know it’s slow for you too.
Oh my gosh! When are the meetings?!?!??!
Amazing! I’m so happy your mom is loving her job!
My job doesn’t really allow for any proud moments honestly. Since it’s fairly customer service based, the only happy moments I get is when a caller is super nice to me :/
I hope you have lots of super nice callers today! Err….
I’m glad you’re enjoying teaching strength so much! I went to a class last night and I thought about you and how I wished I could take your class… someday!
I just had my annual performance review and as I have only been at my job for 8 months I was a little nervous. It went really well and my boss wants me to start first authoring more papers which is exciting!
Aww, thanks for thinking of me! How did your class go? How are you feeling? I saw your comment re: another marathon between now and Chicago. I say… go for it. Muah ha ha 🙂 Kenosha is next week! 😛
Congrats on your awesome review!!!!
Thats awesome that you are enjoy teaching strength class, I sort of want to chekc it out one time. Im glad that you and your mom had a great a week. The proudest work/school related moment for me is when I was complemented on my legislative research on a human trafficking bill for the Illinois senate.
I was considering turning this comment into a blog post but I’m not a big fan of posting about work and there are few ways to discuss this proud achievement of late without clearly giving away the nature of my top secret job and the stuff I did. *sigh*
My kids are my proud moments. They are also my HOLY CRAP I AM A GIANT FAILURE moments, so there’s that. But overall, I do my best every day with hugs as accolades. And you can’t beat that 🙂
I am so happy your mom is so excited about her job! That is a great place to be, mentally. And I always KNEW you were going to be great teaching strength class. So no surprise there for ME, but I’m happy YOU are seeing it too!
Hmm. Do I want to ask about the proud or giant failure moments? I think I already know some of both. 🙂
Thank you for believing in me, as always. <3 you!
Not thinking about work on vacation is really easy for me 🙂 Seriously, I didn’t even give it a second thought in Hawaii. I considered checking my email when I got home, but decided the rest of the weekend was still vacation, and work is something I can stress about Monday-Friday.
What’s funny is that, although I don’t care all that much about my job in a big picture kind of way, I do feel really proud when I do an awesome job at it. Which, naturally, happens a lot. Usually it’s when I’ve figured out some crazy issue, or how to work through said issue, or put together a nerdy math tool to make things easier.
If this wasn’t something you didn’t already know, I’d say it’s pretty telling that you take more pride in your night job 🙂
Oh noes! It is that obvs? Hee hee.
That is more how I am. Less “my job is my life” and more “I am proficient and can solve problems.” It’s fun to have those little excitements from day to day. I am happy you do! 🙂
My most recent proud moment was making an appointment for therapy. Being an adult sucks. snort. sorry that’s probably not a happy note.
Therapy for you? That is a very happy note! imho, anyway
I keep a file in my inbox for e-mails that contain thank yous or praises. It’s helpful when review time rolls around.
*crickets*
Um for my real bill paying job… I got nothing. Every once in a while I help some people out & they are happy. But even when people tell me I’m doing a good job, I’m all “meh.” Like I could do more maybe?
I’m also not terribly passionate about my day job. Maybe that’s it? I’m proud when I put work into something and see results- like running.
So happy your mom loves her job & saw positive results. That is always a good thing! And happy you saw results of your night job going better!
Work while win vacation- doesnt exist in my mind 😉
Ha! I know, right? No work on vacation. It was funny she asked me that after I told her I was trying NOT to think about work. I love it when I completely forget what I am working on, over the weekends. Is that bad? Ha ha.
I’m so glad you love what you do, it really makes a difference!!!
I’m hoping when I graduate I feel the same way about my job. My dream is to work with critical care patients, that’s my passion. Knowing I made a difference is always awesome!
I am so proud of your drive! Keep up the good work!
Hooray for mastering your job and knowing it well enough to determine how to improve things! Seriously, what you did took enough knowledge to synthesize what was wrong and how to fix it, which can be difficult when you’re first starting out, but it sounds like you’re really getting the hang of things. Woot! 🙂
My day job is pretty thankless. Kids and parents just think things magically happen. I know people think we are overpaid (baaaahahhaahaha!) and get too much time off but they have no idea how many hours are spent working at night or on weekends. Seriously, I think about my job all the time. I’m always planning or thinking about something for work.
I have a lot of friends who work in education and whenever I try to even think about the prep work that they have to do my mind hits a wall. It sounds like so much work!