2-in-1 Training w/ RJ
Two of the side projects I worked on has come to their “final stages” this week.
“Final stages” means that these projects were put to test to gauge as to whether or not it’s effective or not or perhaps it needs more improvement.
Update Training Doc
…for one of the software we use at work.
I volunteered to do the task to keep myself busy during those days when things are slow at work.
The update was required because it’s outdated and it’s a little hard to follow.
Application of the ideas I learned from studying sales copy helped me tweak the document so it’s easier to read and follow: more pictures + shorter sentences.
The feedback I got from everyone in our department says it’s so much better than what it was. Task completed, or so I thought.
Then I was asked to lead a training/assessment session for my colleagues. Why me?
I’m already familiar with the document. My supervisor thought she would leverage what I already know to save time and get the ball rolling. The document needs to be polished before publication and it needs to be published by the end of this year.
So with the training, we are trying to accomplish two things:
- To teach others how to use the software.
- Assess how effective the document is.
I wanted to say “No” to decline her request as I’m uncomfortable talking in front of everyone.
And plus, I don’t want my colleagues to think I’m an expert at using the software. Why not? I’m still new. I know the basics, but that doesn’t make me an expert.
But the “yes man” in me ended up saying “Sure, yea I’ll do it” (with an *unsure-tone-of-voice* ). Because really? Who says “no” to their bosses? Right?
[Though I’ve done that a few times but that would lead to another story or discussion that may not align with this week’s update.]
However, this acceptance of task also put another stress on my plate. Why?
The training falls on the same day I’m doing the…
Design-A-Bus Exercise
– an exercise to educate participants about the basic function and struggles of our product designers USING arts-n-crafts.
Now, this is a project I enjoyed working on as I was able to design the exercise on my own (with minimal input from others). The opportunity helped me exercise my creativity by connecting Arts-n-Crafts AND educating others on the processes of Product Design.
If you pause and give that a thought for a moment, you’re probably like “Huh? How?”
I know because that’s how the participants reacted to the exercise the first time we test it out. It took us 8 trials (testing) to finalize the exercise before handing it off to the Design Managers.
2 back-to-back training in 1 day put my stress level to the edge.
So much so that I didn’t care much about “anything else”.
What’s “anything else”?
Holiday Hamper Contest
The vacuum I bought on [Week 49] was wrapped up and was added to our “The Grinch” holiday-themed hamper.
The contest consists of 3 teams: 3 holiday-themed hampers. 1 winner.
I didn’t really do much for the contest other than buying the vacuum. My participation level was pretty close to 0%. It wasn’t my intention act like “The Grinch” during the constest but I have more important matters I needed to deal with:
Provide Technical Support
We needed to provide technical support (through a conference call) to our Sales team for their bid presentation (just in case they couldn’t answer the technical questions thrown at them).
I had very little preparation for this call. But what’s worse was that I MISSED the call – as the training I was running took waaaaay longer than I expected.
We had technical difficulties we needed to address during the training. *talking about lack of preparation*
Day-to-Day Tasks
It’s easy to get carried away from all the side projects and team-building exercises that you forget about your daily task/basic job function.
Studying for Insurance License
This sat at the bottom of my priority-list week.
My head was wrapped up with the 2 sets of training I needed to run.
And guess what? I’ve never run a training before. That gave me a dose of anxiety.
So much so that I couldn’t get a good sleep for the last 2 days prior to the training.
My brain is unconsciously thinking about them.
But what’s weird was I couldn’t recognize whether I’m excited or worried about it.
Regardless of my feelings or thoughts, I eventually found a way to…
Shh the Active Brain
You can’t tell your brain to stop thinking.
That actually just makes it worse.
You’re forcing it to think more about: how to stop thinking.
Sounds a little confusing but thinking about ways to stop thinking creates an endless loop of thinking.
Meditation helps.
But I find journaling to be a more helpful strategy. How?
Use it to dump ALL your thoughts until you run out of thoughts to write about.
Trust me, you’ll run out of things to write just as when you’re writing an essay about something you don’t give a crap about.
Try it and let me know how that worked for you. Here’s how it worked for me:
By quieting my brain from thinking, I was able to run the training better than I expected.
Ok, that’s a lie. In fact, I TRY not to expect anything make any predictions by divorcing myself from the outcome.
Leave the “future” blank.
That way you’d be more open to surprises, to the unknown.
At the end of the training, I was given a pat on the back for doing a good job (on both sets of training).
Now I don’t know for sure if they’re just being nice. However, regardless if that was true or not, I’ll think of it as if it was an honest opinion of my performance.
Teaching more experienced employees than you makes me feel a little icky. Who the hell am I to teach when I’m new to the department? *says the critic inside*
Oh, I forgot to mention the fact that I’m running the Design-A-Bus exercise to the company’s Design Engineering Managers and observed by the company’s Director of Engineering.
Man..that thought alone causes me to sh*t my pants because I don’t think I can do it (properly).
But I did.
And they all agreed that the exercise we developed hit all the points we needed to convey to the participants.
“Good fuckin job RJ!” *I secretly tell myself LOL*
This is such a busy week that I also need to mention how our team won..
1st Place
..of the hamper contest.
“The Grinch” won against “The Incredibles” and “Santa’s Electric Sleigh”
Free lunch was provided to the winning team. However, I missed it because I had to run the Design-A-Bus exercise.
Refund
Finally got a refund from that canceled trip we were supposed to go to on October.
I waited for 2-months for that.
Credit Card
I finally got that credit card I DID NOT WANT to sign up for. But now I can finally pay it off…and shred it to pieces.
What about you?
How was your week? 🙂