If you read my gratitude blogs and think I have a
perfect life, I don’t. I only blog positive things, and my positive perspective
of events that were less pleasant. There are many reasons for this, and one of
them is that writing about what I am grateful for keeps me grounded during
stressful times. It reminds me about one of my core principals – “it’s the
small things”. If you are waiting to win the Powerball to be grateful, you will
miss so many little things in your journey through life.
In my first gratitude blog, Simple
gratitudes, I wrote about two TED talks that
inspired me to write my daily gratitudes, and I now have core values inspired
by Achor and Pasricha’s talks. How these talks inspired me and how I practice
what I learned is in that blog, and today, I want to continue with my December
gratitudes.
The week of Christmas started with our team’s holiday
dinner. A few days before the dinner, Kelly and I decided that it would be fun
to have a White Elephant gift exchange, but to counteract the exhaustion of
getting prank gifts, we decided that they can be funny, but also need to be
usable. And below is my “recap” of how a program management team does a
White Elephant gift exchange (my interpretation, of course).
>>>>>
Preparing for HyperCare – with the perfect White Elephant gifts
- Kelly – delighted with the new clock that will keep us on time for all meetings (she will also schedule a training session for gift wrapping)
- Ashutosh – a mug with the 2016 calendar to remind him that every day in January is a Monday
- Pablo – so happy with his new ceramic mug that can travel to Bangalore with him
- Venu – a new humorous card each morning to remind us to laugh
- Merve – neck pillow for naps in the command center
- Michael – will never spill any of the precious much-needed coffee
- Fayeza – who will stop at nothing to nab the pillow for her own nap
- Shanice – needs the spill-proof mug more than Michael does
- Susan – believes that the schedule will reveal something good (and she is right)
- Merve – plenty of candy for the first few minutes on the first day of HyperCare
- Michael – grabs the fancy (and beautiful) tea maker for preparing soothing tea between tough meetings
- Susan – will be the most hydrated in all meetings with her fancy water bottle
>>>>>
This project has been one of the most challenging ones I have
worked on. My stress, blood glucose, and often, blood pressure have been on the
rise. I have more grey hair, and have to get my hair colored more frequently. It
has also been very rewarding, I have learned a lot, and I have grown both
professionally and personally. The most important thing, of course, is the
relationships I have built, the trust I have earned, and the friendships I
cherish. I am grateful that I get to
work with this amazing team, who motivate me, inspire me, drive me crazy, and
keep me sane.
No comments:
Post a Comment