SD For Work – Fourth Story

Many years ago, when I was an individual contributor, I had this lingering desire to be a manager. I felt I had the soft and technical skills to succeed in that job. The problem with a desire is that it often takes over your life. If it’s intense enough, it haunts you through the day and torments you even when you sleep.

I spent months reviewing hypothetical scenarios of what I would do differently if I were a manager. The problem was I was not a manager, and this daydreaming was taking focus away from my job. This started impacting my performance which had the opposite effect of what I was hoping for anyway.

We seem to think that the only way to deal with desires is to fulfill them or be tormented by them. We forget that we can simply examine a desire and make relevant decisions based on our findings.

You can read the complete article here.