Enjoy as Long as You Can

When I moved from Research to Sales Department during my earlier career, I was so worried because there was not much to do for me. I could not withstand the psychological pressure, so I went to my boss and told him: “I see that other people are so busy, but I do not really have much to do.”

He smiled and answered in a very soft ton I can still remember today: “Wenyue, enjoy the time as long as you can.” After few weeks the situation was getting better and better. I was busy and happy to be able to contribute.

One or two years later I was more experienced. The work flowing to me was much more than I could actually handle, even with hours of over time. And I went to my boss again and protested that it was just too much. He smiled: “Enjoy, as long as you can.”

Three years later, there was a deregulation in the telecom industry and our company made loss and it was acquired by other firm. In the phase of transition my working time became idle. I remembered the words of my boss, enjoyed the time and started to learn English.

During the years, there were ups and downs in the economy, in the telecom industry and in our company. I developed a strategy to balance the extreme busy time and extreme free time.

When I got too much to do, I just tried to focus on those things, which only I could do myself and tried to delegate what others could do as well. I was not always successful, but it certainly helped.

When I got not much to do, I treid to help other people, to build some new skills such as public speaking, creative writing which would be beneficial to my future professional life.

In a large organization, there are always people who are extremely busy and there are always people who are extremely free. For an individual professional there are times he is very busy and there are also times he is free. How too manage the fluctuation is an art which not every one can master. But please remember the advice of my boss:

Enjoy as long as you can :-).