10 February 2007 – 12:44
One week passed and basically I did nothing! Is it because of bad time management? Or is it because of the desire for some sort of relaxing moments? Whatever it was, I already wasted one week for nothing. I have learnt that I have been appointed to a new position at my present job. Besides teaching, I will also coordinate other lecturers, try to help the improvement of the exams and syllabus and have a stronger contact with Melbourne to make sure the parallelism between two campuses. For me it is not a hard job because I have been doing similar things for almost last seven years. It is usually part of a teacher’s life and I enjoy playing with mathematical concepts. Eventually, Statistics is the art of turning everything in the life into numbers and later turning numbers to words again to make sense for number illiterate people.
When I said I have wasted my whole week I meant it in terms of writing. I did not write anything for the whole week except for a paragraph. Somehow it did not come out. Although I have finished the story in my mind, I can not keep my attention on writing. It might be because of this new position. I am really not sure what I am supposed to do during the times I am not teaching and how to approach this kind of management position. It is at the end some kind of leadership and needs continuous attention. When I sit in front of the computer at school after 5 pm, my mind used to keep itself isolated from school’s business easily. But this week it seemed the job will never end and I will never be able to say “This is the end of today.” I think this happens to all people who start a management-type job first time in their careers. There is always something to do, something to sort out, something to deal with, something to rearrange, something to complain, something to modify, something to improve. Then it becomes a vicious cycle and one never ends worrying about the things to be done and their consequences.
Other than writing, I have finished a nice book this week. The Bookseller of Kabul, written by Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad is a modern, realistic picture of war-torn Afghanistan. She did not try to decorate her stories with unnecessary details or stupid praises to irrational cultural differences. Her writing reminds me professional photographer’s job. As a photographer takes what he/she sees, the writer also does the similar thing without adding much to the picture. The harsh condition of life in the dusty streets of Kabul, the miserable conditions of women and children, the God-like power of a rich father, the forbidden love stories, the girls who never know what it is to be alone and to love someone, the idle boys who can be cruel when someone says something wrong about Islam but also go out with friends to drink whisky or to smoke hashish are all living together in a desperate life and with a hope of old glorious modern days of Afghanistan. I wrote a few paragraphs from the book in my notebook and I would like to write them here as well.
Without the blood, it would have been Shakila, not the piece of cloth that was returned to the family. (page 108)
Alone is unknown idea for Leila. She has never, ever, anywhere, at anytime been alone. She has never been alone in her apartment, never gone anywhere alone and never remained anywhere alone, never slept alone. Every night she sleeps on the mat beside her mother. She quite simply does not know what it is to be alone, nor does she miss it. The only thing she wishes for is a bit more peace and not so much to do. (Page 169)
There were many more nice parts in the story but it is impossible to quote all of them here. I am going to start another memorial book this week. It is called “Phra Farang” written by Phra Peter Pannapadipo. He is an English monk living in Thailand. Actually he is not a monk any more because he needed to quit the monastery life to be more helpful to the society. He is now running a foundation for poor children’s education. What a wise decision! I would like to visit him when I go to Thailand next time and offer some help if it is possible. At the end I believe in education only. If a society wants to survive, there is only one way to keep it on the track. It is education. Anything else like religion, identity, economy etc… comes after education. Once the education can stand on its own feet, then the other institutions can slowly get better.
Before finishing today’s blog, let me write a little bit about my new bike. I bought a new motorbike with a cost of 300USD only. It is very old and relatively big. Since it has clutch and does not have a basket in the front, it is not so popular in Vietnam. However, it goes without problem. Actually, yesterday we had a little problem with the electric start but the mechanic solved the problem in 5 minutes. He even did not ask money for his help which made me surprised a lot. May be I need to look at Vietnamese society closer. Since I have been here, I always looked the bad sides of the society like traffic, gambling, prostitution, censor etc. But here the generosity offered by a little mechanic guy to an unknown Western-looking person was a blow to my head. I decided to start a Vietnamese language course as soon as possible and try to have more Vietnamese friends. This might help me to look at society from a closer perspective and see the beauties which are hidden behind the thick curtains of traditions and conservative lifestyles.
One week passed and basically I did nothing! Is it because of bad time management? Or is it because of the desire for some sort of relaxing moments? Whatever it was, I already wasted one week for nothing. I have learnt that I have been appointed to a new position at my present job. Besides teaching, I will also coordinate other lecturers, try to help the improvement of the exams and syllabus and have a stronger contact with Melbourne to make sure the parallelism between two campuses. For me it is not a hard job because I have been doing similar things for almost last seven years. It is usually part of a teacher’s life and I enjoy playing with mathematical concepts. Eventually, Statistics is the art of turning everything in the life into numbers and later turning numbers to words again to make sense for number illiterate people.
When I said I have wasted my whole week I meant it in terms of writing. I did not write anything for the whole week except for a paragraph. Somehow it did not come out. Although I have finished the story in my mind, I can not keep my attention on writing. It might be because of this new position. I am really not sure what I am supposed to do during the times I am not teaching and how to approach this kind of management position. It is at the end some kind of leadership and needs continuous attention. When I sit in front of the computer at school after 5 pm, my mind used to keep itself isolated from school’s business easily. But this week it seemed the job will never end and I will never be able to say “This is the end of today.” I think this happens to all people who start a management-type job first time in their careers. There is always something to do, something to sort out, something to deal with, something to rearrange, something to complain, something to modify, something to improve. Then it becomes a vicious cycle and one never ends worrying about the things to be done and their consequences.
Other than writing, I have finished a nice book this week. The Bookseller of Kabul, written by Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad is a modern, realistic picture of war-torn Afghanistan. She did not try to decorate her stories with unnecessary details or stupid praises to irrational cultural differences. Her writing reminds me professional photographer’s job. As a photographer takes what he/she sees, the writer also does the similar thing without adding much to the picture. The harsh condition of life in the dusty streets of Kabul, the miserable conditions of women and children, the God-like power of a rich father, the forbidden love stories, the girls who never know what it is to be alone and to love someone, the idle boys who can be cruel when someone says something wrong about Islam but also go out with friends to drink whisky or to smoke hashish are all living together in a desperate life and with a hope of old glorious modern days of Afghanistan. I wrote a few paragraphs from the book in my notebook and I would like to write them here as well.
Without the blood, it would have been Shakila, not the piece of cloth that was returned to the family. (page 108)
Alone is unknown idea for Leila. She has never, ever, anywhere, at anytime been alone. She has never been alone in her apartment, never gone anywhere alone and never remained anywhere alone, never slept alone. Every night she sleeps on the mat beside her mother. She quite simply does not know what it is to be alone, nor does she miss it. The only thing she wishes for is a bit more peace and not so much to do. (Page 169)
There were many more nice parts in the story but it is impossible to quote all of them here. I am going to start another memorial book this week. It is called “Phra Farang” written by Phra Peter Pannapadipo. He is an English monk living in Thailand. Actually he is not a monk any more because he needed to quit the monastery life to be more helpful to the society. He is now running a foundation for poor children’s education. What a wise decision! I would like to visit him when I go to Thailand next time and offer some help if it is possible. At the end I believe in education only. If a society wants to survive, there is only one way to keep it on the track. It is education. Anything else like religion, identity, economy etc… comes after education. Once the education can stand on its own feet, then the other institutions can slowly get better.
Before finishing today’s blog, let me write a little bit about my new bike. I bought a new motorbike with a cost of 300USD only. It is very old and relatively big. Since it has clutch and does not have a basket in the front, it is not so popular in Vietnam. However, it goes without problem. Actually, yesterday we had a little problem with the electric start but the mechanic solved the problem in 5 minutes. He even did not ask money for his help which made me surprised a lot. May be I need to look at Vietnamese society closer. Since I have been here, I always looked the bad sides of the society like traffic, gambling, prostitution, censor etc. But here the generosity offered by a little mechanic guy to an unknown Western-looking person was a blow to my head. I decided to start a Vietnamese language course as soon as possible and try to have more Vietnamese friends. This might help me to look at society from a closer perspective and see the beauties which are hidden behind the thick curtains of traditions and conservative lifestyles.
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YanıtlaSilMerhaba Ali
YanıtlaSilCongratulations on the new job, which I believe you said when you were here that you were hoping for.
I see also that you are swamped by possibilities, uncertainties, potentials, etc. in relation to the somewhat undefined job, plus requirements for what it is known you must do. Let me suggest that, especially if this is your first management position, you get some conceptual idea of what managers do. That will allow you to handle your time more effectively. If you can get a copy, I recommend a book by Peter Drucker called "The Effective Executive."
In my first management position, I also joined the American Management Association, for what I think was $400 that the state paid for, and used them as a source for books, but never for their over-prices meetings, conferences, etc. I doubt that your school would pay for such a membership, although maybe they would. But through Google searches, and Amazon.com searches, etc. you can probably come up with some pretty good, useful material.
Getting some conceptual tools to get an abstract handle on your new job, plus getting some materials that allow you to benefit from the distillation of other people's thoughts and experience, will make the new job easier, and probably put you into a better mind-set for writing.
One of Drucker's important suggestions is to keep a time log for a week, writing down what you actually do. The results can be surprising and instructive. Writing everything down keeps you honest and eliminates subjective distortions. I did it and it was amazing where my time actually went.
Three other things to consider:
1. Management by objectives -- that is,clear, quantifiable objectives for yourself and for the people you are managing;
2. Delegation. Let other people lower down do some of the work -- remembering that you must delegate both the responsibility and the authority to enable someone to get a job done; and
3. You must trust the people you manage. They will know it, they will feel it, and they will perform for you.
I hope this helps and is not insulting because you already knew it.
Good luck and Best Wishes,
Allan