Advent Assured

Speaking your mind is surprisingly rewarding

Too many people are too afraid to really, truly speak their mind. Too much risk in how others might take it. You might even expose yourself as the true moron you’ve always been! Oh dear!

STUPID!

If you remember anything from what I’m saying here, remember that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. If you speak your mind, you will never fail!

I finally had a much needed and overdue heart to heart with my bosses today. Wow am I glad I did.

First, some background details. Things have been very tense for a couple of weeks for the rest of the team due to many frustrations and uncertainties caused by business choices to calm financial worries. We’re doing fine now, but we’re trying to keep it that way. Problem is, we’re keeping it that way by padding our efforts with client projects. “At least you have a job that pays!” True, but bringing other’s ideas to life is not our ideal occupation. We’ve been slowly moving toward developing our own ideas for about a year now. That, of course, was before the economy took a big dump 6 months ago.

Anyway, needless to say, I have had a lot on my mind for a a few months. Questions, concerns, fears, and other anxieties. With the direction of the team changed I was a bit ticked and even worried about how much longer I should stick around. But I put my head down and charged forward, because bills wait for no one.

All of those anxieties tend to get heavy after a while. At times they flare up into disappointment talk of mutiny, and other fanciful bouts.

But MAN did it feel good to get them off my back and onto the table. I had quite a passionate talk with George and Michael and I was surprised at how real they were. After a couple beers we went back to the office and had a team meeting to lay it all out on the table. Other than how rewarding ti was for me personally, speaking my mind solved a lot of problems. For instance..

1. It removed the corporate veil and brought us a little closer as a team
2. It inspired the team to work TOGETHER to think of how we would get back on track.
3. It reminded us that reality isn’t always as fun as you’d wish
4. It allowed me some peace of mind rather than to worrying about what was bothering me
5. It increased my respect for my bosses in that they too were(gasp) human
6. It squashed conspiracy theories about the demise of the team and the direction we’re heading

So next time you have something stewing in your head, get it out before the boiler blows. You’ll be pleasantly surprised of how rewarding it’ll be. Even if other don’t react well to your thoughts, at least you’re relieved of them.