The very first corporate job I ever had taught me a lot about myself. Mostly, it taught me that I am not well suited for your typical "corporate" setting. I don't like dress codes, I don't like sterile cubicles, I don't like people looking at you funny if you hug someone. I consider myself to be pretty professional, but my first corporate job played a big role in teaching me that I can be my own authentic brand of professional, that I don't have to fit the cookie cutter boring suit eating salad with bottled water. Over the course of that summer, I began defining my professional self. That meant finding ways to dress appropriately for work and still be comfortable, it meant letting other people see that I could give them a colouring book page I'd coloured on my lunch hour AND kill it in the board room. It also meant finding a way to sign my corporate, professional emails in a way that was authentic to me. My standard personal sign off "Hugs" wasn't professional enough, "Sincerely Yours" was boring, "Warm Regards" was sterile, just my name was cold. So I spent an afternoon pseudo meditating on the subject, and finally realised that if I could wish my colleagues anything, it would be happiness (many people in corporate jobs spend a lot of time looking grumpy!) and harmony (even more people in corporate jobs do NOT have enough balance in their lives!). So that became my sign off in all of my emails. This quickly spilled into my personal correspondence, and has become my mantra ever since. As the years progressed, those two little words have become an integral part of my personality and my "corporate self". In fact, there are people I have come in contact with who remember "Happiness & Harmony" before they remember my name!
When I decided to start a blog, it was only natural that my blog would be titled "Happiness & Harmony" :o)
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