Half a dozen years and the dozens of lessons they taught me

Lately, I’ve always been dreaming about my student self, worried about a homework missed. Suddenly, I would wake up, smile and suddenly tell myself, “Thank God it was just a dream!” In few minutes, reality would sink back in, “Huh! Oh yeah! I do not go to school anymore.”

It was 6 years ago when this lass came out to what others call “the real world” – a bigger learning ground. This is where competition is stricter than the Dean’s list. This is when “failing” means more pain than repeating a semester or a school year. This is where the bigger lessons are taught.

Unless you are someone I worked with, you wouldn’t probably know what I exactly do in front of my office computer (except from some Alt +Tabs in between). And it might not really be too interesting to you (some would not bother listening to other people’s daily grind when they have their own to tell.) But lessons are like blessings. They sometimes come in disguise.

June 14, 2005: I was officially employed as a Data Analyst. June 14, 2011: I’m a Data Analyst. Two good companies. Some changes in tasks and responsibilities. Some position title changes. Six challenging years. All of these boils down to one thing: I am an Analyst.

Without having to reminisce the student days when Integral Calculus, other Mathematics and programming subjects consume the limited neurons that I was left of; below are the lessons I learned from the bigger school called “workplace” which suits the biggest school of all -- LIFE.

Note about the pronouns after this paragraph: When I use “you” it’s also as good as saying as “we” or “us”. Sometimes, I talk TO MYSELF and ABOUT MYSELF too much that I mistake it to be a second or third person.

ANALYSIS LESSON #1: GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT

The quality of input determines the quality of output. If you want a good result, avoid putting in any mess.

ANALYSIS LESSON #2: DEFINING THE PROBLEM IS NOT ALWAYS THE FIRST STEP.

Acceptance is.

Don’t be in denial. Just because you feel comfortable of the current situation does not mean that you are okay. Go outside the box.

Diligence…Skepticism – these are the words. When out of no where, life hands you a piece of cake, do not bite right away. Be keen. Many things come sugar-coated --and...deceiving. Today, nothing and no one comes fool-proof.

ANALYSIS LESSON #3: REFLECT. REPENT AND RESTART.

“Chaos reigns. Reflect, repent and restart. Order shall return”

That was something that caught my attention while I was working on something that uses a macro in Alteryx ®. And I realized that makes a lot of sense in real life. The phrase says it all.

ANALYSIS LESSON #4: IT’S EITHER A PROCESS OR A PROJECT.

As Dictionary.com says it, “A project is something that is contemplated, devised or planned.” If you want something for your life, begin it short-term. If you loved the results and would want to consider for a habit, that would be a process then.

ANALYSIS LESSON #5: EVEN THE LITTLEST OF THINGS UNDERGOES “PHASES”

Here is an excerpt from my old blog telling stories about my previous work:

“A problem arises... ting! we call it NEW. Eeny mini miny moe...Assigning to Lou....and the status is OPEN. No improvements, hung for a period of time...then it is DEFERRED. Some solutions are done but not for good. TEMP FIX. Changes were made and I believe everything will be fine... Yipee! It is RESOLVED. But then, when I've thought that I've made all the efforts but those weren't enough to solve the problem. I have to face it...they're REJECTED.”

It is almost the same thing about my work right now…

NEW-NOT STARTED. Do not nourish the procrastinator in you.

GATHERING REQUIREMENTS. In a garden full flowers, pick the best ones that fit and look well with the vase. Then determine the ways to arrange it. Remember: Grass not included.

IN PROGRESS. “Keep goin’… Keep movin’” (This is not a chant but sounds like such to me every time I remember one of our foreign trainers from my first job. )

So are we on the same page when I say “Life is IN PROGRESS”?

COMPLETED . Nothing too much to say here, but…Yeeha! Just got rid of it.

ANALYSIS LESSON #6: IN ANYTHING, CONSIDER SEVERETIES AND PRIORITIES.

You could wish that life problems and responsibilities were tagged with severity and priority levels as they come. With that, you could know what to do first.

But reality says otherwise. It would just say “Go, figure out!”

ANALYSIS LESSON #7: PAST MISTAKES WILL REALLY HUNT (AND HAUNT) YOU.

That’s why I mentioned about the “Garbage In, Garbage out.” If from the very start you did not play well, you have two choices: Face it, or prepare to play hide and seek. The latter’s a tough one, because – if I may say – you would probably be dealing with a good player.

ANALYSIS LESSON #8: NO TWO PROBLEMS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME. IF THEY ARE, CONSIDER THE OTHER RESOLVED.

Do not complicate. Work on the existing and dump the other. Any duplicate of a problem is not worth wasting any effort and energy for.

ANALYSIS LESSON #9: THINGS ARE INTERCONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER.

As I write this, I can imagine the Join and Union tool in Alteryx ® and the data that they connect. And combining those would give us the output that we want.

In life, if you only knew your goal, then you could utilize all the lessons and experiences you’ve got from here and there. They are most of the time useful; you just sometimes don’t notice it.

ANALYSIS LESSON #10: MIMIC. THEN, RECREATE.

Learn the tricks of the trade from the experts. Then, create your own flavor out of that. Step up!

ANALYSIS LESSON #11: READ BETWEEN THE LINES.

I define the phrase as “understanding more than the words say”. Lots of books and people would say what Life (and the smallest particle of it) is. You could agree and disagree. But the there is more to life than what others say it is. Contemplate on the details and you will know the answers yourself.

ANALYSIS LESSON #12: ALWAYS ASK YOURSELF, “WHY AM I DOING THIS?”

That’s a good quote from my boss that could have a follow up question, “Will it do good to the business?”

Same as in life, you could ask…”Will it matter in the future?”