The Dean's List #22

How do you keep track of what you have to do?

Outlook is for the, the day-to-day details. The details of assignments or tasks that need to be done are done through notebooks. I have five or six notebooks running at a time. I have a notebook for tasks that need to be done today and then other notebooks for projects or for individual people or departments. Then, once a week, once a month — whenever I can — I go back through and really clean those notebooks up.

How do you make sure nothing falls through the cracks?

Yeah, if that was possible, right? I use the notebooks for sure. Outlook, for sure. And then I do a lot of losing sleep. I usually wake up around three in the morning thinking of something I couldn't get to, or that I thought I had handled, and I just hadn't. I tend to do early mornings. I get up and I spend a lot of time getting ready for the day. What needs to be done that day, sending early morning emails and working out the meetings in Outlook. I try to go back to my notebooks as often as possible, but there will always be things that slip through the cracks.

If you could start the job all over, what would you do differently?

If I could change one thing, honestly, I think if I felt more confident in my abilities and my skills, and didn't feel like I was slow at some of the things, I probably wouldn't be so bad about working extra hours. I feel like I need to do that to be good at what I do. I would also set up personal habits. It's hard to change the habits after you're in so, you know, the daily workout or eating a certain way or taking time every couple hours to just get up and walk. I think I would start with the personal being a piece of the equation — not feeling like I need to work 14 hours a day to feel like I'm not doing something wrong.

What is your approach to difficult conversations?

It depends on the situation. Depends on what the problem is, but I'm always thinking about whether the issue is the real issue, because it almost never is. You know, somebody got in an argument or whatever the issue is that you're dealing with. It's not the argument, it's the 20 confrontations or potential confrontations, or it’s what somebody thought ahead of time, preconceived ideas. It's lack of communication almost every time. They're either not feeling that somebody cares enough about them to make that communication or not feeling empowered or like their job matters.

What do you do to get yourself back on track when things are overwhelming or tough? Do you have a mantra?

I don't know if there's a mantra. I think perspective is everything. Talk to yourself in a positive manner, I guess. There’s a saying that, it comes from Gandhi, I believe, what you say to yourself becomes reality, basically [see below]. You have to be positive. There has to be some light in your life. I think I have a very positive perspective on life and it makes a big difference in how I can smile every day and come to work when I know it's gonna be a shit show and still get right through and smile. I can't say I don't get chest pains from it. There are a lot of times when you walk around with neck and chest pains from the stress and the pressure, but I can still smile through it and say I love my job. I love what I'm doing.

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Something to think about:

Keep your thoughts positive because your

thoughts become your words.

Keep your words positive because your

words become your behavior.

Keep your behavior positive because your

behavior becomes your habits.

Keep your habits positive because your

habits become your values.

Keep your values positive because your

values become your destiny.

• Mahatma Gandhi