“Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you…”

“…And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”

As I write this, I am embarking on my last week at work. Well, at this work, not last working week ever, but still!

It’s always bittersweet leaving a job. You’re keen to start the next challenge, meet new people, take on new responsibilities, but you’re sad to leave the familiar.

Personally, I hate change. I hate the unknown. It’s one of my biggest weaknesses – I even hate surprises! No surprise parties for me, no mystery gift, no ‘pack your bag darling, we’re going away this weekend’, I would hate it with a passion.

So despite having some extreme frustrations with my current job, there’s something comforting about knowing what will happen (even if it frustrates me). Over the past four years I’ve grown enough to be a big fish in a little pond, knowing every rock and plant, every eddy and flow.

A result of my hatred of the unknown is that I tend to over-prepare for things. I’m trying to not do that in this case. I’m preparing, but not over-preparing. For instance I’ve prepared my list of committee deadlines, but I haven’t populated it. I’ve arranged to meet my new manager for a cuppa before I start, but I haven’t planned a list of questions. I’ve gathered some key documents on being an effective manager, but I haven’t planned to do or say anything specific for my new team. This may not sound like a lot, but it’s good for me.

I am thinking ahead to my first week at the new job:

• I want to be friendly and enthusiastic, but not in a cheesy or overwhelming way.
• I want to be a human sponge to take in all the information I can.
• I don’t want to be too reliant on people showing me how to do things; I want to be shown once and be able to do it with only a few specific follow-up questions.
• I want to take notes when people show me how to do things.
• I want to remember people’s names and what they do.
• I want to get a feel for the culture and the team dynamics so I can fit in.

Essentially I want to get along with the people I work with and be good at the job I was hired to do. And only I can ensure that happens.


*Quote from Neil Gaiman