I work for Cisco and Cisco has a grading of engineers. Higher the grade, higher is your responsibility and visibility in your Business Unit and of course, higher is the salary. The current seniors at Cisco set up such a high standard that you really want to be able to live up to the expectations before you get that promotion. Like, if I was offered the designation of a Tech Lead (ya, ya thats a dream), I would not take it (though the money obviously would make my life rock.). Cisco employees live the phrase 'With great power(replace with Grade) comes great responsibility'. So, at your grade level, you work hard to gain that experience to be eligible for the next grade and then you look forward to greater responsibility and doing more in less time at the higher grade. In short, the years of experience you add, the more valuable you get and the more valuable you feel and the more you contribute.
That got me thinking as to why people do not treat their life that ways. When we are young(G4), we need assistance(mainly monetary! :)) from our parents (G6 and above) to do even the slightest of things. As we grow up(in the Cisco Paradigm, our Grade increases), we start doing more, take up more responsibilities in lesser time and get more independant. Not sure if all do, but, we are supposed to. With every passing year of our life, our stress-taking ability, people handling ability and multi-tasking ability should get better and we should feel proud of our achievements. But, do we? I see people getting more stressed as they get older. Most ppl start worrying about all kinds of stuff as they start reaching 30. They worry abt all kinds of things from their humungous home-loan to possibility of a heart-ache to the new found wrinkle! [ Is it just the people I know?!! In any case, carrying on...] Instead of using their maturity to achieve bigger things in life, they are frantically trying to get back on the lost years and feel young. I myself am reaching a milestone age in my life. And aaaaaaI feel great!! Like I'm getting promoted. I do feel sad when I think I could have achieved more. But, all in all, I am so much more a better person that the teenage me. I am matured in my mind and more raring to go. I love promotions I suppose, whether in my job or in life :) Ok, stopping my self-praise rant...
All that I am trying to say is that like we sit in front of our manager to figure out what are the new expectations we should meet(to reach the next grade) and work on it, we should sit with ourselves and think of what we want us to do better(in the coming year) and work on it. Then, every passing year of life would feel like a promotion coz you would have achieved something new. With new year coming, its a good time to think of the new skill that we want to master. It could range from cooking round chapatis to attempting to climb the Everest to not getting stressed in Bangalore traffic. As long as years added to life are meaningful, you are not getting old, you are just getting matured.
Note: For ppl outside of Cisco who do not understand this article, my apologies. Ever thought of applying to Cisco ? :)
That got me thinking as to why people do not treat their life that ways. When we are young(G4), we need assistance(mainly monetary! :)) from our parents (G6 and above) to do even the slightest of things. As we grow up(in the Cisco Paradigm, our Grade increases), we start doing more, take up more responsibilities in lesser time and get more independant. Not sure if all do, but, we are supposed to. With every passing year of our life, our stress-taking ability, people handling ability and multi-tasking ability should get better and we should feel proud of our achievements. But, do we? I see people getting more stressed as they get older. Most ppl start worrying about all kinds of stuff as they start reaching 30. They worry abt all kinds of things from their humungous home-loan to possibility of a heart-ache to the new found wrinkle! [ Is it just the people I know?!! In any case, carrying on...] Instead of using their maturity to achieve bigger things in life, they are frantically trying to get back on the lost years and feel young. I myself am reaching a milestone age in my life. And aaaaaaI feel great!! Like I'm getting promoted. I do feel sad when I think I could have achieved more. But, all in all, I am so much more a better person that the teenage me. I am matured in my mind and more raring to go. I love promotions I suppose, whether in my job or in life :) Ok, stopping my self-praise rant...
All that I am trying to say is that like we sit in front of our manager to figure out what are the new expectations we should meet(to reach the next grade) and work on it, we should sit with ourselves and think of what we want us to do better(in the coming year) and work on it. Then, every passing year of life would feel like a promotion coz you would have achieved something new. With new year coming, its a good time to think of the new skill that we want to master. It could range from cooking round chapatis to attempting to climb the Everest to not getting stressed in Bangalore traffic. As long as years added to life are meaningful, you are not getting old, you are just getting matured.
Note: For ppl outside of Cisco who do not understand this article, my apologies. Ever thought of applying to Cisco ? :)
