How to feel good about your accomplishments when the chips are down

Play a game I call Judge and Jury.

Here’s how it’s done.

Create a list of questions about your experience, skills and accomplishments, to which the answer is one of the following:

Indeed I have

Indeed I did

Indeed I can

Indeed I will

Indeed I am

After you ask yourself and answer each question, write qualifiers to support your assertion.

Later, you can sentence yourself to a cup of tea and a well-deserved sense of accomplishment.

When I played Judge and Jury, it put me in an excellent frame of mind.

I’m sure it will do the same for you too.

Here’s how the game went for me…

On Challenges Met…

Question: Minoo, didn’t you run your own advertising creative hot shop Purple Patch for a while?

Indeed I did….

And I have so many people to thank – the people who gave me the breaks – Mariam, Chari, Aubrey and more;  the people who mentored me – all the different creative greats and client servicing greats I have worked for or worked with;  the people who teamed with me to produce great work, including Das and my other 3 Loyola College copy cubs, and creative lights like Rads, Neelam, Sangs and Deepa; the family and friends who aided and abetted me and cheered from the sidelines, such as Deepika who designed my logo and business card; Debbie who followed up on my payments; and Shreekant, who suggested the name Purple Patch, got me my first client, helped me print my business stationery, open a current account at his bank, and more.

Question 2 : Starting Over

Question: Minoo, haven’t you reinvented yourself in an entirely new and different career in the US?

Indeed I have…

My current profession – Incentive Compensation Management couldn’t be more different from my previous profession. It’s numbers vs. words.  It’s accuracy vs. creativity.

But thanks to people like Andy who encouraged me to try something new, Laura who gave me my first break, and bosses like Milo, Garyn, Judy and James who let me telecommute,  I was able to juggle 2 roles – my ICM Role 1 (Incentive Compensation Management) and my ICM Role 2 (It’s Called Motherhood) – and make a success of this second act.

More recently, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Xactly Corp and Don Gootee and his unbeatable team of Catherine, Shelley, Tricia and Sue, for giving me the opportunity to grow. They helped me transform from a Commissions Analyst into a Commissions Analyst with Xactly Incent configuration skills – someone who can go under the hood of the Xactly Incent application (the rules and formulas) to see what makes the engine run or might be causing a misfire.

On Skill Building

Question: Minoo, are you fluent in the technologies, software and skills that are important to your career?

Indeed I am…

When Excel was the soup du jour of commissions administration, I focused on Excel - learning to use pivot tables, vlookups and other functionality that's a must when you are handling commissions purely with Excel.

When I was in a job which required me to use Centive, (an off-the-shelf commissions software package), I developed the competencies required for that.

Now, when company after company is switching to the cloud with Xactly Incent, I have reoriented again.

In fact, as an Xactly Incent Implementations Architect, I’ve been using the whole nine yards of all the following - Microsoft Excel, Xactly Incent, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Webex, Live Meeting, Docusign.

Also, I try to learn something new every day.

Your honor, just 2 days ago, I learned how to view all the Plans and the Rules on the Plans in Xactly Admin Reports.

On to Question 4 - Special Awards and Recognition

Question: Minoo, do you have any awards, letters of kudos, special mentions, bonuses, etc to show for your professional performance and contributions?

Indeed I have…

And I owe the same to all the people who paved the way for me to win those awards. Bunty Peerbhoy of MAA Communications, for instance.  If you, Bunty, didn’t send us copywriters back to the desk again and again - rejecting our initial ideas for the Fiesta campaign - would we have ended up with a campaign which would be such a hit and create so many ripples in the media and in the industry? I wonder. Besides winning an Ad Club Bangalore award, it opened doors for me for years and years.

And thanks to Milo for bestowing a Compmeister award on me in recognition of my contribution to the Palm Sales team in my role as their one-woman commissions team.

On to Question 5 - Delivering the Goods

Question: Minoo, will you bust your chops to deliver the goods to your customer or your employer?

Indeed I will…

Whether this involves working unusual hours, doing more than the normal hand-holding, or leaving no stone unturned to solve a thorny problem, you can hold my feet to the fire. It’s why my tenures at Palm and Extreme were both over 5 years.

This concludes my Judge and Jury game.

Now it’s your turn. 

Ask yourself similar questions pertinent to your profession and accomplishments. 

Meanwhile, put a kettle on the stove for that cup of tea you will surely need for your sentence. 

You should also plan to ask yourself one last question before you deliver that sentence.

Here’s what that question is:

Question: …….. (your name goes here), did you get pleasantly surprised after asking yourself and answering each of these questions?

And your answer is (but of course)…

Indeed I did!

All done? Sentence yourself to a cup of tea and bask in a well-deserved sense of accomplishment.

P.S. Great job. Woot Woot. You’ve done it once. I know you can do it again.