Magic Moments @ Work

What do you do when you find hard rock bottom and there is just no hope. You start evaluating what’s going on, reflect back on how you reached to such a situation, and how you overcome the tough phase. Is there a way we want to come out of those negative situations even for an hour? And feel a moment of relief.

How would you describe a version of happiness at work? What does it flash on your memory where we want to recall a real happiness? What is it for you please share? When it comes to real technical happiness, what is it?

In past two years I experienced a peak of happiness which made me jump on the floor and say that it was my first aha moment, I never experienced the same high again so far. It was CONC 2.0 final release meeting. As new Leader in Cisco I was exploring how to make things happen. How to help team to achieve results so that the release qualifies all the standard criteria of approval. My team, peers, my boss and I worked tirelessly together for the 11 months long release. I witnessed the joy of making things from zero to final product release.

This release was the one where I was an artist and an Engineering Leader both. When I paint or draw I need an eraser or a medium to correct mistakes or making it perfect. To handle this release journey and imperfections, I had with me my peer managers, architects and my boss. I learned to make list of improvements needed and take diligent action to bring the change, listen to team when they are facing problems, how to help them to progress and not to make them guilty for not able to solve it.

As leader I discovered my ways to contribute into the release. When I look back it feels nice till date there are three such aha moments in my Leadership journey. What are the other two, it is the scale readouts which I did it for CONC 2.1 and CONC 3.0 release. I would write those stories separately.

Have you ever lost something important, for example a key. What do you do then, you start searching the whole house and go one by one each and every stuff kept there. In that process of searching, you find many missing things of past. There is a chance that you find something else which makes you happy. It is not that key but something else brings you the smile. When you lose hope and there is a pain, that is the time we need to go back in our memory lanes and search if there is a hidden jewel, tiny magic somewhere there.

These aha moments or magic moment give us strength which does not come from outside, only you have the right lens to see it and discover it. No one can tell you if this is your magic moment you ever wanted to cherish. The words used here are straight from my heart and is a real experience of pure impulse. It is the black ink flowing out of pen and I am unwinding. Here is the fusion of my technical career and being artist come hopefully alive. Everyone gets tough time, it’s the law of nature. In those tough time your aha moments are your guiding light to survive. Please do write or share your magic moments and spread some light.