Reflections of 13th Work Anniversary

The date "21 Dec" caught my attention multiple times during the day. It was hard to pin-point if there was any significance amongst a very absorbing tech migration workshop, kid feeling unwell and just trying to keep the lights on between home and work.

Until, I was taken years back in memories and reminded of “21 Dec 2009” - Day 1 of my corporate career. Still into the 3rd semester MBA while my friends were going to college, I was in an office set-up trying to figure out if it was a good thing that I landed a job amidst the ongoing recession or just sad that my MBA program was cut short due to an immediate joining request. Amongst everything, had no clue how my life had changed forever.

Looking at the last 13 years few things struck:

?1.?When you know what you want, the universe conspires to make it happen - In the early years, I really wanted to move from a Sales, consultant role (even though could easily achieve all the targets) to role that involved lesser travel. A product role came my way in 2013 when I had no clue what Product Management was (it wasn’t the shiny, well-known role back then) but am glad the leaders at Naukri.com took faith in me and I trusted their decision for the next step towards my career evolution. This proved as the perfect match for my mission to help people and use of technology to change the world.

?2. How I looked at the shiny titles! – It took a while to understand that most titles are inflated and it does not truly reflect of a person’s success. A step further, you may not feel any respect just because of the position a person holds if it is not backed by values, how they treat others and overall knowledge.

3.?It’s not a race, relax -At the end of the day if you have your basic needs met and there is time to focus on your family, hobbies and things that bring you joy this is the golden life to hold on to. At least, that’s how I feel especially after becoming a mom and joining back work post maternity.

?4. Don’t cling to the reward expectation - I remember working for this organization where someone got the biggest salary bump for reasons not tying up to performance but because he was the person to hang around with the senior leaders for cigarette breaks and what not. While I was upset, my-self affirmation was - if this is what god feels I should be earning then that be it. Within months I landed a new job with a very generous raise. Sometimes you have to stop trying that hard and let rewards come to you in due time.

?5. When you feel hurt repeatedly, the universe is nudging you to look in a different direction: Something needs to change if you feel a certain way. Looking from a bigger spiritual perspective I feel there are new karmic connections that we need to take care of - new lessons, new experiences and the more open you are towards life even if it is scary to embrace the unknown it’s only going to enrich you further!

?6. People will treat you differently when you're doing well vs when stars are not aligned in your favor: Watch out and know your keepers.?

?Most of all finding your tribe of keepers helps. Goes beyond saying that I feel super grateful to my friends and mentors across all the organizations (Naukri.com, Ibibo, Policybazaar.com, Amazon – Retail, Last Mile, Amazon Business and Alexa) – for the friendships, guidance, all the travel opportunities, the brainstorming, the parties and the accomplishments to help look back at these years with utmost joy! And happy anniversary to my fellow Naukri.com colleagues and MBA batch mates who share the 21 Dec. nostalgia. Glad that we all have a picture together to revisit the day!

#workanniversary #life #learnings #naukri.com #ibibo #policybazaar #amazon