What I haven't been fired yet?

I survived! Ten years as a Microsoft (MS) full-time employee, really? Nobody has fired me yet. If you had told me that I would still be here today the first day I joined as a full-time employee, I probably would have laughed at you. So, I'm sharing a few things that I have learnt in my ten years that might be useful to you …. for your survival :)

I vividly remember that first day, walking into the MS Atrium building in Dublin to start my new hire training and my overwhelming emotion? Fear!!! It seems strange to say fear, but that’s what it was. Looking back on it now, I have learnt so much on what I felt, why I felt it, and how to manage it. So here goes on five learnings that might help you in your career.

1. Believe in your own potential – we are usually our own worst critic. For me in my early days in MS, I felt like I was waiting to be found out, someone eventually was going to tap me on the shoulder, "hey buddy, we made a mistake, we didn’t mean to hire you!".

You got hired for a reason, you impressed someone, and they believe in you, so make sure you believe in yourself. Our inner dialogue is the biggest critic, once you realize that, things get a lot easier and you can start managing it.

The best way to do that? Acknowledging the thought and thinking positive thoughts for that situation. An example of this is public speaking, for many people, me included, the inner dialogue tells us everything that could possibly go wrong e.g. you will fall, lose your voice, say something stupid, etc.! When that happens accept the thought, tell yourself it's your inner dialogue and change it, remind yourself of times it went well in the past, even if it is something small.

Russell Wilson (the Seattle Seahawks quarterback), has a wonderful way to manage his inner dialogue, he tells himself, "Why not me"? I love that, if not you, then who else? You got this, believe in your own potential and amazing things can happen.

2. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) versus IQ – When I first came across EQ it made so much sense to me. It was like a huge lightbulb moment! There are highly intelligent people out there, huge IQ, but sometimes they are lacking in EQ. If you don’t already know what EQ is, learn about it, understand the categories and be self-aware of your EQ. Like anything, develop it and get better, the first step is to beware of your own EQ. The best leaders I have seen in my career have a great balance of EQ and IQ. This is a great article from Fast Company explaining how people who are "highly emotionally intelligent" handle change better.

3. Feel uncomfortable more often - the times I know I have grown the most? Easy, when work felt a little scary! That first presentation to a VP in MS (oh the nerves, "this won't go well", see number one above)! Becoming a people manager for the first time, eh ok, sounds great, I'm in! Sitting in our first team meeting and everyone looking at me, oh right I'm the manager, eh, ok, what do I do now?

What happens in the testing moments like those, is a part of your brain called the amygdala kicks in and you have the fight or flight response (if you don’t know what this means, research it and you will learn a lot about human/your behavior). Guess what, the nerves don’t go away, they get less and less over time, but they are still there in the big moments. That is the sign you are growing, when you feel uncomfortable. The trick is to accept the nerves, understand the amygdala is there from the time Neanderthals had to run from sabretooth tigers, it’s part of your make up, but most of the time it is overreacting!

Remember these are good feelings. Why? Because you're stretching yourself, you're developing a better you! Ask yourself the question, when was the last time you chose courage over comfort? If it is hard to find an example recently of courage, you know what's happening right? You're not growing, you're not learning …… boredom will soon follow!!

4. Make mistakes - this relates to number three above, when you put yourself in challenging situations, you will make mistakes, 100%, fact, it will happen! Guess what? That's ok, again it means you are learning and growing. Be comfortable with it. Learn from your mistakes, when it happens, ask yourself questions. Why did it happen? What did I learn from it? What would I do differently next time?

5. Be yourself - I remember when I started out in work, hearing people taking about "your work persona"? I remember thinking, s**t, I better figure out who am I at work? Bulls**t! How much energy must these people be wasting trying to pretend they are someone they are not!! Be your 100% genuine self, it shines through when people are who they are and those are the people you want to hire!. 

I feel extremely lucky to have worked at this amazing company for this long, it's been an incredible journey, getting to see the world along the way and now living in beautiful Seattle. Thank you, Microsoft. I couldn't feel more inspired to be here right now under the leadership of Satya.

I'm looking forward to the next 10 years …… hopefully I don’t get found out before then :)

Oh, and one last thing, maybe number 6, be kind, we are all trying to figure out our way in this crazy world, you don’t need to be an ass about it.