Category: Natsuko’s Blog

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How to Spend Time Between Busy Seasons

I had a hectic autumn phase since I was simultaneously involved in too many projects. We completed the 3rd quarter and interim audits, which ended my last busy phase. I managed to win the best award for Kaizen (continuous Improvement) for the group in 2021. We completed and sent out our Management representative letters a week before our due date. It was challenging; however, I felt accomplished having met all the requirements. My next busy season starts once the fiscal year-end is over. Since there are only two weeks left until our year-end, I intend to rest as much as possible. At the same time, I want to prepare for the upcoming year-end. I want to write about how I spend my time between my busy seasons.

 

Take Time to Reflect on My Last project.

 

Whenever I complete a project, I reflect on the project, and I am most interested in the parts where I can improve the process. I try not to forget the details I did well because I want to continue good operations.

 

When I find something I need to improve, I list them separately. I use an app called Notion to track the things required to improve to contemplate them in the future. I incubated these ideas for a while, and I thought about any possible solutions, which would end up on my quick notes for the day. Once I have more thoughts on improving the process, they become a sprint backlog for future projects. Some items are easy to complete as I need to document the change of the process. Some sprint logs can take a few weeks to complete, so I may have to make a schedule to tackle them.

 

It is essential to be careful of a few things when reviewing your work. To avoid biases, I try to create some quantifiable—measurement tools—for example, the percentage of the tasks completed on time.

 

Unfortunately, I also need to look at qualitative measurements. Sometimes, they can be obvious such as getting an award. Not all qualitative measures are apparent, and If I am not careful, I will end up in a trap of self-review biases. To acquire better qualitative feedback, I seek feedback from other people. Since self-review, it will be a good idea to seek input from various people. There is 360-degree feedback, a performance review tool where you obtain feedback from your superiors and colleagues, customers, or vendors. Internal and external auditors are good reviewers for past projects, and they often provide feedback on something I did not notice.

 

I recommend you write down feedback or things that bother you as soon as you think about them at any moment. Otherwise, you will forget most of them. When you spontaneously have many projects as I did for the past three months, you do not have time to contemplate those items right after completing a task. However, you have items to work on later. The most important thing is to reflect on what is good and bad about the last project to organize my thoughts about them.

 

The Best Time to Fill GAPS

 

A designated professional must complete some continuous education. Between projects is a good time for meeting continuing education requirements. I work on achieving them throughout all seasons, but I found it ineffective to try to learn while under great stress. Whenever I know something new, I think about how to apply it. For example, I took an Inventory audit class recently. I improved our accounting process and documentation process from what I learned. Whenever I am under tremendous stress, I cannot do the application process very well. So, I try to get more learning done between the busy seasons.

 

 

An excellent time for writing Business Cases or Seeding

 

I wrote a proposal or a business case for the next Kaizen (Continuous Project). If the project has a cost associated with it, the best time to submit a proposal for our organization is in July or August since we do the budget for the following year in October. Some projects require approvals from head office or the board, and I may need to spend some time to obtain the authorizations. In some cases, I will need to spend several months or a few years to convince them. Next time, I will talk about initiating these projects or business cases. I call the initiation of any projects “seeding.” If you want to implement a change in an organization, you will need to seed as much as possible.

 

Preparation of The Next Busy Season

 

The best time to prepare for the next busy season is between the busy seasons. I had only three weeks to spare this time, and I spent time planning for our upcoming year-end and the year-end audit. For example, I updated the contact information for audit confirmation letters since I knew we would send out audit confirmation letters to the group companies. I also arranged who would be responsible for checking and signing these confirmation letters internally.

 

I communicate with my external auditors and key personnel to ensure the due dates for each task for our upcoming year-end and financial audit. Working in finance management for years, I realized my priorities are not necessarily the same. The Japanese may call this “nemawashi,” which helps others be aware of their responsibilities to eliminate unnecessary confusion.

 

I also updated audit working paper files and internal to-do list for financial audit and year-end for the upcoming audit. We need to submit some analyses, and we can complete some before the actual fiscal year-end. I also updated our internal to-do list for the Financial Audit, and I decided when each task on the to-do list could be completed. I will need to send out reminders to people in some cases.

 

Take Vacation Time 

 

I take a vacation during my slow phase, and I plan to take a week’s break this Christmas to refresh and spend with my family. I could not spend the last couple of years with family, so this will be an excellent opportunity to do so.

 

 

Each item I wrote maybe a trivial thing; however, I consider it critical to prepare for busy seasons. When I was young, I did not consider reflecting on my last project, and I bet I lost many opportunities to improve my process. The slow phase is an excellent time to complete an impressive sprint list or complete the backlog before initiating a new project. Finally, do not forget to take a vacation because a block of time from work helps you replenish your energy. So, these are things I do in my slow phase, and I hope this blog helps some of you.

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How to Prepare Yourself to Find Opportunities

When I was in my early 20’s, I saw something amazing. I was assigned to calculate whether we met a covenant with a bank. A banker showed me an impressive excel worksheet. When the banker clicked a button icon, multiple tasks were automatically performed by the excel sheet. I was fascinated because I realized we could do many things with an excel sheet. On the day, I determined to learn not only using excel but also learn to program macros within excel. Few people could operate excel back then, so it allowed me to seek future possibilities. This event pushed me to research technology. I started studying programming, which led me to specialize in digital transformation within the finance field. Fortunately, I had many friends in the IT field to help me get into this field. I saw many potential opportunities in the area, and identifying the opportunities made me who I am now.

There are so many opportunities around us. I think a successful entrepreneur, company, and inventor actively seek potential opportunities from available information. For example, Mark Zuckerberg saw the opportunity to create social ties over the internet. Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of 2channel in 1999 (text board), saw the options to create a media platform to interact with anonymous users online.

Finding opportunities improves our lives in many ways. Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg created an online social network platform. Finding a job is essential, but finding an opportunity helps you get into a specific position as I did. You may be able to solve potential problems. So, I see finding opportunities as a necessary factor to succeed.

 

Reading and Researching About a Potential Opportunity

To utilize potential opportunities, you must obtain information or knowledge about the possibilities. Without understanding the opportunities, you will not be able to use them properly. Thus, you must be willing to read and research the new information you obtained. I created a note on A4 (letter size) printing paper whenever I saw an interesting piece of new information. Then, I start digging into the details of the information.

There are many ways to gather information. I generally seek more information from books, technical magazines, online journals, blogs, or other online sources. I may take online courses from Coursera, Udemy, etc. There are so many online sources you can collect information and knowledge of new information.

When I create a note about new information, I write down what I want to know. Now you have a purpose for seeking the info. Then, I read and researched the further information I wanted to know.

 

See the Big Picture from an Opportunity

When I find new information, I list the potential opportunities from the new information. I create a mind map to identify possible options from the technology. If you find out the technology about the internet back in the ’90s, you list the items that come from the internet. The internet made many changes to our life. I imagined that Mark Zuckerberg saw social networks on the internet, and Jeff Bezos created an online store over the internet. Write down any possible future outcome from the new information you obtained. Then, you start to see some big picture from the new opportunities. Some further information can lead to multiple possibilities.

 

If you do not Act, you do not benefit from an Opportunity.

Many complain about losing opportunities because they did not grab them. I am no exemption for this case. I recognized I had let go of some opportunities because I acted too slow or disregarded potential opportunities. Many of us notice opportunities; however, we lose them by failing to act upon them. You have to be active to capitalize on the opportunities.

 

Make Yourself Ready for An Opportunity

My definition of opportunity is something that will solve my problems. Instead of looking for an opportunity to make me successful, I look to solve my potential issues or desires. Over 15 years ago, I saw my colleagues in the finance department working 60-70 hours per week to complete their reports. So, I developed an integrated excel template to solve that problem. Later, we introduced a Business Intelligence (BI) tool to replace the excel templates.

Every day, I create ten pages of notes. I write about issues I want to solve, new information, etc. Sometimes I sit with the problems for a while. The critical part of these notes is to organize your thoughts. So, I will be prepared when I see an opportunity to solve existing problems. It does not necessarily have to be new technology. Sometimes, I found a sudden contact to solve the current issue – I still call this finding my great opportunity. Please see the Zero thinking Memo Skill blog to learn about the notes I create.

I also think people perceived as successful often have a common trait. These successful people seek opportunities themselves, while many seek a job opportunity to get them somewhere.

 

I think an opportunity does not necessarily have to be an event that brings you a lot of money or things like that. Like I found 20 years ago, a little opportunity was an opportunity that I developed into something useful. If we actively look for opportunities, they can be found anywhere around us. The important thing is that you must prepare yourself to grab those opportunities and capitalize on the benefits from the opportunities.

To prepare yourself for potential opportunities, I highly recommend you make notes to organize your thoughts every day. This little exercise helps you see your existing issues that need to be solved and identify the new information you may use to solve your problems. Finally, you have to prepare to understand the new opportunities if you will grab and use them.

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Reading Non-Fiction vs. Fiction Books

I read so many books that one can call me a bookworm. I now read non-fiction and fiction books in various genres because I do not want to miss anything I can learn from books. Over 15 years ago, I chose to read only non-fiction books because I could gain more benefits from non-fiction books – at least that is what I thought. A non-fiction book led me to reread fiction books. So, now I reintroduced fiction books in my life. If someone asks me which one benefits me more, I will not answer it. They serve different purposes, and they are equally valuable to our life. I decided to write how I came to this conclusion and appreciate both books.

 

When I was younger, I read more fiction books. My parents had a room full of books at home. I started reading children’s books such as Anne of Green Gables, Little Princess, and Daddy-Long-Legs.  I stopped reading them when I reached ten years old since they were not exciting. So, I started to read my parent’s classic books at the library. My favorite thing to do was to devour books in my favorite blanket. I spend hours only reading like being sucked into a book. I still remember how I was crushed by reading Tess of the d’Urbervilles. I loved reading “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” I read many Japanese classic books such as “No Longer Human” from Dazai.

By the time I was in 4th grade, I had started reading more non-fiction books. I started reading them because I wanted to acquire knowledge. Instead, I read non-fiction books so that adults around me could have a decent conversation with me as an adult. My father disliked having a dialogue with me if I argued only from sentimentalism. Most books at the library were too tricky for me to understand. Sometimes, I had to check dictionaries and encyclopedias to understand the concepts – this process helped me expand my knowledge in various topics.

Knowledge can significantly improve satisfaction gained from fiction books. In my junior and high school years, I read non-fiction books to understand fiction books. When I read the romance of the Three Kingdoms, historical fiction written about 3rd century China, I read my father’s Chinese history books to understand the period better. If I wanted to know more about the topics, I went to the local library or school library to search for books. Curiosity grown from reading fiction books led me to more non-fiction books. The more knowledge I gained, the more I appreciated fiction books.

At late teens, I moved to Canada to study at a Canadian University. The language barrier prevented me from reading many books. So, I started to seek the most efficient way to acquire knowledge. I stopped reading fiction books altogether because I could not read fiction and non-fiction books. To put it badly, I decided not so much knowledge can be gained from fiction books with my arrogant prejudice. I could count the number of fiction books I read with both hands for the next following 15 years.

 

Ironically, the biggest trigger to get into fiction was non-fiction books about literary analysis. Literary analysis is an exciting discipline – it was like pattern recognition. With intense curiosity, I started rereading fiction books. I read a number of both modern and classic fiction books when I was young. Unfortunately, I forgot the story of the books since I have not read them for so many years. This time, I am reading fiction books, mainly in English. I realized that I barely felt the language barrier at all. During the past 15 years, the knowledge gained gave me different perspectives from books I read when I was younger.

 

At first, I was overwhelmed from reading fiction books. To understand the character better, I tried to profile the characters by their personalities, traits, and biographies. Excellent authors often do not explain the story’s plot from the narrative. To understand the story better, I try to figure out the thoughts and feelings of the character so that I can reveal their hidden agendas. Sometimes, the emotion of those characters I imagined is so intense that I feel like my feelings are shaken from the narrative of the books. This exercise helps me better understand others and see the world from a new perspective.

Fiction books have enriched my creativity. The reintroduction of fiction books to my life helped me interpret music better. I like to imagine what a composer was thinking or feeling while playing the piano. In this way, I am profiling the composer through their music. Then, I tried to carefully make each keystroke express what I imagined and felt from bittersweetness from Chopin’s Nocturnes or even Bach’s devotion toward God.

Fiction books feed me motivation to gain more information by other means. To understand the plot and the worlds the author creates in a book, I often seek more information. Another day, I read “Little Women” and pursued more information about Civil Wars. Every time I take non-fiction books to research, it makes me chuckle a little. I used to do the same thing when I was young.

 

There was a significant language barrier. It was hard for me to read books in a foreign language and synthesize them from Japanese books. I could not read as fast as now back then. I had much less English vocabulary. So, I focused solely on non-fiction books. At least, I did not turn from reading entirely. I will not regret reading only non-fiction books for the last 15 years. There are benefits to reading non-fiction books. I still gained a lot of knowledge from non-fiction books. I gained tons of vocabulary from reading many books. The language barrier may not completely disappear, but I noticed it is much smaller. I sometimes could not tell whether I was reading in English or Japanese.

 

I chose not to read any fiction books over 15 years. When I started rereading fiction books, I realized the benefits of reading fiction books. I realized that reading fiction books helped me gain empathy and different perspectives, which helped me interpret piano music. It motivates me to seek more knowledge. I think non-fiction or fiction books can serve us differently. Thus, I stopped weighing them, and I accepted the difference.

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Improving Drawing Skills

I have improved my drawing skills for the last couple of months because I wanted to draw illustration art for my blog postings. I did more painting when I was in school. After graduating high school, I paint or draw whenever I feel like it. I probably draw/paint more than most people. Since I have never taken time to practice painting or drawing seriously, I’ve never become good at painting.

 

I decided to copy drawings from manga Comics for my first project because I could not draw a picture without looking at anything. I wanted to know how much I could draw. My first drawing was not good. My first project helped me identify some problems that I could improve. For example, I ended up with too many lines. If I were to start drawing with a pen, I would not find the correct lines as there were too many. I also had difficulty with deciding the location for the eyes and the nose. There are so many things I need to improve. I could improve many, but I decided to work on my lines.

 

To draw a picture, you have enough resources in your head and technique to express the image. If you try to paint a person drinking coffee on the chair, you need to visualize the picture to create your original art. Even you have an image in your head, and you need to have minimum techniques to express the image on the paper. You will need to gain such resources or techniques from drawing a lot.

 

Painting and drawing require a lot of practice. You will need to draw a lot if you want to get better, just like practicing an instrument. Fortunately, we can learn basic drawing techniques online. Some YouTube videos even present you with how to practice drawing. If you’re going to be good at painting or drawing, you need to practice basic techniques. It would be best if you strived to learn as many patterns or pictures as possible to have many images you can pull from your brain.

Line Stroke Exercise

I decided to work on basic techniques – line strokes. Line strokes are essential for drawing. My line strokes were so bad that the character’s hair from my first drawing project looked unnatural. Line strokes also can affect the facial expressions of the characters. The exercise reminded me of my practice of learning calligraphy when I was 4 or 5 years old. When I started taking a Japanese calligraphy course, we learned how to create a beautiful line stroke. To make a beautiful line stroke, you need to control your hand and pen movement. I do this exercise on letter-sized standard paper.

 

Ever since I started line stroke exercises, I began to pay more attention to lines from a picture I am studying. I was surprised by how many techniques you can steal from great art. Thickness or the strength of the lines can impact the picture. For example, if you were to draw hair, you can make the hair more realistic by using solid and thick lines on the shaded area to create depth in the picture.

 

Contour lines

After a few weeks, I started to practice drawing contour lines. Contour lines are lines that define the outline of the image. I noticed from my first painting that the body’s position was slightly off proportion because I started from smaller parts. Drawing the contour lines first reduces this problem since the outlines form the objects. So, I concentrated on creating draft lines that captured a silhouette of the picture I was copying. Initially, I started using a black pencil to do this exercise. Then, I realized it would be easier for me to do this exercise with a light brown color pencil since I would not get too distracted with the details of the picture.

 

Draw Heads

When I drew the face of people, I found it was challenging to draw precise positions for facial features. I checked YouTube, and I found an exercise for drawing heads. I started by drawing a combination of Contour lines and central lines to draw faces. I do not do more than 15 minutes of practice. Drawing faces in different angles is challenging because of the shape or shading of the facial features changes. This exercise helps me to visualize how the dimensions should be expressed in lines with different angles. When I started, it took me much longer to draw one head without any details.

 

 

I am focusing on a few technical skills now. I spend no more than 30 minutes on these drawing exercises with a pencil on standard letter-size paper. There are two things I keep in mind. First, I have a purpose for the exercise per session. For example, I may practice “different angles of faces.” I practice only the angle of faces. I also put that label on the paper. I just practiced drawing. Second, I identify anything that I can improve from the drawing and write the findings on the paper for future practice. My husband suggested that I put the date when I did the exercise on the paper to see the improvement.

 

Ever since I started practicing line strokes, I have gotten much better at drawing than a few months ago. My drawing skills are improving slower than I would like. For example, the hair does not look like a piece of seaweed. I pay a lot of attention to the lines of my drawing than before. I found that improving drawing and painting pictures is like learning an instrument. This type of exercise resembles Hanon fingering practicing (finger dexterity exercise for piano players).

 

I have been practicing my drawing skills for the last couple of months. I draw a more complicated picture on the weekend, which helps me identify what techniques I still lack. I still need to learn other techniques in painting. In a few months, I am planning to add shading, body parts, and movement. I will continue to work on basic drawing skills because I want to have my pictures on my blog.

 

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Prioritization Part II

When we think about prioritizing, we usually think of prioritizing your to-do list for a short period. I have made several mistakes during my youth, resulting in me instinctively sensing the scarcity of my time. So, I always created a to-do list, and focusing on critical tasks was important.

Over time, I realized that this was not enough because I was not happy with what I was doing. With prioritizing my short-term to-do list, I got an illusion of being productive. Packing my daily to-do list without reengineering my vision, I soon noticed an unsettling feeling. When the uneasy feeling accumulated, I started to feel unhappy.

When you create your goals, you want to contemplate more on your mission and values. I went to university to get a degree which landed me in my job. I barely thought of “what I want to do.” After I landed a job as an accountant, I set a mission of advancing along my career path as an accountant. I grew unhappy with myself. Initially, I tried to ignore my feelings by making myself busy. Eventually, an event made me realize the importance of contemplating my actual values. (Please read my previous blog posting for details).

Once you have created your vision, you will need to see what you need to do in more detail – this is the process of creating your goals. Any goal should have the following five elements: specificity, measurability, attainability, and relevance with a time set for completion. Many people fail to achieve their goals because they are not detailed enough.

 

For example,

“I want to lose weight this year” is a bad example of the goal.

Firstly, you cannot tell how much weight you want to lose. A measurable element allows you to monitor how well you are achieving your goals to adjust your tactics to achieve the goal. Second, no specific time is determined when you want to start or end working toward a goal. Since the goal is too generic, we cannot see whether this goal is attainable or relevant.

Instead, you want to make a goal like this.

“I want to lose 8 lbs. within two months”.

Now, the goal contains enough information to be able to develop tactics to achieve the goal. Since you want to lose eight lbs. in two months, you will need to lose one lb. each week. To lose one lb., you will need to create a 3,500 calorie deficit by eating less or exercising more. Now you can create your daily tasks. In this case, you can complete a task of aerobic exercise 5 times a week. You want to make your goal with these five elements because it will be easier to identify the tactics to accomplish the goals and measure your progress.

 

Three Categories of Tasks

I classify the tasks necessary to achieve your vision and goal as A-type tasks. These are relevant to your vision and the purpose of living. You want to pay attention and treat these tasks very carefully as they can impact your life significantly.

Now, we talk about things you want to do, but they may not be a part of your vision. For example, I love reading, playing the piano, painting, etc. They are mostly things I enjoy doing. My goals will be all over the place if I include my hobbies as part of my goals. I classify these tasks as B-Type. Some of those tasks, such as playing the piano, required you to practice regularly. So, I have them as part of my to-do list.

Some tasks must be done by a specific date, although they may not be strictly part of your goal. An excellent example of such a task is renewing your car’s registration. I call these c-type tasks. These tasks often take much more time and energy if you leave them until the last minute. Since the task itself does not have value, I do not want to spend more energy than is necessary. I list these types of tasks separately. These tasks tend to distract me from completing other tasks to finish them as soon as possible.

 

“Need” vs. “Want”

Once you have the lists of A, B, and C type tasks, you need to divide the tasks into tasks that “need” and tasks that “want” to be done.” Pay attention to the due date for any tasks that need to be done by a specific date. The closer the due date is, the higher the priority for the tasks.

My B-tasks barely contain things which “need to be done.” By nature of the tasks, they are wishful tasks. My days will be occupied by mostly A and C tasks. They may not have high priorities, but completing these tasks gives me more energy. I treat these tasks like “a date.” I schedule to do them regularly.

I have a running list of tasks, which I use computer software to monitor the status. I prioritize the tasks for the week from the list, and I create a “to-do list.” As time is limited, we must carefully plan what we do each day. There are a few tricks I learned over the year:

  • Prioritize type A type C tasks. Complete as many C-tasks as possible.
  • I always keep 20% of flexible time in my schedule.
  • I have at least one essential task for the day.
  • I make sure to include tasks from your want-to-do list from Type A and Type B.

 

PrioritizingPrioritizationI wrote about an overview of prioritizing tasks in these two-blog postings. It is crucial to prioritize your tasks since our time is limited. I have so many interests, and I struggled a lot juggling my time. Many of us tend to fill our daily life with c-tasks. Don’t randomly fill up your tasks and prioritize them. It is also essential to spend some time contemplating your visions, values, and interests before generating and prioritizing your tasks to gain more control in your life. Finally, it will take a long time to become good at prioritizing your tasks. I still make mistakes. You will also make mistakes. You are always in the process of learning better at prioritizing your tasks.

 

 

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Prioritization – Part 1

What I found most difficult in my life was prioritizing what I needed to do because I wanted to do too many things. When I was young, I was pretty bad at prioritizing my tasks. As a result, I ended up quitting many projects I started. For example, I began to draw a picture and started learning a piano music piece. With full-time work or school, I could not take time for both at a time. Sometimes I had to quit one project. At the worst time, I had another urgent project which I needed to do, and I had to stop all other projects. My biggest problem in prioritization was that I often ended up picking a few of among many things. I have so many things I want to do most of the time. Every failed project made me uneasy; however, I ignored the feeling.

 

There was an event that made me conscious about my priorities when I was at a high school. My friend, whom I had known from elementary school, asked to accompany saxophone music for an event.  I knew I was busy, but I agreed to do it. After a few weeks, I resigned due to a time conflict. My friend looked disappointed, although he never blamed me for it. It made me feel awful because he had to search for another piano player. Since the event, I have become very conscious about prioritization. I realized some tasks could potentially impact other people. I decided to work on my problem so that I did not repeat the same mistake.

 

Despite my efforts, prioritization was more Prioritizationdifficult than I thought. I made a lot of mistakes in how to prioritize my tasks. I am still learning to juggle my schedule. Through trial and error, I got much better at prioritizing my tasks. Over time, I found out there are some tricks in prioritizing what you need to do. Today, I want to write about how I prioritize my tasks.

 

Prioritizing Tasks

I can categorize my tasks into two types. The first type of task includes things I must do. The rest are tasks I want to do. I could not pack my schedule with only tasks I must do to keep my life more satisfied.

 

Satisfying basic needs is critical for prioritization. Maslow’s developed a Hierarchy of needs to articulate the five levels: physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging, and Esteem and self-actualization. The lower on the hierarchy the need lies, the more critical it is to satisfy it. For example, Physiological needs are necessities for us to survive, such as eating, sleeping, etc. Even though I love reading books, I cannot sustain reading books without sleeping or eating.

 

 

I must satisfy the tasks to fulfill the following needs:

Absolute Requirements: Eat, Sleep, Exercise

High Priority Tasks: Work so that my family can live safely.

Although, I noticed that I could sacrifice physiological needs for my husband when he was ill.

 

Satisfying our basic needs is essential; however, that is not good enough. We must fulfill some things that we want to do. We must find the balance between what needs to be done and what we want to do. When we consider tasks that we want to do, we need to consider visions and values closely.

 

 

Visions & Values

I think visualizing what do you want to do in the future is like drawing or writing. When I draw a picture, I make multiple drafts even before I start drawing. After the numerous drafts, you can finally begin to remove the image. Envisioning is just like creating a draft. Without the draft, it is harder to draw a correct picture line – the lines are like our goals. The clearer they are, the easier it is to focus and prioritize things to do.

 

Our vision must be aligned with our values. Values are something we cannot compromise. So, a misaligned vision will make you uneasy and unsatisfying.

 

I have a friend who went to a veterinary school in Japan. She loves animals. Being a vet does not solely involve playing with animals. Sometimes she may need to put a puppy or a kitty to sleep. She loves animals; however, this is something she could not compromise. So, she became a dog trainer. She makes much less money; however, she is much happier with her life.

 

When I was younger, I set my vision on climbing the corporate ladder. Therefore, I took on a lot of projects, and I worked a lot of hours. I started realizing that my vision did not align with my values. There are a lot of competitions and political games involved in climbing up the corporate ladder. The higher you go up on a corporate ladder, the more impact you have on others. One day, I created a system that ended up terminating several people’s jobs. Despite my promotion, I felt guilty and unhappy. That was the moment I realized that my vision and values were misaligned. So, I started contemplating what my values were.

 

Learning

Challenge

Creating

Freedom

Effectiveness

 

Competition is not my value; therefore, my vision was completely misaligned. After I realized this problem, I felt more relaxed with my life. I specialized in creating better processes at work. My curiosity is not limited to artistic fields such as playing the piano, drawing, reading, or learning something new. I will be satisfied if I can have enough free time to do them.

 

Our time is scarce. So, we must choose which requirement we want to satisfy– this involves prioritizing your tasks. If I am not careful, I can still overload myself with too many tasks. I feel discomfort from losing control of my time. So, I try to limit the number of tasks so that I have some wiggle time. And therefore, I must prioritize what I need to do.

 

Prioritizing is essential since our time is limited. It is necessary to distinguish what you need to do and what you want to prioritize tasks. Then it would be best if you considered your vision values. Without vision, you will be unfocused. If your vision is misaligned with your values, you will be dissatisfied with your life.

 

The better I become at prioritizing my tasks, the more control I gain. Over time, I found out there are some tricks in prioritizing my tasks. I still make many mistakes in prioritizing; although, I try to improve my experience. I hope my experience can help you to prioritize your tasks.

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How to Manage Project Overload

Background

The busy season has started because of year-end. Unfortunately, we have had difficulty partially finding additional accounting staff because the position requires Japanese language skills. As the hiring manager, I do not think Japanese language skill is necessary. After all, we operate in the United States.

One of my biggest challenges was a global kaizen project presentation, which I could not be delegated to anyone. Unfortunately, this presentation is being held in the middle of my busiest season – we are in the middle of preparing three different audits, budgeting, and preparation for the third quarter consolidation report. Finally, I am still overseeing a few other continuous improvement projects.

According to my network, this is not uncommon for small or mid-size companies since it is getting harder to get qualified accountants in this area. Labor shortages in specific fields are getting worse. What I can say is this. I am confident that I am not the only busy person. This is my first time in this complicated situation, but it will not be the last. Today, I want to write about how I manage my tasks when under challenging situations.

My biggest suggestion is not to wait until the last minute. Instead, you need to start the process as soon as possible. 

List all the tasks you need to complete

First, I usually list all outstanding projects I need to complete. I do not write down little tasks required for each project, but I write down the project name. I organize all my projects and tasks digitally. Still, I write down the list on a blank letter-size paper in landscape orientation to visualize the bigger picture of the situation. I spend about one or two minutes writing down this list.

Interim Audit

Quarter Review Audit

Internal Audit

Consolidation reporting package

And so on.

Next, write down the due date to the right of each item

  1. 3rd Quarter External Audit – Nov 8
  2. Interim External Audit – Nov 8
  3. Annual Internal Audit – PBC due Nov 8, Audit Nov 16
  4. Budget – Oct 26
  5. Global Kaizen Project Presentation – Nov 3
  6. Third Quarter Consolidation Report due Nov 23

If you know how long each project will take you to complete, you can estimate the earliest and the latest start time. For example, I will not do any projects involving the 3rd quarter until the 3rd quarter is closed. That will be the earliest start date. The latest start day needs to be calculated from the due date.

I usually use a checklist – which contains all activities listed in a project. For example, I typically have approximately 50-150 items depending on the type of audit. Examples of tasks on this list are federal and state taxes estimates, inventory reserve calculations, slow-moving inventory analyses. I write down how many hours it takes to complete each task. The project time is the aggregation of times of each activity to complete the project.

Checklist

I learned this trick when I was working for an accounting firm a long time ago. A checklist is a list of all the things you need to do, and a checklist offers multiple benefits.

A checklist is an excellent tool to maintain consistency in the tasks. For example, quarter audit, an external auditor usually asks for the same type of information. If you have the list ahead of time, you can generally gather them ahead of time.

A checklist is helpful when you want to delegate certain tasks to other team members of the financially auditing team.

I use a checklist to gauge how many hours each project takes. Once you have the due date, you can estimate the earliest and the latest start date for each project.

If you do not have a checklist for repeating a project, I strongly recommend you create one.

Task Delegation

I know I cannot do all tasks by myself. I usually delegate out as many tasks as possible to junior positions. Delegation does not only help you to ease your workload, but it helps to develop your subordinates.

The critical thing to remember when you delegate your work is you still need to hold responsibility for the tasks.  If you need to train them, you should prepare and review their work. Make sure to give feedback immediately when the tasks are done. Immediate feedback enhances their task efficiency for the future.

I also have written instructions for individual tasks or activities, which I create whenever I have extra time. This instruction also helps train your subordinates.

Negotiate the Due Dates ahead of time

I often negotiate the due dates with our auditors when multiple projects need to be done spontaneously. In my case, I usually negotiate the timing of interim and quarter audits with our external auditors. Our interim audit was initially scheduled for Nov 4, but I dealt with our auditor no make it 8th. We had an internal audit starting on Nov 16.

I requested the consolidation report due date to Nov 23 instead of the 18th because we have an internal audit in the same week. Sometimes it is impossible to do two projects simultaneously because you do not have the time to do two things.

Tasks completion status

I made this list in mid-September, and I made my plan to complete all of them. I am still working on the tasks, but I managed to complete some of them.

  1. 3rd Quarter External Audit – Nov 8 – 85% completed (review delegated tasks left)
  2. Interim External Audit – Nov 8 – PBC submitted
  3. Annual Internal Audit – PBC due Nov 8, Audit Nov 16 – PBC expected to be completed Nov 4
  4. Budget – Oct 26 completed
  5. Global Kaizen Project Presentation – Nov 3 (Slide submitted, currently practicing presentation)
  6. Third Quarter Consolidation Report due Nov 23 (Starting Nov 16)

Conclusion

This was quite a challenging period since I also had to work on the global kaizen project presentation. I still think the key is to list all of the tasks and plan them well. The important thing is to start the planning process as soon as possible. I am 95% certain that I will complete all of them without any delay.

I acquired this process from my experience. The process can be applied to anything. You should try it. It is probably better than becoming stressed out.

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Career Anchors: Knowing What Matter to You Before Planning Your Career

Over the last several years, the environment has drastically changed. Technology has improved so much that the forms of our jobs are changing rapidly – it seems. For example, with the introduction of the Robotic Automation Process or Artificial Intelligence, many of our entry-level tasks are disappearing.

Change has constantly been happening.  I’ve seen technological changes in my career from the beginning. For example, I translated between Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAPs), US GAAPs, and German GAAPs. There were no harmonized accounting standards back then, so reports had to be translated into an accounting reporting standard depending on where stocks were traded. With the introduction of technology, these translations are now done by software.

What we need to pay attention to is not the change itself but the speed of the changes. Labor shortages in some areas are getting worse in the United States. Accounting was one of the fields. Both mid and small companies are struggling to retain qualified employees. There are many reasons that companies are motivated to make the change necessary to survive. Even small companies have started implementing simple robots to take over tasks. I have worked on several projects implementing RPA in large corporations. Now small or mid-size companies have begun implementing digital transformations.

As more RPA take over our daily tasks, more companies seek adaptable people who can do the jobs that robots cannot do, such as interpretation or generating new ideas. How the jobs are done for many of us will change rapidly in the next several years. If you are not adapting to these changes, you will be quickly be made obsolete and end up without a job. So, we need to prepare for any changes that can impose such threats and opportunities.

Another thing you will need to consider is that the work style has changed. To make matters worse, COVID hit the world. Covid forced us to work remotely, and many companies moved to a remote work style. The remote work environment would affect us sooner or later, but COVID catalyzed the change rather quickly. This change made job applications somewhat borderless—labor shortages for mid and small companies got worse last year.

It is essential to understand ourselves more because we need to adapt to environments quickly. Reactive and Impulsive decisions can often lead to an unwanted situation. For example, there will be more remote positions available in the future. Your organization may make your position remote even though a remote work environment is not for everyone. You must be sensitive to technological changes because otherwise, robots may replace your job.

A good method to understand your strategic position in the existing environment is a SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis matrix contains Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Before starting with a SWOT analysis, I think one should identify one’s career anchor because it reveals one’s underlying values. Career anchors are underlying talents, motives, values, and attitudes – people often use these as the drivers to pick their jobs or career. It was developed by Edgar Schein, who is credited for various research and books mainly under organizational psychology (MIT Sloan, n.d.). He is primarily known for his book, Career Anchors.

According to Schein, there are eight career anchors. The eight anchors are:

Technical / Functional Competence: Someone in this anchor wants to be good at what they do. They will put a lot of effort into improving their skills in their career. They also do not care about money or promotions unless the opportunity helps them excel in a chosen line of work.

General Managerial Competence: Someone in this anchor is more likely to pursue the traditional career path of the corporation. They like to supervise a large number of groups or employees. They want to learn how to manage many functions and use the information or skills from multiple sources within an organization. 

Autonomy / Independence: someone in this anchor prefers to be left alone. They love the freedom to set rules, procedures, and their own schedule.

Security / Stability: Someone in this anchor values the security and stability in their job. They dislike unpredictable environments; therefore, they want to have their tasks and policies clearly defined. They tend to have a strong identity in their organization.

Entrepreneurial creativity: Someone in this anchor loves to create their own business. They can get obsessed with the idea they need to create, and they will get bored if the process is prevented.  

Sense of service: People in this anchor want to work within a specific set of values. For example, an elementary school teacher wants to develop youth because they believe that education is essential for anyone. A medical researcher tries to seek a cure for cancer. Money is not the primary driver for these types of people since they are focused on the cause.

Pure Challenge: people in this anchor are constantly seeking more formidable challenges to conquer.

Lifestyle: People in this anchor value a work-life balance. They value the freedom to organize their balance between work and their personal life.

I have taken Schein’s Career Anchors test in the past. I scored high in Pure Challenge, Entrepreneurial Creativity, and Autonomy. I was not as surprised with the results because I feel the most energy when working with challenging projects. If something does not work, I instead create a new way to make it work. That is why I mainly do continuous improvement types of projects for the organization.

Analysis on Strength and Weakness

I quickly analyzed the strengths and weaknesses I obtained from the Career Anchors test. If you want to do the proper analysis, you must include your skills, knowledge, and experience in this analysis.

Strength 

I enjoy the rapid changes in the environments since there are many things I can learn and create to overcome challenges. The more complex the Challenge, the more excited I become. Money and social status are not my main priority if there are challenges in it. I also value autonomy, creating rules and processes instead of following existing rules and processes.

Weakness

I have many things that I want to improve. I see some weaknesses that can lead me to chaos if I fail to control them. If I am not careful, I will endlessly spend my time chasing after the wrong thing. I get bored of things quickly, so I must keep the project short. Finally, I prefer to work independently rather than working for someone. (This is something I need to focus on).

My career anchors led to great opportunities in times like this as long as I navigate how I utilize them. For this blog, I omitted how to conduct environment scanning to find out opportunities and threats, which is very important to complete your SWOT analysis.

I strongly recommend analyzing and identifying one’s career anchors since our environments are shifting quickly. You will need to adjust and reposition yourself in such an environment. 

Without understanding your underlying value or needs, you cannot position yourself wisely. Once you know your career anchor, you can create your career and skill development plan that is matched to your career anchor. People generally feel more engaged when they know what they want, can, and need to do. Understanding your career anchor helps you to identify them easier; thus, you can be adaptable.

Reference

MIT Sloan. (n.d.) Edgar H. Schein.https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/edgar-h-schein

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Learning To Be A Good Leader From Ieyasu Tokugawa’s Letters

He had a lot of trouble when he spent his childhood as a hostage of the Imagawa Clan instead of his father. After the death of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, he seized power after the battle of Sekigawara in 1600. After Tokugawa unified Japan, The Warring States period ended, and there was peace until 1868.

Later, a nanny called Kasugano Tsubone raised his first grandson; however, the second son was raised by his mother, the daughter-in-law. Eventually, this raised the concern of a succession struggle. To mitigate the succession problems and sustain the long Tokugawa Clan line, he wrote letters to his daughter-in-law because he wanted her to raise the son to be a proper leader. Ieyasu wrote these letters to his daughter-in-law because he wanted her to raise her son to be an appropriate leader. This letter was copied and taught to many daimyos.

Of course, the letters were written in the past, and some concepts cannot be applied very well. Although, there are some insights we can gain from them. I want to introduce a few parts of the letters we can still use for our leadership in this blog.

A leader cannot understand anything by only practicing Confucianism, Benevolence, righteousness, gratitude, wisdom, and faith until seeing the mirror reflecting ourselves.

It is not a physical mirror that can be polished by hand to make it shiny. It’s a mirror exists in our heart. Thus, it can be polished only by one’s heart.

If you don’t do what is right, the mirror of your heart remains cloudy and does not permit reflection.

To keep it from becoming cloudy, we have no choice but to learn from others about the impact of our actions.

The letter is a rough translation by me. ~ I did not add my interpretation here.

おこうの家康の手紙に書かれた信長・秀吉の人物像 真のリーダー像とは「早わかり歴史授業94 徳川家康シリーズ61」日本史方. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpRMzbjupi8&t=1058s&ab_channel=%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8B%E3%81%BB%E3%81%A9%21%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC

Confucianism heavily influences Japan. To become a good leader, you must practice the five basic Confucian ethical concepts: Benevolence (仁), rightness (義), gratitude (礼), wisdom (智) and faith (信) Ieyasu said that practicing Confucian ethical ideas is not good enough to become a good leader.

For example, Ieyasu wrote about why a leader must practice benevolence. Subordinates and vassals might follow orders even if the orders were not a good decision. Thus, a leader is not ethical or compassionate, and your subordinates also act unethically. 

Ieyasu preaches how to practice the five basic Confucian ethical concepts by controlling oneself in the following ways.

You should be kind to everyone. It would be best if you were fair. For example, you should not create an exception for those people who are close to you.
You should be loyal to those whom you work for. Don’t break your promises.
Think about others first. Never forget your gratitude. Maintain yourself and behave well at all times.
Control yourself using wisdom in order not to be arrogant or treat others lightly.
To obey the rules that exist at all times.

Same YouTube as the above. I directly translated the letter without adding my interpretation.

Exercising these controls is not solely good enough to be a good leader, Ieyasu stated.
A good leader must polish the mirror of his heart so it is not cloudy. To shine the mirror of the heart, you must listen to the viewpoints and excellent advice.
Then, Ieyasu gives examples to explain why it is essential to listen to others.

If a leader likes to hear only opinions convenient to him, people around him will only give the statements he wants to hear. The people who could give you the proper guidance will be distant from you. You will be only left with sycophants who only speak what you want to hear. Therefore, a leader should listen to others from time to time.

The rapid change of environment forces the organization to be adaptable to sustain a competitive edge while dealing with the increasing complexity in the workplace due to the rapid changes. It is pretty challenging to make sound decisions only among top leaders. Thus, recent leadership theories started emphasizing the bottom-up aspect of leadership and the importance of humility to organization effectiveness (OWENS & HEKMAN 2012).

To secure the position, many leaders tend to protect themselves with people with similar ideas or followers. The group may have more bindings or loyalty; although, it can be dangerous. No single man makes the right decision all the time. If a leader surrounds himself with only those types of followers, an organization can make serious mistakes without realizing it until it is too late. He observed the errors fallen leaders such as Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi made. Ieyasu lived through the Sengoku Period, the period of the warring states, a very turbulent era. One single mistake can lead to the clan falling. He understood that humility was a crucial element for leaders in a turbulent world. He learned from their mistakes.

According to the oxford dictionary, humility is defined as the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people. Having humility does not necessarily mean that you let other people walk all over you. It means that you should gain the ability to regard others as no more or less than you. Such capability allows a leader to listen to important advice or information, which helps them make the soundest decision for their organization. Rapid changes in environments require leaders to gain the most accurate information from the organization quickly. It is more effective to practice the bottom-up aspect of leadership to accomplish organizational effectiveness in some cases.

Humility is important in my personal life. It is unlikely that I can make the soundest decision all the time; therefore, I must learn to listen to others who could give the correct opinion. I understand the importance of humility theoretically; however, I found practicing it isn’t easy. The more social status and experiences I gain, and the more complex the practice has become. I often found myself that I struggled to listen to others because of my arrogance.

We live in quite a different world from that of Ieyasu. Therefore, I cannot apply all of what he said in the letter. Some concepts still can apply to my leadership style at work and my personal life. I found practicing humility is challenging despite its importance – that often prevents me from overlooking the critical advice from others. Thus, I need to think about how to gain the trait from now on.

References

Owens, B. P., &Hekman, D. R. (2012). Modeling HowTo Grow: An Inductive Examination Of Humble Leader Behavior, Contingencies, And Outcomes. The Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 787–818.

Oxford Dictionary. (n.d.). Humility noun. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/humility

こうの家康の手紙に書かれた信長・秀吉の人物像 真のリーダー像とは「早わかり歴史授業94 徳川家康シリーズ61」日本史方. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpRMzbjupi8&t=1058s&ab_channel=%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8B%E3%81%BB%E3%81%A9%21%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC

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If You Feel Uneasy, Read This Book: Hojoki

With recent Tornado and COVID outbreaks, I have felt constant uneasiness for the last year or so. I picked up a book, the Hojoki. The Hojoki is a collection of literary essays from Kamo no Chomei (鴨長明). The Hojoki is regarded as one of the three great Zuihitsu (essays). The Hojoki was written around 1212.

In the Hojoki, Chomei wrote about Mujokan (無常観), the awareness of impermanence, a fundamental Buddhist philosophy principle. Things never stay permanent. Everything changes even if they don’t seem to change in appearance.

The last time I read this book was when I was in my teens. I still remember the first part because we had to learn the first part of my school’s curriculum. It was so poetic that I memorized the opening of this book.

I translated the opening of the book.

Look at the river carefully. The flow of the water never ceased.
You realize the river exists all the time, but the water in the river never stays the same.
The bubbles floating in the river constantly bursting and reform, and they are never lingering.
Just like the water and the bubbles in the river, people and their dwellings in the world keeps changing.
There is nothing in the world that stays permanent.

In the opening sentence, Chomei wrote about the awareness of the transience of things by giving the exact things he experienced. This opening poem reminds me of Pantha Rhei, the ever-present change expressed by The Greek Philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (535 – 475BC).

Before I explain further about this book, I would like to introduce Chomei’s life quickly. He was born in 1155 as the 2nd son of Negi at Shimogamo temple. Negi is the title of a person who leads Shinto rituals at a Shinto Temple. Many wealthy people made donations to Shinto temples to avoid disaster. Therefore, some temples, such as Shimogamo Temple, became wealthy. Chomei had a luxurious childhood.

Although, it did not last long. When Chomei was 18 years old, his father passed away. Since Chomei’s mother was already passed away, he had no allies during inheritance conflicts among his relatives. As a result, Chomei was left with nothing. He decided to abandon his relatives and duties at the Shinto temple and mastered playing the Biwa (a Biwa is a plucked string instrument resembling a lute) and creating waka. Waka is a classic Japanese poem that contains 31 morae.

At the age of 47, he had another opportunity to regain his social status. At this time, Chomei mastered playing Biwa, and he was a well-regarded poet. He was appointed as one of the editors of Chyokusen Waka Shyu. Because he worked so hard on the new role as an editor, he was given a chance to be a Negi at a Tadasunoyashiro temple by Gotoba Tenno, the 87th Japanese Tenno. Although, Chomei lost this opportunity because his relatives objected. Chomei’s relatives believed that he was not entitled to the position because Chomei abandoned his duties at another Shinto temple. The Tenno agreed with their objection, so Chomei did not get the role. Chomei became a Buddhist monk at forty-nine and lived in a 10- square foot house in a mountain until his death with great disappointment.

All essays in the Hojoki were Chomei’s historical statements about his own experiences and five disasters he experienced: fires, Whirlwind, relocation of the nation’s capital, flood, and earthquake. He mainly experienced them in his 20’s.

The disasters Written in the Hojoki:

The Great Fire at Angen (23 years old) – 1177

The Whirlwind at Chishyo (26 years old)

Fukuhara Sento – Moving of Capital city (26 years old) 1180

Famine at Yowa (27 years) – 1181

Earthquake in Genryaku (31 years old) – 1185

The Genpei War 1180-1185

He lived in a Chaotic World. In 1180, the Genpei War started. It was a national civil war between the Taira and The Minamoto clans. The battle lasted five years, and the Taira clan lost. In 1192, Yoritomo Minamoto was finally granted the title of the imperial commission, Sei-I Tai Shogun, and a feudal state in Japan arose. I will not get into the Genpei War in this article; however, I found many videos about it. I will share links to the videos below. You are free to check the videos that explain the war very well.

Chomei wrote what he observed and felt from the disasters he experienced. Then, he stated that history keeps repeating because we seem to forget the lessons learned from the horrible disasters.

People talked about the disasters when they occurred.
However, we forget as time passes.
Thus, we never learned from them.

After the war of Genpei, Japan turned into a feudal state which lasted until the Edo period started. We experienced multiple wars as if we did not learn a thing from each war.
As of 2021, we still live in the middle of the COVID pandemic, which has claimed many lives. Will we still remember this pandemic a few decades later? Can we react better when the next pandemic strikes? In order not to repeat the disaster, we should not forget what happened.

In the last part of this book, Chomei wrote about how to live from his point of view. His life experiences influenced him greatly. He suggests living freely without depending on others. He means not being too obsessed with people, materials, or social status as all things in the world are ephemeral.


Yet, in the final part of this book, he wrote.

I left material life.
I live and act like a monk
I preach not to be obsessed with things.
I questioned myself.
Yet, why do I still write about my life?
All I could say was “Amitabha.”

His book captured my heart because they were written from his personal experience. Throughout his writing, I still sense his deep sorrow. This book contains the conclusions he reached after his affairs. At the same time, I feel somehow lifted because he retained his humanity. It is ok if we lose time to time. I am encouraged by the book because it made me realize that things I worry over are also not permanent.


I recommend that anyone read this book, especially if you feel uneasy that there is no certainty in life; If you do not know what to do or have difficulties from relationships. The book shows you a different way of living life.

The book shows a different way of living life – a life without obsession. Of course, it is good to work hard on something. Don’t invest too much of your energy or emotion in them because nothing lasts forever.