Situation in company where turnover rate is high

A very simple comic I drew right before my flu medicine started to take effect. Really a simple one. It’s been a while since I last came out with a comic. I actually had to clean the dust off my drawing tablet before using it.

I’ll try my best to come out with more decent comics after this. Hope you guys will like it.

Don’t be surprised if I tell you this is actually one of the many questions which I’ve been asked during a job interview. It’s an interesting question and the answer can be quite diversified.

If you were me, what kind of answer do you think you will give?

Gossip mongers just want to network with other people? Hmmm

1. Will you confront the gossip monger and tell him you’re not happy?
2. Confront the gossip monger and tell him the gossip is not true at all?
3. Stay quiet?
4. Spread another gossip to counter that gossip?
5. Or start telling each and everyone you know in the office that the gossip is not true?

I know this is kind of touching human psychology but based on my personal experience, it’s not uncommon in our office life. Every now and then, there will be this group of people who have nothing to do but to spread rumors and gossip about other people. They can be quite notorious at times too, to the stage that whatever they said might actually affect your working experience. So it’s perfectly normal if you feel like confronting them and tell them off.

But is that how it should be done?

Based on my personal experience, it’s actually best to do item (3) which is to keep quiet. I understand that sometimes, the fire might get too hot and burn yourselves in the process but I also believe that if you retaliate to something which is not true, it will only make the fire stronger. So in my opinion, it’s better to make it as boring for them as possible, and they will slowly get tired of it and move on to the next target.

And I told this to the job interviewer and he was quite happy with my answer.

What about you? What would you do if you were in this kind of situation?

p/s….I’ve experienced it on 1 or 2 occasions. If it’s ruining my reputation and a colleague told me about it, I will just tell that colleague the real story. That’s all. As long as there are few good colleagues who know about the real story, I won’t really care what others think.

Some people (especially Asians) like to compare with others. Some say it’s for them to remain competitive, while some just want to make themselves feel good (or bad, if they are the one losing out). Either way, I don’t feel it’s a good thing to do because this kind of comparison can go on and on and on. Forever.

But seriously, I don’t quite understand about all these comparison thingy. What’s the big deal if you are driving a Proton and your good friend is driving a BMW? Does that mean he is leading a happier life than you? Does that mean he is more successful? Does that mean you should work harder so that you can drive a BMW as well? Or you just want to drive a BMW so that people will start to look at you with respect (and jealousy)?

Think about those questions for a moment and see if you can come out with some answers.

Besides asking yourselves those questions, there are 2 more questions which you should ask. 2 very important questions.

• Will owning a BMW give you long term happiness?
• What is the thing which matters the most to you? Is it the BMW or is it something else?

Answer those 2 questions truthfully. Now, try asking yourselves again, do you really think that the BMW is something you really really want?

If yes, good luck. End of story. You can continue with whatever that you’re doing now, including dreaming of the BMW.

If no, then you are on the right page and welcome to my world.

The thing about comparing with other people is that it is a never ending process which will only make you feel discontent with what you have. Some of my friends said that it is how they push themselves to higher limit. But in my opinion, this “higher limit” is not something which can be represented by nicer cars, bigger houses or the number of private jets. It is more like doing what you are passionate about or doing something which you strongly believe in, and be successful with it.

THAT is what I call “higher limit” – or what most people call as “successful”.

By the way, if you are a self-motivator, you don’t need any external factors in order to push yourselves further. Rather than comparing with other people, I believe comparing with your previous achievements would be a better option. But don’t ever forget about what you have currently. Appreciate it, be content and be grateful. Only push forward because of your need to improve yourselves as a person, not because someone else has bigger car than you do.

Some people believe that we should always think of doing things for ourselves, and not on behalf of other people. While I do believe this should be the correct way (only useful for those who are very much a self-motivated person), I also believe that we shouldn’t ignore the importance of doing things for other people especially people who are important to us.

In fact, it’s quite a different feeling for me. It’s as if you do have a very strong purpose for doing something and you know that there is someone out there who is depending on your success/failure. It actually allows you to withdraw a great deal of emotional strength from within yourselves.

Life is not just about doing things for yourselves

Actually, we see this all the time in movies and stories (er..mostly those movies with a big name hero ). In fact, some of the motivational gurus even insist that one should always be willing to help others or do things for other people. It is what make us human and it is also what makes whatever we do more meaningful.

Just in case some of you don’t get what I mean, let me give you a simple scenario.

Let’s say you are going to do this very very difficult and scary task – maybe a medical operation (touch wood). You’re afraid, very afraid. After all, it’s your first time in the operation room and you’ve heard scary stories before this. What you can do then, is to try telling yourselves that you can do it, and you want to be fine for the people you care about including your family. Repeat this for a few times. I believe that you will feel the confidence building up within yourselves.

I personally experienced this before. I was admitted to a specialist to do a kolonscope at the age of 22 or 23. I was very scared. The entire waiting area was filled with uncles, aunties and I was the youngest. And it was the first time I was admitted. So when I entered the “room”, with those scary-looking spotlights……. one thing came to my mind – my mum’s worried and crying face. And at that time, I told myself that I’ll be perfectly fine because I don’t want my mum to worry.

I know it’s not a big operation…er…it’s not even an operation. But it did help me overcome my fear. Because at that time, I had a purpose and a very strong reason not to fear of anything. Some people call this willpower….er…whatever it is, I believe it’s the same thing – the strength to achieve a particular goal for the people who you really care about.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a spiritual or motivational guru. I’m merely sharing my belief and my experience. I do hope that this piece of article actually help some of you out there who are struggling to overcome the many obstacles that life always throws our way.

p/s…….. if possible, try to manage properly the things which you are doing for yourselves and also the things which you are doing for others. But also try not go overboard with this – some people might start feeling themselves as very important, in a wrong way. Sorry if this article is making you feel that way =_= Maybe these individuals who feel they are so “great”, should learn how to be humble before practicing the things here.

Greetings readers,

I’ve finally decided to stick to a fixed posting schedule. I’ll be posting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. This is due to my slightly hectic schedule and also I plan to use some of the free time to do few things such as:

• Do my own personal projects
• Start a new blog which is related to technology
• Redesign this blog’s outlook
• Draw some comics
• Maybe come out with ebooks – content compiled from the comics and articles of this blog
• Provide more helpful articles here

Last but not least, I would like to thank you all once again for all the support throughout the years. It’s really been a long time since I first started blogging. Thanks!

By the way, you can follow me at Twitter – @alvinlzg