Productivity tip

Productivity tip I discovered in high school and have not discovered a better one since:

Just start doing it. Inspiration will follow.

411 Fail

I am sometimes utterly amazed at the inability of behemoth tech companies to get with the times. A recent conversation I had with a 411 operator:

Irina: Hi, I am looking for a hair salon in San Francisco. It is on Bush and Kearny and its name starts with an “F.” I do not remember the full name.
Operator: I’m sorry. I need at least the first four letters of the name.
Irina: Try “Fes.”
Operator: I’m sorry. I’m not finding anything.
Irina: Um, okay. Could you check on Google, because I checked half an hour ago and it found it without a problem.
Operator: I’m sorry, ma’am. I do not have access to Google. I only have access to my database.
Irina: Okay. Thanks.

For nothing.

AT&T, I hate you.

Google, I love you.

User experience is everything in a competitive market. Unfortunately, AT&T is a monopoly. They do not have any incentive to improve their notoriously bad customer experience. In addition, they have a monopoly on the iPhone. I really hope Apple strikes a deal Verizon soon. It will benefit their market share!

Welcome, New Brazen!

A year ago in August, fresh out of college, I started my first job. I was scared, a little awkward and hungry to learn. I needed not good advice, but a day-to-day guide on how to act, what to do and what to say in the work place. And that is when I stumbled upon Brazen Careerist.

From the beginning, I was drawn by the honesty of its contributing writers. As I read the early posts, I extracted lessons for myself on how to act at work and how to learn to become a valuable employee. Brazen Careerist was a daily destination, along with Gmail and Google Reader. Instead of bugging my friends for advice, I had Brazen. And via Brazen, I received more targeted and customized advice.

Then I overdosed a bit. The discussions were fascinating, but had so much content and so much depth that reading Brazen over my morning cup of coffee became emotionally exhausting. I felt the need to comment on every post. I bookmarked each one and came back to them after work. It became a chore and I needed a break.

And now Brazen is brand new and shiny. It continues to innovate and draw in its contributors and its audience. The introduction of groups and Twitter-like conversations was a great addition (and addiction!). The Ask Penelope Trunk group had me hooked for a while. And watching Brazen Careerist take on a sleek new look is absolutely exciting! The network is living and breathing high quality content. The ideas are abundant. Any question can be answered. And even better, your voice can be heard by a group of smart and enthusiastic people who are eager to help out and share their ideas! I am not sure where Brazen is headed, but it seems like a successful somewhere.

Now all that is left is Brazen Dating.

I Send Them Waltzing

Once in a while a song comes along that touches you to the core. Last Friday I stumbled on a 1996 song by Zazie, an amazing French singer. I loved her ever since I discovered her in France in 1999. She is quirky, she is real, she is sexy and her music just seems so genuine (while remaining edgy) that I always feel a connection listening to her. Her music just strikes a cord for me.

And since last Friday, I cannot get “J’Envoie Valser” out of my head:

It is a song about love, but oh what a song! Perhaps it is the folksy tune that reminds me of Russia. Or perhaps it is her feminine voice of an 18-year-old girl. There is such optimism in her voice that I want to call all my friends and tell them I love them. The lyrics are so simple and so powerful. Here is my cursory translation:

I see them who give
Give each other jewelry right to the neck
It is pretty but
But nothing but pebbles
Stones that roll
Roll and that roll down cheeks
I like it better when you love me
Without spending a penny…

But I, I do mock
I send their way
Jewelry-junk
The gilded cage
You when you hug me so strong
It is like treasure trove
And that, it is worth gold

I see them who fire
Looks and flowers
Then who leave each other
Somewhere else
Between roses and darlings
I know so many
Who would do better just loving each other
A bit, a bit like we love each other a lot

And to send their way
Elsewhere to waltz
The rings and the hearts in strings
For when we love each other strong
It is like treasure trove
And that, that is worth gold

Forevermore
I send their way
The proofs of love
In gold-plated gold
For when you hug me so strong
It’s right there, my treasure trove
It’s you, you who are worth gold

Ok, so I definitely took some artistic liberties in this translation (and it still sounds stupid, that is my fault, not Zazie’s), along with some Word Reference help. What is most important for me are not the words, but the rhythm with which Zazie tells this simple story and how much life she breathes into these words. Oh what a song!

P.S. I really need to move to France soon.

Slowly Make Change Part of Who You Are

The following two sentences are from a post that is part of the “Inconvenience of Change” series, hosted during the month of May and little bit of June by Matt Cheuvront at Life Without Pants along with New Day Revolution (and I shamelessly adopted this introductory paragraph from Jenny Blake at Life After College).

Go to Life Without Pants to read the full post!

I still keep failing at change regularly, but sometimes I succeed. What makes those change “projects” successful?

Call and Text All Your Friends When You Are Happy

Becoming an adult sucks. It is really hard. Graduating from college, leaving your parents’ house, managing finances, being good at your job and generally learning how to be on your own is very emotionally taxing. And then there is the task of figuring out how to lead your life on your own. I find a lot of recent college graduates subconsciously afraid of being alone, so whenever they have free time, they schedule meetings with their friends, picnics at the park, happy hours at the bar and attendance of countless parties. Six months later, they find that they have had little time with themselves to really think about what their lives now mean.

And what they mean is that there is no set course anymore. Life is now a free current (direct translation from Russian). In high school you worked hard to get into the best college. In college you worked hard to get the best job out of graduation. Now that the preparation for your life is over, you suddenly find yourself living the life that you prepared for during the last 8 years. But how do you actually live it? Is it worth going out to bars or to parties twice a week? Is it more valuable, in the grand spectrum of your life, to work 8 or 10 hours a day? Should you write a blog post or get 8 hours of sleep? Is it worth reading that really interesting article to educate yourself on a topic?

When I started working, I asked my mentor “How do I live my life now that I have a structured 9 to 5 work schedule? Where do I find the time to discover myself?” He answered: “You get really good at managing your time. And you learn to spend time on the things you actually want to be doing.” You learn to only spend time with people you actually want to spend time with. Instead of reading everything, you read only those articles and blog posts that will teach you something new and spark a new thought, resisting the urge to read everything because you are hungry for an understanding of this world.

And then you go through sad and down states. Because transitioning from college to adulthood is emotionally unstable and you will feel this emotional instability if you dare to stop and think for five minutes. And when you feel sad and scared, you might snap at your friends, the friends who will be there for you no matter what and who tolerate your post-college-transition emotional ups and downs. But you do not want to push it too far and alienate them.

So when you feel a pocket of joy amidst the emotional transition, immediately call and text your friends. Because that pocket of joy might pass in 5 minutes, but the positive call or text will last them longer. And because those happy calls remind your friends of who you really are or the person you strive to be - the best and happiest version of yourself.

Maybe Business School Is Not Crucial (Part I)

I have been thinking a lot about business school lately. Working in a consulting firm, I am surrounded by people who choose to go to business school. The choice is almost unanimous and seldom disputed. That is what you do when you work in consulting. You get a prestigious job after college, spend 2-4 years working, do well by your managers, take on some in-firm leadership opportunities, spend your free time volunteering at a non-profit and gear up for business school applications. Then you paint a holistic picture of your accomplishments, send in a few (hopefully) strong recommendation letters and sail off into the sunset in your top 10 business school sweatshirt.

It is almost undisputed. It is just what you do.

And business school always loomed on the horizon. Until I recently started to actually think about it. The impetus was going to XX Factor conference at Stanford GSB a few weekends ago. A well-orchestrated marketing event, it nevertheless provided gourmet food for thought. As you think about your applications, the hosts recommended, think of what you want in life, which skill sets you enjoy using and what kind of career path you want to pave for yourself. Think about what you want to do.

And then I had to think about it. Without holding myself back. What do I want to do? I want to make enough money so that I do not have to worry about it (and not have any reservations about buying a $3,000 plane ticket to go see my grandparents in Ukraine). I want to find a job I enjoy doing so much that I cannot wait to get back into the office. I want to not be in $150,000 or more debt even before I buy my house and (probably) get married. I want to move to Moscow and work there for a year and prove to the world that I can make it there.

Why do people go to business school? At the conference, satisfactory answers from my fellow attendees were scarce. I asked an ex i-banker turned private equity banker:

“Why do you want to go to business school?”
“Well, I want to start my own business and I do not think I have the skills to do that.”
“Well, why go to business school? Why not just talk to entrepreneurs who have started their own businesses?”
“Well…um…”

Her eyes got shifty. So I let her move on to people with whom she could talk about how much she liked the presentation and how the students on the student panel seemed to really have a great time at the GSB.

 The final straw came when I met Brandusa. Both Eastern Europeans, we found a common language within five minutes. Brandusa stated explicitly the thoughts I was afraid to think. Maybe business school is not the right answer. Maybe, as Fran Maier mentioned, “momentum” is just as important. The momentum to do what you are doing well and make enough money in that way.

So I got home from the conference jaded, but relieved. Suddenly, I had two years “back”, two years free and business school looming on the horizon just a little bit less. I tweeted my thoughts out into the Twittersphere and received a wealth of responses. To be continued.

How I Failed at Networking

Last Thursday, I decided to go to Ramit Sethi’s book launch of I Will Teach You to Be Rich for three reasons:

1. The topic of personal finance is currently one of my biggest interests.
2. It was a great opportunity to practice networking.
3. I had a very productive week at work, which made me feel confident, which made me want to conquer the world.

And what better place to start the conquering than a personal finance party?

Well, I failed. Completely.

In my journey of career self-discovery in the last few months, I have voraciously devoured any career-oriented blogs I could come across. Additionally, as I have been trying to get my finances in order, I attentively read blogs such as Get Rich Slowly, No Debt Plan and I Will Teach You to Be Rich.

I really enjoy Ramit’s writing and his raw sense of humor (I had a great couple of days of reading when I discovered Things I Hate. I even went as far as buying Ramit’s book, after many of my Twitter followees twot its praises.

Another thought on my mind for a few weeks now has been my desire and readiness to expand my network. I moved to the city and started working in January and only in the last few weeks started feeling my life settling down in a comforting routine. Now all I needed is more people around me who share my passions.

Naturally, when Facebook reminded me of Ramit’s book launch in a Union Square bar in San Francisco, I printed out a few of business cards and off I went.

At 7 p.m. sharp, I excitedly pranced into the bar.

Happy Hour was still winding down, so there were a few people there who did not have anything to do with the book launch. I ordered a glass of wine and waited. I was all alone and knew no one there, so I started doing what every Gen Y-er does in a similar situation. I sat down on a bench in the hallway between the bar and the entrance, flipped through a magazine, texted my friend (who was spinning at the gym) about how awkward this is and pretended I was waiting to meet up with someone.

At 7:20, I had made no progress. I saw Ramit walking around, but he looked busy talking to people. Besides, I had absolutely no opening line and anything I could think of sounded too awkward in my head. So I sent for reinforcements.

At 7:45, I met my friend at a bus stop and we decided to return to the battlefield. The bar got fairly busy, so we ordered wine and pretended to be catching up with each other (side note: she works in the same company and on the same floor as I do). We still did not know anyone at the bar, while everyone seemed to know each other. I just could not think of a way to strike up a conversation, nor could I bring myself to do it cold turkey.

At 8 p.m. I gave up and we left.

Total failure. I was not proud of myself. Lessons?

1. If you are going to a professionally-minded event where you anticipate meeting people, shoot a quick email to someone who you might see there in advance to tell them that you want to chat. That way, when you approach them, it is definitely less awkward (i.e. not “Hi Ramit, remember that time I tweeted you and you tweeted back?”).

2. It is always helpful to bring a friend to such an event. The advantages are numerous. One: it is for some reason easier to strike up a conversation with someone if there is two of you than if there is one. I think it just seems to be less intense. Two (selfish): it does not look as bad when the two of you are monopolizing someone’s time as when there is one. You can always fight people off more easily together than by yourself. Three: if you find yourself in between conversations, you can talk to your friend and then you will not look like such a loser.

3. And finally, be gutsy. Networking is hard, but it is fun to learn. And the best networking experience is when you are genuinely interested in what people tell you. So go do it as much as you can. I know I will be trying.

P.S. Ramit, if you are reading this -  your book better teach me how to be rich…

Daughter Trump Rocks My World

The social media junkie that I am, I came across the following video of an excerpt interview with Ivanka Trump in my Google Reader last week:

I thought I was so awesome. Turns out - not so much.

Quick background for this post. I started my current job in August and worked for 6 weeks. Then I took a leave of absence for 3 1/2 months to finish up a masters degree at Stanford (yeah, it sounds better and more important when I explain it). And I just recently graduated and came back to work in beginning of January. Stop background.

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