We are diamonds

It's mid October but I can't help but think that Christmas is already around the corner. I mean, was it not just like... erm... 10 months ago that we had Christmas?

Time flies and you don't need to be a genius to know that. Life has been generally good. You take the good and the bad together and so long you enjoy the good and learn from the bad, you'll just be find.

2010 has so far been relatively eventful at work. We had a 4 staff turnover and we are only now assimilating the new people. I believe that I've mentioned that before: your people is the most important resources you'll ever have. But that's from an employer's view point. The problem for an employee (as I am in any case) to view that "people" is the most important resources is that entitlements become a given and you only look at the "good" examples of the world; this fellow earning $1m or that fellow retiring at 45 yrs old.

As an employee, you have to consider yourself as a very raw diamond. Some will be bigger than others just by the nature of it. Fret not though; a very polished and carved diamond is much more precious than a bigger but very raw and common-shaped diamond!

You might not be as bright as the fellow Ivy league grads. Or you might be an Ivy league grads but still pale in comparison to your Valedictorian. Or you are that chap who gave the speech at your convocation but wish you could be the drop-out earning $1m monthly! The point is that if you keep comparing, you will never end. Be contented with the shape and size you are as a diamond but know and believe that you are a diamond in the first place; that you can be shaped and polished and that the finished product is worth much more than what it is now.

You are that raw diamond. You hope that employer is a good diamond-cutter. You hope that your shop is in the right place. But that's what you are now; a raw diamond still being refined.

So, here I have 4 new raw diamonds with the remaining 8 more-polished (or less raw) diamonds. It is all of our job to make sure that we keep polishing all the diamonds. The goal is to further make sure that while each diamond is polished to its potential, the 13 diamonds (including myself) are viewed as a collection and are thus worth more than if "sold" separately

The sum of our effort as a whole is to be greater than the sum of our individual effort. Mathematically, we believe 1+1 <> 2. Rather, 1+1 = 3. Or 1+1=4 etc.