HOW I LEARNED TO BE PROACTIVE (Part Two)

So I walk out of the office, making my way to the main reception, and decide to wait for her to come back from her lunch break, rather than remain inside her office, which was already flooded with many people.

Eventually, she returns.

To cut the long story short, I was able to meet her and talk to her; to which, thankfully, God helps me and I was able to get the internship placement opportunity, out of the several people who had also hoped to get the placement.

It turns out that I was to be seating with her in the same office, right opposite her, on the same desk, for the next two and half months.

So, with time, I discover that this lady who is now also my supervisor is feared by many of the people in this organization. She is tough, and what I would call, “a no-nonsense lady!”

I knew I had had a taste of her character, that first day I had met her… so, I started to think and ask myself, “What will my internship experience be like for the rest of these two and a half months?”

I started work…

Here I was, beginning my internship journey, still fresh as a University student, and had been told that I was to sit right opposite this lady, every single day! Yes, every single day! ...

To cut the long story short…she was actually okay.

She was the kind that was straightforward, serious, direct, and tough! … She wouldn’t tolerate excuses, and wouldn’t mince her words.

Yes, she was tough, straightforward and direct in the way she did her work, and in the way she dealt with people at the work place, but I got to like her in spite of her tough character, and “no-nonsense attitude.”

When I say a “no-nonsense attitude”, I mean the kind of no-nonsense attitude, that Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, who is currently heading The Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters, has.

Whenever the other interns that worked in the same office as she and I, saw her, they would rush and hide, because they knew that she was tough, and she would ask them a few direct tough questions in regards to the work they were doing; which you could tell, made them feel uneasy, uncomfortable, and a little intimidated.

There are days when I would be seated in office, and I had completed all the work and the assignments for the day, that I was supposed to do.

She would stop what she was doing, and look at me with a “tough” look, lower her glasses, look at me and say, “Do you have to always wait for me to give you work to do?”, “Cant you look for work to do?”… and then she would tell me, “You need to learn to be proactive!”, “Don’t just sit there when you have finished work and just wait for me to give you another assignment, learn how to be proactive!”

Its at that moment that I would stop whatever I was doing, which was usually reading a book in relation to the work I was doing, get up from my seat, and have to look around the office, and find something that needed to be done, and worked on!

Sometimes as I did this, she would give me a lecture regarding work life and how I needed to prepare myself for “the real world” after University.

There are days when I wished I had been like the other interns who used to spend most of the time with no much work to occupy them, but then again, I started to realize that God knew why He wanted me to sit with this “tough” old lady, and moreover right opposite her, where she could watch me closely, and my every move!

Hers felt like the kind of tough love, the one that many mothers have with their daughters. The kind where she will be hard on you and teach you, while at the same time, show you how you can be a better person in life, and she will not just let you relax on the job, and spoil you!

That’s how I can describe the relationship I had with her during those two and a half months.

I started off by fearing her because of her tough character, but with time, I easily warmed up to her, got used to her, and there were even days when she started bringing different things like fruits at the office, and she shared with me and the rest of the office staff.

I remember there was actually a time towards the end of my internship when I used to get a lift from the other workmates who were permanent staff at this organization, and she would also come along.

Its from here that as she would share stories with us in the car, that I was able to get to warm up to her more, and learn that she wasn’t as tough as every one else had made her to be, but she was only one of those people who were very particular on getting their job done 100%, and was just a “no nonsense kind of person,” but with a good heart.

I left that place after my internship with lots of lessons learned about being proactive, and working with people of different personalities and characters.

I had always read books like “7 habits of Highly Effective Teenagers” while in High School, and “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey, where actually the number one habit the writer talks about in both his books is “Being proactive.”

So, listening to my supervisor say these words wasn’t my first time to hear the word, but hearing her say these words repeatedly, and often, made me realize that I actually needed to learn to be more of a proactive human.

I have to admit that I had started off, thinking, that she and I would not connect as such, but I actually found her to be a good person, who just happened to be tough, at the same time.

And that there, ladies and gentlemen, is how I learned to be what you call, “a proactive human.”

So, finally, let me conclude with the definition.

The definition of Pro-active according to the Cambridge Dictionary is “taking action by causing change and not only reacting to change when it happens.”

The second definition from the same dictionary is, “Intending or intended to produce a good result or avoid a problem, rather than waiting until there is a problem.”

Please do watch out for my next post that I will be posting here on, “Conversations with a Young Entrepreneur I met at The Pool!”

Thanks and have an amazing month of June.

Happy Martyrs Day!

#7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveTeenagers #7HabitsOfHighlyeffectivepeople #character