I had a wonderful, super-fantastic week.
As you (regular) readers know, I started a new job at Yahoo! this week. It was a great big whirlwind — how it all happened.
We’ll get into that story at some point…. but first I want to tell you how it went!
OK.
Sunday night: I’m on a con call with my boss’ boss and my boss’ boss’ boss. There’s a project I’m going to immediately begin contributing to. I’m going to be working on this project with at least two other people — they’re on the phone too. We get direction on what the bosses want to see us do.
The bosses let us know they want to re-convene Tuesday morning to review the progress we make. So we’ve got a day — Monday — to really move things forward.
(no pressure or anything)
:-)
I’m so ready to dive right in!
But to be completely honest with you, it was kind of nerve-wracking and a bit scary to have my very first project be something that is so highly visible. But like I said, I’m so ready to dive right in. And that’s the prevailing “weather system” in my world; it kind of trumps the nerves and all the other anxiousness I’ve got going on.
My sweetheart and the kids drop me off at the airport. I’m going to work from Sunnyvale for the week.
I kiss my little sunshine goodbye and I ask her to wish me luck.
“I don’t need to do that, Mommy. You make your own luck.”
I’m on cloud nine. I’m walking on air.
I clear airport security; get to the gate.
My flight is delayed. Fog in San Francisco.
So I’m at the gate, working. I’m re-convening with the other two guys in the morning. I’ve got to make progress on my piece of the work.
I get a call from a family friend. I’m thinking she’s going to congratulate me on the new job. I’ve been tweeting and FB’ing … I’ve gotten so many wonderful thoughts and congrats from my friends and family all over the world in recent days.
And she does. She congratulates me.
But she also called to tell me she’s concerned about the health of someone that I love dearly. And I’m sitting in the airport. At the gate. And I have my laptop open, working.
And I’m listening to her. And all the air just comes out of my lungs. I don’t know how else to explain it. I just felt like all the air came out of my lungs. And she’s distressed too. I guess neither of us had any air in our lungs.
(So I’m not actually quite sure how we managed to have a conversation.)
Anyway.
There’s nothing I can do about this issue she shared with me. There’s just nothing that I can do until the morning.
So I give myself a big pep talk.
(Silently, because there are lots of other people sitting around with me at the gate.)
I tell myself I can only control what I can control. And that I can’t let myself get worked up about stuff I can’t control.
I’m starting a new job. I’m just thrilled about it. And I just need to compartamentalize all this stuff. There is work that I absolutely must get done tonight. I can’t be distracted. I need to be focused.
So I throw myself into it. I get to work and I start cranking. And that kind of pushes this other issue out of my head.
It’s 1 a.m. by the time I land in San Francisco. I get a rental car and drive down to Sunnyvale. By the time I get to the hotel room it’s 2:30 a.m. I’m in great shape though because I got all my work done before landing and I’m feeling really good about that.
So I drift off to sleep and that other issue starts creeping back into my head….
The next morning I close the loop on the health issue. I am reassured. I can breathe now.
So there I am. Looking at myself in the hotel room mirror. I’m wearing my carefully-chosen first-day-on-the-new job outfit.
I’m about to start a new journey. And I’m looking at myself wondering if I’m ready for what’s ahead.
But I have it on good authority that I know how to make my own luck.
So I go with that.
:-)
I get myself to the Yahoo! campus in Sunnyvale. I’m walking around. It’s all… well…. it’s all just so wonderful.
I can’t stop smiling. I just can’t stop smiling. People are starting to look at me funny. So I make a mental note to try to stop smiling so much.
But then I can’t help myself so I start smiling again.
:-)
My first meetings are w/the HR folks. I’ve got orientation, paperwork,. Then I get set up with a laptop, blackberry, usernames, logins and so on. A bunch of people really paved the way to get me onboard so quickly. I’m so grateful to them, most especially Sweet Jazmin.
Then the fun begins!
The rest of the week is one big blur.
I’m working in a “war room.” It’s a conference room that’s been blocked so that we can work from there. I get to meet the other guys on the project in person. In here we work. With every iteration of the work we tape it up on the walls and go through it; then tear it apart to try to get it where it needs to be.
There were moments where the mountain we were climbing seemed so steep that I just couldn’t see the path. And there were moments where I was absolutely 100% positive that we had figured it out.
People would come in and out to get a sense for how we’re doing. They would give us feedback and guidance and set another deadline for the next round of reviews. Meals were brought in. We kept working. We went through reviews and re-works and reviews and re-works.
And there were some surprises thrown into the mix.
:-)
So needless to say it was a bit stressful. But it was SO much fun.
:-)
It was SOOOOOO much fun.
In the middle of all of this, I got to see what the rest of the extended team is working on. It floored me. It just blew me away.
The caliber and quantity of the work under way at Yahoo! is surpassed only by the inventiveness and the focus and discipline and excellence of the people who are driving it forward.
I am so thrilled to be a part of this team.
Buckle-in people.
We are about to floor it.
:-)
Mary
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