Managing myself

I had the unique opportunity to go to lunch with a friend from work this past week and we had some interesting conversations.  One of the natural directions the conversation drifted to was work - she asked me how I felt about being a manager.  Surprisingly this was really the first time anyone has asked me that in the past year.  A year ago I became an interim manager and then in January was offered the permanent position.  I've had people ask me about how I feel I've been doing, how things have been going for me, etc., but I've never really had anyone ask me how I felt about the switch from being in a classroom to being a manager.  My answer was, "it really depends on the day."

There are some days that I really and truly enjoy my job and embrace the challenges of being a manager.  There are other days that I question my decisions just because I don't know if I'm doing a good job or not.  I'm really not one that needs to be told on a regular basis that I'm doing a good job but every so often it would be nice to hear.  I know that everyone gets busy with the day to day of their own job but it would be nice to have someone take the opportunity every once and awhile to give that bit of encouragement.  I try to take that moment for my own staff and know that even I could make more of an effort to let them know that what they do is appreciated and they are doing a good job.

I guess one of my frustrations comes from feeling as if I'm supposed to know everything about doing my job even though I've never been in management before.  There have been things that I've asked questions about and I've been made to feel as if I was already supposed to know the answer.  Maybe some of that comes from my own insecurities/perception but it is how I felt.  Looking at it in retrospect, maybe what I should do when I encounter a situation like this again (since I'm sure it'll happen more than once) is just embrace my muchness, ask my questions and then just move on with my day.  Maybe I need to learn how to not only manage my staff but manage myself as well.  Something for me to work on...

Going into this work week, I already know that somethings are going to potentially need me to have some flexibility.  I go to work tomorrow, have Tuesday off (for the Federal holiday) and then I'll work Wednesday - Saturday (I have to be the manager on duty for an event Saturday afternoon - 11:15ish at night).  I potentially then have that following Monday off but I have to double check to make sure no one else is off that day so I can take the day off.  I know that I'll also have to look into some other possible scheduling issues because I just lost one of my employees as well.  I'm sure it will all come together; it's just a little stressful since I haven't figured it all out yet.

Part of me knows that it really is okay that I don't have it all figured out yet but there is that other part of me that says that I should have it all figured out...  I'm sure that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but it's my way of thinking.  I'm starting to realize that maybe what I need to do is simplify my thinking so I can hopefully stop stressing myself out by making problems seem more than what they are.  We'll see how that works out for me...

Well my dear readers, I'm going to bring this to a close for the evening, finish up some laundry and get ready for the week ahead.  I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead and embrace all of the muchness opportunities that present themselves.  =)