3. Where do a person(ality) grow?

As a fulltimer I work for at least 35 hours a week. 41 hours in total with one hour break and plus one hour extra with morning briefing. And not to be forgotten the 7.5 hours biking to work. For five days a week  I am like many people, we sppend most of my daytime at work.

Job is more than 'something that just or must happen'. Every working people is a commited 'athlete' paid for his or her chosen sport. It's my JOB speaks often louder than it's me. At the beginning of my cariere as a sales person, I faced many distractions between my values and the people value at my work. But then when I read the company platform I understand something. The way of how my team works is not yet the most ideal way like what are stated or recognized as the company values. Of course everyone ideally strive for these values. It is like who change who. Does the value change me as  a person? Or my individuality has to adapt the company values. In fact we hear that people say, 'Ik ben so, wat moet ik nog vanderen.' 'It's me, what should I change then?'

I remembered what my current manager said during the job interview. He stated literally,' You are the type of person this company wants!' After eight month working I do aggree that he is absolutely right. However, being ideal is a never ending work. It is a non stop work done with passion. Passion that support me to renew and review what I've done and what I've thought directed by my believe system.

This job makes me better as an individual. It brings me to the essence of humanity, at the same time to find out who I am, what is the construction of my believe system to track where mt spontaneity is from. This consciousness is important to set the new ideal believe, my current values In order to create a sort of theraphy for a better attitude.

Every sales conversation is a view of who I am as a human being, and later as a professional. Often if something unwanted happens I do self talk, 'Gama, what are you thinking about them, yourcustomers, honestly?' It is quick obvious that If you hate children or senior of sort od groups of people than you'll see the miror effect of this in your commercial talk. Being conscious to our belife system is a must to change the attitude. With no doubt I realize that this job is a marathon in shapingME. At the first place, as a person then as a sales person. This combination I call as a PERSONALITY.

On my second month working for AS Adventure I got a customer searching for a special warming patch. "Are you going to go skiing, sir?" I asked. He said that he got cold easily if he is fishing. Then I told him perhaps something wrong with his shoes or the socks.

Funnily he said something else, "I recognize your laughing and your empathy. Were you in Leuven two years ago?" He told me that I have helped his daughter In giving orientation for choosing university residences. Then he asked me to wait and came back with his wife and their two daughters. "remember  him?" He asked them. For a moment they have to thing and then he gave a clue, "A boy
from Leuven!" Then they said oh yeah...


That is the first time in my life, a father of two daughter said straight over my face that he recognized my laugh and EMPATHY. empathy seems too heavy, but that's the power of a personal value that many of us don't know.

My colleagues in Antwerp named me a litle sun, and three years ago when I did intership in Jackwofskin Leuven, Kelly said, "if you come then the sun shines." Customers said often, "You are always vriendly and helpful, is this always like this here?" And some of them shake my hands to thank. All of them are my PERSONALITY MATERIALS.

Do those labels show me that I am a unique person? Do they make me different and offer an added values to my company? ArE they the signs of my personality growth as a person and as a? Damn YES. And this   happens Everyday on the workfloor. Above all, it is an individual choice. Personality
is created, it is a result of a hard work.now, evry minute is a moment to change to be better in my own way.

Cinderella goes home

2.

What if you go working and doing your best, the people at work like you, your customers feel good, they get the right things, they are more sure that they just deserve the best chosen products and some how they are entertained, they shake your hand,
'Merci a vous'
'Gij zijt bedankt'
'Thanks so much!'

Then you realize that at work, you don't walk at all, you're dancing! It's too FUN to say as an office or a shop or a firm, it is a BALLROOM.

Your shiny shoes, your ironed shirt, your straight-put name tag become statements, 'I'm a professional.' You are not a worker either an employee, you are a partner of your company, you act yourself and at the same time you find out and develop a creatieve human side of yours, you are a PERSONALITY.

At 6 PM when the loudspeaker says that the PARTY is over, you get regreted, just like a Cinderella you go home with half of your heart.

You just suffer from a CINDERELLA GOES HOME syndrome. Eat it!

Knock knock knock…..

1.

Knock knock knock…..

You have to write a book  about THIS, she told me during a luch of Turning Point Retreat in Dinant, November last year. Her eyes cut all the uncertainty that I had and I just knew, my God the time passed so fast, and my ego said I didn’t make it good enough, and it was not a truth I made and at the same time I’m making THINGs.

 

And …

Lately I know that what I have is more than what she said THIS.

 

Honestly I don’t have a need to tell you mine, I get bored to discuss the emotional shits. If I deserve your love, your brotherhood, your friendship, your understanding and I’ll thank the universe otherwise I’m happy enough to understand my own.

WE CHOOSE (don’t  we)  to be happy, rich, healthy, angry or even to feel poor and like a rubbish. I choose to be valuable. Everyday, I track my self down via others at work. Sometimes, I just can’t believe that I was blind to what I had, I was unsure to what I had and to what I had done. But anyway here I am now, to work for the world to be enjoyed.

 

WELCOME 2015, a MARKETING + LEADERSHIP  year

Before, let me thank 2014 for all of things that I experience. Thanks for a lot of loves, hard Works and commitments. I know there are some unfinished things, and we’ll see again and finish or make next nice stories together. I love you, universe.

 

2

The Sweet Land

It was a cold dry summer. The wind blew the country and above my head I saw dark thick cloud winked, 'SURPRISE!'.
 
Surealistic, you tought, yeah... Welcome to the Magritte world on which summer can be so sober and winter may be unexpectedly warm. Oh, I should not forget my umbrealla and thick jas instead of a thin cardigan, I sighed.
 
No idea why I entered the shop.  It's colorful, sweet with tutti frutti aroma, a lolly shop. 'Hearts & Flowers' is one of two candy shops that we can find in the city center of Leuven. Since I had not been in the shop, I looked arround and I just saw things that I've never tought before. It looked more like an amusement park of confections. I was sure there must be name for all of them. Jelly beans, snickers, m&m's and lollipops are the familiar sweets and plus cuberdon from Gent, .
 
"Where are they from?" I was curious.
"Most of them are from The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium", answered the shopkeeper.
"Are there enough children that buy them?" I asked.
"Not just children, there are many adults too coming here foor sweet." 
"Like ice cream, any particular time when you can see the top period of seasons?" 
"Fall and winter, how darker the days, how more customers we have."

Hmmm.... Does a lolly boost our serotonin level to compensate our mood because of the cold and the dark? In social psychology class, de professor told us about an effect of warm drinks to our gloom. 'If you are sad, or it snows, make sure your heater works well and a cup of warm tea is with you. 

Hearts & Flowers has three shops in Belgium. Leuven, Hasselt and Genk are three locations whre we can find the shop besides their online shop in which we have so many choices.        
    

A LUXURY problem, een luxe probleem

Imagine that you are a woman (or if you were a woman) with this collections. How long do you need time to choose between 5 or 10 cm heel, between dodger blue, aqua, cyan, light cyan or turquoise, between leather, syntetic or suede, and between Christian Louboutin, Prada, Steve Madeen or Manolo Blahnik?

Well, you chose one and you whispered to yourself while putting them on and breathing deeply, 'I'll take a risk with this!' You obviously doubted that they were the best choice for a morning meeting. You thought that you could look better but on the other hand, the time was too short to consider and went back to your shoes drawer.

During the meeting, by coincidentce, your sight hit your toe, and this time, you wanted to scream, 'WRONG! How come that I'm so stupid to wear this ankle strap heels!' you cursed your silly self. You looked people arround, your colleagues who normally say not much instead, they merely smiled. 'Do I look like a bitch? Or half a bitch?' you begged an answer, frustratedly.

''t is wel een luxe probleem!' (it's a luxury problem!) is one of common utterance that we in Dutch (Flemish) use. Personally, I find it quite interesting since in my language we do not have the same utterance. It just sounds funny to translate it literally. So I come to conclusion, that it happens because we do not have the context or because we do not experience the context.

A friend told me, just like a shoes analogy. 'It is actually not a problem at all. We have all here', he said. 'Why we should think that it is a problem, since we can choose what we want. We are happy.'

Perhaps he's right, but the reality often show us different. Is that that easy to be happy?

I know a person who just changed his old TV with the same age as him with a brand new Samsung flat screen. 'And where will you throw away your brother?' I asked.
'I keep it in my garage just anticipate if something wrong happen to my TV then I can change it easily'.
'You mean your new TV? If something wrong with your new TV?' I asked again.
He nodded.

I do not get it. In this free-piracy country where all electronic product get at least 3 year guarantee, in which I never ever experience blact-out, someone still thinks something not bad but worse can happen. I just don't get it? What should we have to feel safe, to feel secured? 10 years guarantee? or more? Can it make us free from the fear of uncertainty?

In a lazy afternoon, I sipped cinamoon hot chocolate a coffee bar near public library in the city. Observing the barista behind his coffee machine, I saw his facial expression when he poured the well frotherd milk seriously to make a latte art. He smiled with a satisfaction, I guessed, but I was suspicious, was he happy? So easy? Really?



INDONESIAN root in the BELGIAN RED DEVIL, Radja Nainggolan

"Radja Nainggolan is de duurste Belgische voetballer in de Italiaanse Serie A." (Radja Nainggolan is the most expensive Belgian footballer in the Italian Serie A) wrote het Nieuwsblad in his website 12 hours ago. He earned 1.8 million euros after his transfer to AS Roma from Cagliari.   

 

I forgot when exactly I heard his name for the first time. Until last weekend, I heard again his name told by a TV commentator related to Family Day of Red Devil, Belgian National Team. It sounds in donenesian, I thought. For Indonesians the 'family' name Nainggolan is very familiar. Nainggolan is a clan name coming from one of descent of Batak King in North Sumatera. And Radja itself in standard Indonesian written as Raja means King. So Raja Nainggolan means King Nainggolan.   

  

 

pic: twitter Radja Nanggolan







pic: twitter Radja Nainggolan

This midfielder is born in Antwerp 26 year ago from Belgian mother and Indonesian father. Starting his career with club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp - as Vermaelen en Vertonghe, at the age of 17, he moved to Italy. Since 2010 he arrived in Seri A's Cagliari. At the same year, his mother passed away. Nainggolan who speaks Dutch, English and Italian then tattoed his back with the dates of birth and death of his mom.

As one of Belgian assets, Naiggolan really wants to strengthen the national team the Red Devil. Unfortunately he had no chance to play for the worldcup this year. During friendly match Belgium vs Australia on last thursday he played after 63 minutes. According to voetbalkrant.com that put him under the loep Nainggolan showed his excellent playing with passing (7/8), ballrecuperation (1/2), and finishing (1/1).     

 

pic: http://www.voetbalkrant.com/nl

KLIK: Radja Naiggolan

The Housekeeping MANAGER



http://animals.howstuffworks.com

'They are crazy with house cleaning. Especially the grannies!' said a friend when he described Belgians. Is it true? Perhaps... they even have a housekeepingmanager named Tante KAT (means cat) ups.... KAAT!

 

A SURPRISE

 

One day I got a pleasant surprise to find my self in a toilet of a family. In the corner, a one meter drawer standing filled with clean ironed towells (I did opened it). On the top of it, some perfume bottles and flower shape cristal and porcelain decorations laying like in the showcase of a shop. On the wall, a round carved wood mirror hanging reminded me to step mother of Snow White. Honestly, the small chamber didn't smell like a toilet at all. Hmmmm....  I even can sleep here, the idea blew my mind.

 

ONE IS NOT ENOUGH

 

Further, I realize that at home my belgian family has no one kind of washing products but more. One for windows, one for the floor, one for TV and computer screen, one for closet, one for the stopped pipe, one for wooden furnitures, one for leather sofa, and there are some more that I don't want to know what they are for. I have no doubt then that housekeeping is really a big issue here. For those who hygiëne minded, you are safe :) 

 

Who is Tante (aunty) Kaat? 

 

Born in the Netherlands, Tante Kaat who has a job as a fine art teacher has lived in Belgium since 1972 after three year working in South Africa. She is a media personality that ever had some programs on TV's and radios about how to solve huishold problems. Her image makes Tante Kaat becomes a trade mark. Elma Dalhuiysen-Nuis -her real name- often gets opportunity to promote some cleaning products and also projects related to house and environment. The gouden raad van Tante Kaat (The golden advise of Tante Kaat) is one of her books, a collection of mantras that can be helpful as solution for our frustrarion because of stain, lime, rust and dust.

In marketing term, the idea of Tante KAAT is a creative product fitting the national market. Tante Kaat, in her age right now has strenghend her image, not just a brand, but a legend. Tante Kaat is Tante of everyone.  Onze tante, zeg maar! 

curious?! http://www.tantekaat.net/