F5 Your Life
I recently found myself in a situation I couldn’t imagine and it’s honestly felt like I took 2 steps forward only to take 10 back. I hardly have a handle on my mental health so this was a downer for me however F5 is refresh in the tech space…
You refresh a tab by clicking F5 which honestly should not be a life lesson but I apparently turn anything into one. I recently had a project that did not go as well because of multiple factors but because I was on it – it felt like I had failed. Failure given my history is not something I take likely so I resorted to making jokes about it but I knew it affected me. So I did what most people in their 20s do – I spoke to my therapist.
She indicated that it was a project “failure” and not a “Khanyi” failure which shifted my perspective. This leads to my F5 moment where I had to refresh my perspective and feelings about the project. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I change certain things? Yes.
For one – when you are in tech and need to deliver project, you need to be honest about expectations. Someone said I overwork in that I work overtime and that had become my brand. I decided then and there that if I have to do overtime work then it does not fit into the expectations of the delivery of the project. It’s very important to communicate what can be done especially to stakeholders because they do not see the things going on in the background. It is especially important when you are navigating the industry as someone who doesn’t go above and beyond for social interactions which make up a lot of how people perceive you.
I am an introvert who has extrovert traits. I love banter and chatting up but my social capacity tends to decide on time out. This means my work tends to have to speak for itself rather than me doing the speaking. Was the project hard? Yes. Could I have communicated better? Yes. This is why I took a refresh on it and it has been refreshing (excuse the pun)…
Moral of the story is you can decide when and why you are refreshing your mindset for anything. Gym, food, alcohol, reading, friendships and even work. I love what I do and this project did not reflect anything about myself or my work ethic. If more of us saw it like that, we would not beat ourselves up about messing up in our projects.