Doing the right thing even when the feeling is not nice

I somehow has a misconception that a better feeling means a better quality of work. Also, it seems that I wait until I feel better before start doing. I need to separate them. Feeling better does not mean a better quality of work. It can cause over confidence that make us do things wrongly or carelessly. 

We also do not need to wait until we feel better before doing the right thing. In fact, doing the right thing may be the key to feel better. So let’s focus on doing the right thing even when the feeling is not supportive. 

I also received a text saying that trusting God in the light is nothing but trusting God in the darkeness is faith. I pray that even when the feeling is still not nice, I may take the courage and be brave to do things. To avoid running away from making decision. To remember that not deciding is also a decision with worse consequences. 

Aside from doing, let’s also be thankful even when we don’t feel like it. Count the blessings. Remember God’s abundant grace in our life. Admit that withoug God we can’t and without us God won’t. So let’s be brave and get back up every time I fall. Be confidence and take actions. 

What makes me love supply chain?

It is tough to learn and teach supply chain. So let’s ask why I love supply chain so that I continue to remember the reasons while navigating these difficulties.

I first learned about logistics and supply chain management in my fourth year first semester of my undergraduate study. I fell in love with the subject because it was so interesting thanks to Prof. Kumar and Prof. Jiao.

Three things I became passionate about supply chain: the broad knowledge in the supply chain, the disparity of people and the importance of supply chain to help them, and the closeness of it to our daily life.

Supply chain is a cross-disciplinary concerted efforts to optimize many tangible industries. It is like economic subjects but drilled into the engineering aspect as the quality of the raw parts, the manufacturing process greatly influences the outcome.

The disparity of people: in Indonesia, we can see the large difference in prices between islands because of the different supply chain capabilities. In islands other than Java, the infrastructure is not well established and so the prices become much more expensive there. I was dreaming on how I can help the supply chain of products such as drugs that they become affordable for many people. The other parts are also during disaster. The effectiveness of the supply chain in channeling help such as clothes, food, drugs, and materials for re-building are crucial in saving many lives.

The closeness to our daily life: I chose mechanical engineering because I can see more clearly than the sytems in electrical engineering. So when I learned about supply chain that not only mechanical items are influenced by the supply chain but also food even those that are not produced using machine, I got excited. Even money is also greatly affected by supply chain process.

So yes, now is a tough time. The pressure may be high because this may be the last chance. But let’s enjoy this grace of learning and teaching and continue to remember why I love supply chain.

What makes me love working in Customer Satisfaction team?

In the past 1 month I have been dreading for work because of the consequences of delaying many action items. I am so stressed that it is hard to focus and to get things done. It becomes a vicious cycle. One of the recommended cures for procrastination is internal motivation. So let’s ask myself now what makes me love being in Customer Satisfaction team.

First, I like to help people. And so it made me sad if my company’s customers are not happy. I wish that I can do something for them that can solve their problems or prevent them having problems.

Second, I like to learn. In my previous role, my responsibility is to ignore issues if they are not related to my discipline. But now in Customer Satisfaction, every issue that customer faces become my issue. It is very stressful indeed to have so many issues where I have little expertise on them. Nevertheless, let’s remember that it is actually a unique experience where we can be exposed with many different problems that cause the dissatisfaction in the customers.

Third, this is exactly the job where I can learn my three areas of growth: technical presentation, prioritization skills, and ability to control my reactions. I need to learn to make many presentations in this job. I need to learn to prioritize and embrace the failure of wrong choices as long as I learn from them. I need to learn to be more self-composed instead of following my feelings.

So, although now things are very tough, remember of why I love this job.