Many young people and young professionals struggle to overcome unfulfilled aspirations and difficult circumstances, and frequently end up in unsatisfying jobs. Even so, armed with the right attitude, strategies, and behaviours, they can take advantage of opportunities to make a mark on the global marketplace while discovering greater fulfilment. Josh, a young professional like so many others, finds out how to do just that in The Magic of Monday, a fable that teaches lessons on developing a winning attitude in and out of the workplace. With the help of his longtime friend, Paul, he learns how: focusing on your strengths can make all the difference in performance; changing damaging behaviours can yield positive results; discovering new ways of thinking can transform a career; and finding a mentor can provide huge dividends. Josh also learns top habits of high achievers, what it means to have a winning attitude, and how to stay motivated on a daily basis. By joining him on his journey and reading real advice and insights gleaned from interviews of more than seventy-five business leaders, entrepreneurs, senior executives, and managers, you'll never look at Mondays the same again.

THE MAGIC OF MONDAY

A Fable about the Winning Formula for Career SuccessBy Obi Abuchi

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Obi Abuchi
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5099-1

Contents

Foreword..............................................................ixAcknowledgements......................................................xiIntroduction..........................................................xiiiPrologue: A Noble Aspiration..........................................xvii1—Get Back in the Driver's Seat.................................12—Commit to Excellence Now......................................243—Prepare for the Waves.........................................334—Cultivate the Right Habits....................................455—Embrace the Pain of Growth....................................576—Stay Open and Learn from Every Experience.....................667—Take Initiative...............................................758—Face Up to Your Fears.........................................899—Adopt a Winning Attitude......................................9910—Develop a Winning Focus......................................11911—A New Era....................................................137Epilogue: Passing It On...............................................145About the Author......................................................155

Chapter One

Get Back in the Driver's Seat

Character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life—is the source from which self-respect springs. —Joan Didion

He entered his flat, kicked off his shoes, and collapsed on the sofa. He was exhausted. It had been another extremely long day.

'Talk about no rest for the wicked,' he muttered to himself.

Monday had never been Josh's favourite day, and the weekly 7 a.m. briefing certainly wasn't his ideal way to start the week. The creatives, who designed the marketing campaigns, had been in even earlier, fussing about a new campaign that was being launched this week, and when he arrived, hardly anybody spoke to him.

The family-owned advertising company had only thirty-five employees, but with a big reputation and loyal customers, it regularly punched well above its weight. Most of the day-to-day operations were overseen by Pete, the older son of Mick Teveo, the founding director, whom everyone referred to as 'the big boss.' Even Pete called him that, much to everyone's amusement.

With the end of his six-month probation drawing near, and knowing that he was struggling to meet performance expectations, Josh didn't feel too optimistic that they would keep him on, even if Pete was a good friend of his older sister, Leesa.

As a marketing assistant, it was his job to carry out research in support of various marketing campaigns. He knew it was unrealistic to expect to be responsible for the development of an actual marketing strategy at this stage, but he had hoped that by now he would be doing more than market research and organising the distribution of promotional literature.

It didn't help that he had a strained relationship with Lewis, his manager. As far as Josh was concerned, Lewis didn't like him. He was always going on about Josh's poor attitude, but Josh felt he was far too strict about doing things right, giving him no room to exercise his own creativity. Considering that he was at least a foot and a half taller than Lewis, Josh convinced himself that Lewis was simply suffering from small-man syndrome. He was certain that Lewis would have fired him already if not for Pete.

He recently moaned to a colleague about Lewis. 'He should try doing the market research for a change! I always get the boring stuff, and yet all he does is complain about my lack of urgency.'

It was typical for staff at the company to put in an extra fifteen to twenty hours a week, especially when they had deadlines on major projects. Josh hated working to deadlines. Although they all got paid for working overtime, the busy weeks felt like they were every week.

As he lay on the sofa, he couldn't help but think that, at twenty-seven, this wasn't what he expected his life to be like. He wondered where it had all gone wrong. Nine years earlier, though it seemed like only yesterday, he was hoping to fulfil his ambition of going to one of the best universities in the world to study medicine. He wanted his work to make a difference, but now he felt he was simply working just to get by. And he hated it.

However, each time he thought about the number of jobs he'd had over the last six years—since graduating from university with a degree in physics and management—he was determined to make this job work. Sometimes, he felt that had more to do with not wanting to disappoint his mum, Leesa, or even Pete.

He could sense the sinking feeling in his stomach when suddenly the jingling of keys in the front door caught his attention.

It had to be Paul, one of Josh's flatmates. He taught science at a private school and organised an after-school club, so he rarely got home before 8 p.m. on weekdays. Tim, their other flatmate, was currently in Dubai. He worked for a management consultancy and was often out of town for a few weeks at a time. He earned a very good salary and paid his share of the rent in advance, three months at a time. Josh felt so envious of him.

'Hey, how's it going?' said Paul casually as he dropped his keys by the door and headed towards the kitchen.

'I'm cool,' replied Josh.

Paul shouted from the kitchen, 'Are we still heading out to watch the game?'

'Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. It's been a mad day at work, to be honest. I hardly had time to breathe.'

'That great, eh?'

'A pretty rubbish day, actually,' Josh mumbled as he walked towards the kitchen and stood right outside the door. 'Do you ever feel like you're living someone else's life?'

'Huh?' replied Paul. He was pouring some juice into a glass and not looking at Josh.

'You know what I mean. Clocking in and out every day, answering to a difficult boss, going through the motions, doing a job that just doesn't feel like it was ever meant to be for you.'

'Oh, here we go again,' said Paul as he rolled his eyes. 'Er ... I guess. Although somehow I've always known what I wanted to do and just gone after it, even though it wasn't what Mum and Dad wanted me to do. I don't know. Maybe I'm lucky, but I really love my work.'

'Well, of course you would. They've got great facilities in your school, plus you earn good dosh, you get to organise regular science trips, and you even have free lunches. Please! Who wouldn't love that?'

'That's true,' he said as he smiled. 'But, hey, those are just perks. I love teaching. There's no question that it's hardwork, and those kids can be a real pain in the neck sometimes. But I honestly think I'd enjoy teaching anywhere, perks or not.'

'Lucky you,' said Josh as he sighed. 'Most of the time I just feel empty at work. Somehow, I know I could be doing so much more with my life, but I'm just not sure what more is. Right now, I have zero passion for what I do. Zilch! Nada! And it doesn't help that I always get the boring stuff to do at work.'

'I think you're taking this all too seriously, J. Come on! There's more to life than work.'

Josh just glared at Paul in response.

'Whoa! If eyes could kill ...' said Paul, looking away. 'By the way, I thought you were excited about this job when you got it? It's been what, four or five months?'

Josh rubbed his head. 'Almost six!' he replied. 'Maybe I wasn't meant to be doing this. I'm in the business of helping others communicate their ideas, and I don't even know what's really going on in my own head. What irony. Is it really possible to do something you love and almost not know the difference between work and play?'

'Well ...' began Paul.

'Hey, you know what? Forget I even brought this up. You're probably right. Maybe I take this all too seriously. Let's get outta here. Otherwise, we might not even catch the end of the game.'

'Great. I was beginning to think I'd have to listen to you whinge all evening. By the way, you'll never guess what we had for lunch at school today.'

'Hey!' Josh landed a punch on Paul's shoulder.

'Oww! Just kidding. Lighten up!'

They grabbed their keys and jackets and headed out the door.

* * *

A few days later, Josh had just arrived in the office when his mobile phone rang. It was Paul.

'Hi, mate,' Paul said. 'You know what? I've been thinking. If you're really serious about figuring out this career dilemma of yours, I know someone who might be able to help. He's a good friend of my dad and is also my godfather. His name is Tomas Woodes. I'm not sure if I've mentioned him before, but he was instrumental in helping my dad come to terms with the fact that I didn't want to be part of his law firm and that I could still excel in a different field.'

'Oh. I didn't know that. He sounds like one of those life coaches.'

'Not really. He runs a private equity company called TW Capital, and he's also a guest lecturer on an MBA programme for some business school in Europe. I don't remember which. Anyway, as you can imagine, he's extremely busy, but I think he might be able to help. I sent him a couple of emails, and he's responded to say he doesn't mind your getting in touch. He's currently out of town, but he'll be back at the end of the week and knows to expect your call.'

'Wow. Really? And you're sure he's happy for me to get in touch?'

'Well, it took a little bit of convincing, but he's definitely happy for you to call him.'

'OK. Cool. Thanks a mill. Wait a second, what do you mean by a little bit of convincing?'

'Don't worry. Like I said, he's extremely busy, but he's a good friend of the family so it's cool.'

'OK. Nice one. You know, that's the first thing that's made me smile all morning. Thanks.'

'No worries. I hope your smile lasts longer than this morning. This isn't the first time you've moaned about your job, so I figured it's about time you made some real headway.'

'Well, let's see.'

'By the way, don't forget that you and Tim are invited to the charity event that Jaz is organising on Saturday evening. It's a black-tie event, so remember to pick up a tux. I've just sent Tim a text. He's back on Friday night.'

Jasmine, Paul's fiancée, was the events and hospitality manager for a chain of Marriott hotels. Quite the sports fanatic, she had only just come back from taking part in a charity challenge in South America and had raised over five thousand pounds for the hotel's charity. And now she was organising its annual charity gala. Paul and Jaz were planning on getting married the following year, with Josh as best man.

'Oh, yeah. Thanks for the reminder.'

'Cool. Anyway, gotta go. My kids arrive soon.'

* * *

A week went by before Josh finally made the call to Mr Woodes. He tried his mobile number, and it went to voicemail; he decided not to leave a message. Paul had also given him a work number, so he tried that and got through to Mr Woodes's PA, Sheree. After he explained who he was, she told him that Tomas was out of town on an overnight business trip but he would return the call the next day when he was back in the office.

Like that's going to happen, Josh thought.

He left his number anyway.

The next day was Friday. At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Josh got a phone call from a private number. When he picked up the phone, it was Mr Woodes.

Sounding rather surprised, he said, 'Oh. Hi. Thanks for calling me back, Mr Woodes.'

'That's no problem at all. By the way, you can call me Tomas.'

'OK. Tomas it is.'

'Paul told me about your situation. Something about a career crisis?'

'Yeah. Something like that. He said it might be worth having a chat with you.'

'I'm certainly happy to see what I can do. Here's what I suggest. I did have a lunch appointment next week Friday that has just cancelled, so I've now got thirty minutes free over lunch before I have to head off to the airport for an afternoon flight to France. Would 12.30 work for you here at my office?'

Tomas described where his office building was.

Josh usually took only a thirty-minute lunch break, but Mr Woodes's office was fortunately less than a five-minute walk away from his own, so an hour or so for lunch would be fine. Besides, he figured, this was a busy man doing him a favour.

'Yes, that's great. Thanks very much.'

'Excellent. See you then,' said Tomas.

* * *

The following Friday, Josh woke up feeling really nervous about meeting Tomas. So far, he'd only ever really spoken about his work woes to his friends and wasn't sure what to expect from his time with Tomas. The morning seemed to go by pretty quickly. At 12.20, he made his way out of the office and began walking in the direction of Mr Woodes's office.

When he got to the building, he signed in at reception and made his way up to the offices of TW Capital on the top floor.

Sheree was waiting outside the lift when it opened. She smiled, greeted Josh, and took him to Mr Woodes's office. He was on the phone when they entered. Tomas smiled and gestured for Josh to take a seat.

It was a very large and spacious office with a great view of the city's landscape, including the spire of St. Paul's Cathedral. Josh looked around and noticed an array of pictures all over one side of the wall. They looked like family, friends, and possibly clients as well. On the other side of the room was a very large bookshelf, completely full.

He must be quite the reader, Josh thought.

Two minutes later, Tomas finished his call and got up from his desk.

He was much taller and looked a lot fitter than Josh had expected. Not quite the grey, old, wise man he had imagined him to be.

'Really great to meet you, Josh,' Tomas said, offering a very warm handshake.

'Thanks for making the time to see me.'

'Well, Paul was quite insistent and hinted that the situation was somewhat critical. He also said something about not wanting to have a depressed best man.'

Josh offered a nervous laugh. Note to self, he thought. Kick Paul in the shins for making me out to be desperate.

Sheree came back with some coffee for Josh and water for Tomas.

Josh had noticed a few trophies on the bookshelf, including a recent squash trophy. He and Paul had become close friends while playing on the squash team at university. He wondered how on earth Tomas found the time to play considering he clearly had a very busy schedule. He asked him about it.

'I get to play at least once a fortnight with one of my associates or clients, so I guess you could say I mix business with pleasure. I also make it a point to get to the gym at least three times a week. I enjoy keeping fit and healthy, but I also find that it actually helps keep me mentally alert as I go about my business.'

They talked about squash and sports for a while before Tomas said, 'So, tell me about your situation.'

Josh wasn't sure where to begin. In the end, he started by telling him of the aspiration he had had as a little boy to become a doctor.

'I remember writing a letter to my first primary school teacher. She was an excellent teacher,' said Josh. 'Anyway, it was shortly after moving schools. I wrote about wanting to become one of the best doctors in the world. I must've been about nine or ten at the time. I even got a part-time job in a hospital when I was seventeen just so that I could get some relevant experience, but when the time came, I was turned down by every medical school I applied to despite having a number of interviews at some of the best universities, including Oxford.'

'Do you know why that was?' asked Tomas.

'Do you mean why it was that I was turned down?' replied Josh, taking a sip of his coffee.

Tomas nodded.

'I'm not really sure. Lots of competition, I guess. Apparently, one of the universities felt that I wasn't really cut out for medicine or particularly interested in science.'

'I see. That must've been really disappointing.'

'It was devastating, actually,' said Josh. It was still quite a painful memory. 'Anyway, I ended up studying for a degree in physics and management.'

'That's not easy either, though you probably had less studying to do. How did you find that?'

'Strangely enough, the best parts for me were the management units and giving presentations on group or individual coursework. I didn't really enjoy the physics units.'

'So, why did you choose physics and not something else?' asked Tomas.

'I don't know. I felt completely lost after I didn't get into medical school and didn't really know what to do. I thought about psychology for a while, and then I bounced ideas around with a few people, including an uncle who had done a management degree and had worked with lots of people. So, I guess I figured that was probably worth doing. I think I picked physics just to keep the science connection. Anyway, I graduated six years ago with an Upper Second, but I still feel a bit lost about the direction I should go in and what I really want do. I like working with people—that much I know. But I've just found most of my jobs pretty unfulfilling.'

'So what exactly made you want to become a doctor?'

'Er ... Well, my dad died of cancer when I was about six. I don't remember much about his death; however, as I grew up, I realised that doctors improve people's lives. I guess I wanted to make a difference in people's lives.'

'That's always a noble reason,' Tomas said sincerely. 'And what are you doing now?'

'Well, for the last six months, almost, I've been working for Inspired Marketing as a marketing assistant. Most of our clients refer to us as IM. We work on a lot of national campaigns, which you would think are pretty exciting, but most of my work is the boring market research and literature distribution stuff. I've only been to two client meetings. When I got the job, I thought every day would be different. I thought that one day I'd be developing a marketing campaign schedule and the next day drafting press releases or dealing with clients. Maybe even travelling to exhibitions or something like that. But so far, it's been mostly boring work, and my manager—'

(Continues...)

Excerpted from THE MAGIC OF MONDAYby Obi Abuchi Copyright © 2012 by Obi Abuchi. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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