Start Of A Sustainable Life

I am sitting here in the Soekarno Hatta airport departure lounge looking for idea on my next blog entry. Having less than 3 hours of sleep in the past 18hours, the mind tends to go a bit blank and sort of goes to sleep for a while.

This is my first visit to Jakarta. I have never been here. The only reason why I am here (with another colleague) is to meet up with the people in the Ministry (for a technical presentation) and with the potential Joint Venture (JV) partner of a big plantation here in Indonesia.

I was at The Plaza for a meeting with the potential JV partner. Image from Indonesia Tourism

Perhaps, it is about right that I write a bit, or attempt to write about what my current career path is about. This will be interesting to a certain extend if you are a strong proponent on sustainability. In my previous life as a consultant, I was taught to “walk the talk” and to “practice what we preach” when it comes to environmental consultancy. This is especially important and to stress the new key word – SUSTAINABLE.

It has been 31 working days since I started on December 5, 2011. It has been a fast tracked ride where I have learnt a lot of things along the way with the help of generous colleagues that not only took the trouble to educate, but to share their knowledge and have clear frank expectations on the deliverables.

To start off, I am now in the renewable energy business. Sustainable business. Green fuel driven and more specifically production of Bio-oil using biomass (i.e. waste) as feedstock (raw material). Understanding new terms and definitions, knowing process flow of specific requirement, content of the feedstock, caloric value of the fuel, dealing with both government and private sectors as potential JV partners, the works.

While a major part of the deal and discussion is bounded by non-disclosure agreement (NDA), suffice to say that the majority of the information could be obtained from this website here. Yeap, this is my new pad and so far, the ride has been good. If things go the way they are, the only way to go is success – we are driven. That is what happens when a group of like-minded talent group together under superb leadership and guidance works.

A lighter irrelevant look at learning curve from here. Thank you Warner.

Learning curve is steep. I was put into action almost immediately and I found the drive in me to be better than what I was before. Don’t get me wrong, those that know me and has worked with me knows I put in at minimum a 100%. Short of sounding like some airline tycoon that brags on and on about his achievement, I would rather have my work speaks for my commitment. Contrary to many popular beliefs where a new job and new challenge is put in place, and hence the required additional commitment to push and make things work – the need to “prove” one-self and to show your worth, I am actually tipping the scale more on work-life balance. It has never been this good. Office hour starts at 9am and ends (officially) at 6pm, 1hour lunch inclusive. The single biggest draw is the key performance index (KPI) is NOT, I repeat, NOT based on the hours you spent being “billable” or how hard working you try to be “Look Like Busy” or LLB.

Credit to Cainsbrain.com. Could not describe LLB in a more graphical perfect way. Thanks Cain.

Day to day, I found myself becoming more confidence when explaining to others (in the industry, or the peers) what we could do and are doing. The mere volume of questions and discussion that follows shows that I might have done my job well – that the team has managed to educate and share with even the most sceptical and senior experienced. You know you did a good job when you go home feeling you have accomplished much. Truly, a happy work team will be a sustainable cohesive team.

Great image from Corporate Life Coach. Thanks Scott!

One more thing about Work-Life balance, it is a choice really. There are very little differences if you achieve it here, or elsewhere. Our working attitude and principles doesn’t change. Human being habitual creatures WILL re-create the same condition at home and at work. The choice is yours – and often, it will be more difficult convincing your boss and your team of your sudden change of trying to get more LIFE out of every day.

Make that choice. I did.