Huri Larner

It was a cold Friday evening.  After a two-week break, we decided to go to the gym for Friday yoga and meditation. I didn’t intend to have a two-week break, but I was so upset with the yoga instructor. Last time, when I was there, she asked me to move and create space for the people who were late. Not only were we in the middle of the practice, but also there was not enough space to move. I moved unwillingly as much as I could, but I was very annoyed.  I lost my concentration and motivation. Late students were not the only reason that upset me. Small things added up.

There weren’t any ground rules, even though the gym was one of the best ones around the town. For example, I never understood why people came late to the class, and how the instructor could ask us to create a space for them. Most of the time classes were already packed, so we did not have enough personal space already.

Second, during the practice, most the men took their shirts off. Not only did it bother me, but also my husband hated it.

Third, I felt like sometimes people came to yoga to socialize. They were chatting nonstop with each other; this was one of the reasons we never started on time. For us, Friday yoga and meditation were a quiet time that we needed after a long busy week. It was a preparation for a nice weekend.

Since we had tried some other places, we knew that this was the only convenient place, so two weeks later we were back. We arrived early to be able to pick a space next to a wall. Our plan was not to have any distractions because if we were close to the wall, no one could ask us to move anywhere, right? As always, people were chatting when it was time to start, but I was in a good mood, and I didn’t care much. I set my smart watch up with yoga option, and closed my eyes. It had been five minutes or less; I realized someone was tapping on my shoulder. The same instructor was asking me to move closer to the wall. I asked her where she wanted me to move; I was already very closed to the wall. However, she got so angry, and scolded me by saying that it was not a private class with a hand gesture. I did not move, and she walked away while murmuring something I could not understand. I was well aware that was not a private course. However, it was not free either. We were paying $140 per month. Unfortunately, she was the one who was not aware that the classes had limited space; we also needed personal space.

My husband and I looked at each other and decided to stay for the class. However, it was not over yet. Our mindful yoga teacher’s agenda was about the people who occupied two people’s space and who did not want to be part of the community. Her anger and frustration were in the air. When we were leaving, she avoided us, and it was the last time we were at that gym.

The sad part about this situation was when we had meditation the instructor would have talked about being respectful and mindful. However, when it came to real life, she was not respecting our time and practice. She let people in half of the practice and interrupted the flow. Also, when we showed resentment, she didn’t listen to us, and didn’t try to understand our concerns. She acted like a drama queen. It was not a perfect Friday evening for me.

We quit the gym, and made sure that their management was aware of the poor classes they were providing. I was sad because I had a mindset that If I wanted to do Yoga I should be at the class. It took me a while to find out that I wasn’t creative enough.

We stopped our yoga practice. After a while, my husband started to complain about his back-pain. So, we decided to do yoga at home. We tried several YouTube yoga videos, but some of the people were all about yoga apparel sponsoring, some of them did not have enough clothes on them, some of them talked too much, some of them showed their cat and dog, etc. Basically, YouTube did not work for us.

During the corona virus lock-down, we decided to create our own yoga moves. We realized that it was even better than going to classes, and watching random people online, who didn’t seem to have qualifications. We started to do daily yoga.

I also downloaded some apps that teach yoga, which can be adjusted based on our needs. We could choose our own practice by selecting type, level, boost and length.

So, why did not I think about this before?  I guess sometimes we are not aware of the solutions, which are right in front of us, because this simple app was what we needed. Why it took us so long to think about  apps, I do not know. I experienced thinking outside of the box.  We were just stuck on one solution; we assumed that the only way to practice yoga was taking physical yoga classes. However, as everything else, taking virtual classes are even better than physical classes. I wish I had known this before.

Here are the two apps that I’m happily using, and highly recommending to anyone:

Calm is a meditation app for improved well- being. It has so many meditation topics that you can select. They offer a 7-day free trial.

Down Dog is a yoga app. It also offers HIT, Barre, Prenatal yoga. They also offer free trial. If you are student or teacher, it is completely free until July 1^st.

The yearly cost for both of these apps together is cheaper than monthly cost of the gym. I will add a short video from one of our yoga practices. If we can do it, you can do it too.  So, next time please don’t let small things bother you, and try to think outside of the box. The little things in life matter too, so take some action before they lead to big things.

We were having a cup of tea and chatting about our lives when one of our friends mentioned that he kept looking for a new job and trying to get a better salary. I couldn’t help myself and questioned him about his current job status and its benefits. I expected him to be more appreciative for what he had. He came back with a sentence which I’d never heard before. He said,’ I work for money; if you want loyalty, hire a dog.’  

I was quite surprised to hear his feelings about his job. He is several years younger than I so, was that the reason he thought that way? Our conversation left me with an uncomfortable feeling. I told him that I didn’t agree with his comment, but I didn’t argue with him. Later on, I discussed with my husband to understand if there was any truth in his words. Was he right? Luckily, my husband had a similar point of view as mine.

 I know it is easy to judge younger generations. However, our friend didn’t say he didn’t feel appreciated, respected, or trusted; he just said he wanted to earn more money. Weren’t we working for money?  A while later, I asked the same question to myself. I must admit I work for money, but money alone isn’t enough to work for a company. 

When I think about my workplace, I like the feeling of being part of my team and company. First of all, I feel grateful that I have a job that I like, and I’m thankful that my employers trusted my capabilities and hired me. Second, I believe that there are so many other reasons that should make us want to work for a company. Here are a few things to consider: Do we keep learning and growing? Do we feel valued and respected? Do we feel that our work matters and contributes to our company’s success? I’m not saying money isn’t important; it is. However, it is not the most critical item in our job satisfaction, and it isn’t the reason that we stay in our jobs. Things may change, and we may change our job, but it shouldn’t be  just for a better salary.

So, what is the problem with the way our friend’s thinking, and what bothered me the most? He focused solely on money. And also, I feel like the new generation, and younger people give so much credit to their capabilities and talents. Before we ask for more money or a promotion, we all need to question what we have done so far, what we offer to our companies that no one else has. Do we always do our best to do our job better? Do we seek feedback to improve our work and ourselves? Do we feel that our work makes a difference and contribution to our company’s success? Before demanding loyalty, trust, respect, training, new opportunities, we need to offer the same traits to our employer. If not, why do we think that it is fair to ask for more money?

As Clayton M. Christensen notes, ‘Frederick Herzberg asserts that the powerful motivator in our lives isn’t money; it’s the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements.’ If we don’t have a purpose, we may always look for something new and feel empty.’

Again, there is nothing wrong with looking for a new job. But before that, we need to trust the company we work for and do our best where we are. We can show our contribution to our great personality and hard work. If we don’t feel we receive enough respect and support emotionally and financially, of course, we should look for a job.

Overall, if we spend most of our day at work, we should have a meaningful purpose for our life and spend our time, talent, and energy on it. Money and success will follow whatever we do, as long as we show a higher level of engagement, motivation, performance, and loyalty. Not only will we exceed our goals but also, we will make more money.

 The automotive industry is a high-paced demanding environment, and all we want is to launch a successful project and start shipping our final products to our customers. However, shipping products is the last phase; before that we have several years of hard work to come to that phase, such as: creating a design which meets our customer’s needs, validating the product which ensures our product is capable, and getting approval, which means we are committed to deliver the final product with an agreed volume and quality.

What is more, we need to keep meeting our customer’s demand until the end of the product lifetime. However, it is not easy. For example, here is an article from the Wall Street Journal, which explains what I wanted to say in a sentence. Unfortunately, if we are having trouble meeting our customer deliverables, no matter what was agreed on at the beginning of the program, we may end up losing the business.

If you are working for an Automotive supplier, you may feel sorry for this supplier because it takes a very long time and hard work to be able to start shipping the final product to the customers. These are the points that I will share with you: What are our deliverables, and how we get approval.

Project deliverables are what our customers are expected to receive at the end of each project phase, and also at the end of a project. It can be a feasibility agreement, timing, prototype parts, software, data, and the final product.   

The question is: how will we define and ensure that we deliver the project outputs on time? As a program manager, it is our responsibility to learn our customer’s expectations and the timeline for each deliverable. So, from the beginning of the program, we can define each deliverable, make a plan, and agree on the project deliverables deadlines with our customers. Our goal is to launch a successful project, which means our deliverables should be on time, of excellent quality, and within budget.  

One of the mistakes we all make is focusing on the final deliverables. However, all of the project deliverables are equally important for a successful project. For example, in the automotive industry, the projects always have similar paths regardless of the customer. Also, each project deliverables link to each other, so if we have a delay on any of our deliverables, this may impact our final deliverables.  

I used to work for a small automotive supplier. We had four critical deliverables that linked to each other. First, we had to design our parts and get approval from our customers. It was one of the first essential deliverables. 

Then, we had aluminum molding, machining, and assembly processes. All of these divisions had their unique documentation, and quality reports that needed to be shared with the customers. Besides the manufacturing process, we also had capacity commitments, packaging, supplier PSWs (Part Submission Warrants) that we shared with our customers. If any of these deliverables were missing, we couldn’t receive the final product approval, and PSW sign off. It was one of my favorite documents to prepare because it was the last document that was needed to conclude the project.

For automotive program managers, a signed PSW means that our customer is happy with the requirements of the delivery date, quality, process capability, and production capacity rate. It is the final document and deliverable for a project. Even though our final deliverable is the most important one, each phase and small deliverables contribute to it and lead us to the final outcome. Lao Tzu explains it very well, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.’ 

Once we obtain a PSW approval, we can start shipping serial production parts to our customers as we committed. Otherwise, as it is mentioned in the article above, consequences may not be resolvable.