Man, October 2020. I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it feels like a lifetime ago. Things were just… stagnant, you know? Not bad, but not exactly thriving either. I was just chugging along, doing my stuff, but that spark, that feeling of actually moving forward, it just wasn’t there. I’d wake up, do the work, log off, repeat. It felt like I was in a hamster wheel, running hard but not really going anywhere. And I figured, something’s gotta give. This can’t be it for my career. I was looking for anything to give me a little kick, a direction.
I remember seeing all these articles pop up around that time, you know, the usual ‘Boost Your Career!’ stuff, and even some of those horoscope things, like ‘Virgo Career Outlook for October 2020: Success awaits if you take action!’ I’m not really one for star signs, but that “take action” part really stuck with me. It was like a little nudge. So I thought, okay, what “action” am I actually taking? And the answer was, not much beyond the daily grind. That really hit me. It wasn’t about the stars aligning, it was about me getting off my butt and doing something different.
Clearing Out the Clutter, Inside and Out
The first thing I realized was my workspace was a mess. Not just a little messy, I mean a proper disaster zone. Piles of papers I hadn’t looked at in months, coffee mugs that had seen better days, cables tangled like a nest of snakes. It was a physical representation of how I felt mentally – just cluttered and chaotic. So, I figured, let’s start there. If I wanted to boost anything, I needed to clear the literal and metaphorical decks.
- First, the physical space: I spent a whole Saturday just attacking my desk. I mean, really attacking it. Threw out all the junk mail, filed away important papers, wiped down every surface. It felt so good, man. Like a weight lifted. I even bought a couple of cheap organizers to keep things tidy. It sounds simple, but trust me, it made a difference. Coming to a clean desk on Monday morning felt like a fresh start, not just another day.
- Then, the digital mess: My computer desktop was just as bad. Icons everywhere, downloads folder overflowing with god-knows-what, documents saved in random places. It was a digital hoarder’s paradise. So, I went through that, too. Created proper folders, deleted old projects I didn’t need, archived everything else. It took another good chunk of time, but seeing a clean desktop and knowing where everything was felt incredible. Less time hunting for files, more time actually working.
This whole clean-up operation wasn’t some grand career move, right? But it was the first “action” I took that month, and it set the tone. It made me feel like I was actually taking control of something, even if it was just my immediate environment.
Digging Deeper into What I Had
After the great declutter, I started looking at the tools I used every day. We had this one piece of software that was pretty central to our work, but I honestly only knew the bare minimum to get by. Most of us did. It was complicated, and nobody really bothered to learn its deeper functions unless they absolutely had to. But that “take action” thought kept bugging me.
So, I decided, screw it. I’m going to learn this thing properly. I started by:
- Watching tutorials: Not just skimming, but actually sitting there, following along, pausing, trying stuff out. I found some old training videos from way back when, and just devoured them.
- Experimenting with features: I started poking around, clicking buttons I usually ignored, trying to understand what they did. Yeah, I messed up a few times, did some weird things to some dummy files, but that’s how you learn, right?
- Documenting my findings: This was a big one. I started a simple text file, just plain notes, on all the little tricks and shortcuts I learned. How to do X more efficiently, what function did Y, troubleshooting common issues. Just for my own record.
And slowly, I tell ya, it started clicking. I wasn’t an expert overnight, but after a few weeks, I was doing things faster, more efficiently. Other folks would see me doing something and go, “Whoa, how’d you do that so quick?” And I could actually show them, pull up my little note file, and explain. That felt really good, like I was actually becoming competent, not just performing tasks.
Connecting More, Learning More
Another thing I started doing, which felt a bit weird at first, was just talking to people more. Not just about work tasks, but about how they approached things. I’d grab a virtual coffee, or just ping someone on chat and say, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about X, how do you usually tackle that?”
- Asking for advice: I started genuinely asking colleagues about their strategies, their workflows. How they managed their time, how they dealt with tricky clients, how they learned new stuff. People are usually happy to share if you just ask.
- Sharing my own “wins”: And it wasn’t just about taking. When I figured out something new with that software, or a better way to organize my tasks, I started sharing it too. Not in a “look how smart I am” way, but in a “hey, check this out, it might help you” kind of way. This created a much better vibe with my team.
It made me realize that everyone’s got their own hacks and wisdom, and just being open and asking can teach you so much. It built connections, too, which is super important when you’re feeling a bit isolated or stagnant.
The Small, Steady Victories
By the end of October and heading into November, things felt different. It wasn’t a sudden, dramatic “success” like winning the lottery, but a gradual, subtle shift. I wasn’t dreading Mondays as much. I felt more organized, more capable. My output improved, not just in speed, but in quality. That little note file I kept became my personal knowledge base, and I found myself referring to it constantly.
I wasn’t looking at horoscopes anymore for career advice. I was making my own “success.” It really boiled down to taking those small, tangible actions. Clearing the mess, learning the tools, talking to people, and actually documenting what I did and learned. It wasn’t rocket science, just consistent effort. And seeing the little victories stack up? That was the real boost, man. That was how I figured out how to boost my own success, one small step at a time.
