Lifestyle Change, Day 6

On Thursday, I fasted through breakfast so that I could have blood drawn for my annual checkup.  I'm fretting what the numbers might say.  But I did my best the three days prior, so that's that.  For lunch, it turned into a cheat day because I didn't bring my lunch.  I know better -- but still didn't do it.  While lunch was a cheeseburger and fries, dinner was reasonable, so that helps.

Friday was a bit better.  I count it a success when I can ignore "donut day" and stay on track.  Every day, a little success is better than nothing!  When I got home after work, right before my shower, I stepped on the scale, anticipating what it would read.  And I was OK with the number, it was 2 lbs lighter than the start of the week! 

But then my hopes were dashed when I finally stepped on the scale Saturday morning.  I was heavier in the morning after 12 hours of fasting, having only sipped 8 ounces of water throughout the night!  Two pounds more registered on that scale and all of my hard work, my hopes, were dashed.  Hit me like a ton of bricks!  Which means I ate breakfast 2 hours earlier than I should. 

I indulged in a sandwich from Subway for lunch - turkey, bacon, guacamole with cheese, spinach and tomato, no sauce.  It was delish!  My calorie goal per day has been 1350.  This put me over goal by 400 calories, and I wasn't at work so my step counts weren't as high either. 



But Sunday is another day.  It's also grocery shopping day,
so I can be diligent with my purchases
and careful with my choices for another week of meals. 

Bring on the veggies!

Performance Evals

This was a crazy work week.  I had no idea that I would be inputting on my team's evals but that was the surprise waiting for me Wednesday morning.  Sometimes, that's how retail rolls, but in my own style of managing, when there's an issue or a problem that needs addressing, I do it right then and there.  After, I include management in the discussion if it's warranted.  Because two of my team members have less than a year in this position, most errors that occur are based on training issues.  And I can deal with that, as long as my team is willing to keep learning and don't repeat those same mistakes.

It's always been an issue for me to do these evals when the work isn't up to par.  I have one guy who gets pulled in several different directions.  He's the kind who likes to please everyone, tries to do everything that's asked, but when that happens, his own work suffers because he tries to take shortcuts.  After the difficult eval, we had a long talk about doing, and not doing, everything for every one.  It's a learning process, and it will be up to me to be on top of the work until it improves.


At the same time, it was MY turn for an eval from my supervisors.  And this year it was a pretty good one!  It's never easy when you do a job that most others don't know how to do.  Yes, management knows the "overall" but this job is all about the details because of the potential fines from the state and federal levels when something isn't done correctly. 



That being said, I was pleased that management recognizes that I go above and beyond whenever possible to do the right thing.  My direct supervisor likes the fact that he can give me a task and walk away, knowing that I'll do what needs to be done.  Maybe I'm old fashioned, but isn't that what's supposed to happen when you're told to do something?   My own personal belief is that it's my job to do everything I can that makes the boss look good, and if I can, to anticipate problems before they become problems.  For me, that's the bottom line of being a good employee.

While the boss may always think he's right, if he's wrong, I won't throw him under the bus in front of others, but when we're alone in a conversation, I *will* correct him!  lol