this chapter, help moves like a silent partner that operates undetected, never revealing itself during the trip while you are driving. And when you get to your destination smiling, the difference is this GPS system helped you without your knowledge, while giving you the feeling that it was your mapping skills that got you there. I am a proud alumnus of the University of North Carolina - Kenan Flagler Graduate School of Business. I wear my UNC ring proudly not because of the esteem and reverence of graduating from a top MBA graduate school. I wear it to remind me that accomplishing this achievement was hard as hell. In fact, this would not have happened without the support of my wife Lois, and the finger that holds this cherished ring on my hand would be void of any adornment. During my UNC experience reflection session, I was assigned the task of creating a personal and professional development plan. The plan deep-dived my personality traits (through several personality test assessments), along with an evaluation of my personal strengths and weaknesses. It also included my career aspirations, goals, and objectives outlined in three to fiveyear increments, with my identified external and internal career derailers and obstacles. Lastly, the plan included my personal mitigation and self-management strategy to help me avoid any traps and unhealthy activities that would derail my career goal progress. Another key aspect of importance within my plan was a detailed outline of triggers that brought on a set of behaviors from my past in the workplace. These were behaviors that impacted my career negatively and impeded the development of my professional relationships and I identified a crucial area that needed to be addressed immediately! The area for development was my lack of patience. My plan identified a series of existing and potential problems this behavior caused when engaging my peers within the workplace. What would trigger this conduct with others is when I worked at a faster pace and others could not match it, This is when my impatience would trigger and manifest within my tone and manner. It rubbed people the wrong way and presented a big red flag for my career path ascension. This behavior often presented itself in my morning engagements and triggered a pattern of moodiness. I was made aware this behavior was highly visible and my colleagues were placed on high alert when engaging me. I heard the whispers circulating about me from my team as they would say, “Don’t go into his office early because you don’t know what you will get.” Well, from my point of view, the problem wasn’t me; it was them. I convinced myself that others didn’t get me and needed to match my energy and pace. But sadly, I was wrong. The problem was me. The cause of my edginess was coffee, which I did not need due to my highenergy nature. My coffee intake was akin to adding gasoline to a bonfire and my behavior kept the fire going! I wake up early daily, raring to go, but to my detriment…I got into the habit of consuming several cups of coffee, which overhyped my energy and lowered my tolerance. What made things worse, I worked in a culture that loved coffee! My coworkers would consume coffee before work, at work, and after…and I became a loyal coffee convert. However, the caffeine intake did not suit me at all. I could no longer ignore my “coffee problem” and I needed to take on this issue before it further ruined my career. So, in my development and behavior-changing plan, I decided I had four options: 1. I could share my plan with my wife, seek out her insights regarding my behavior as she knew me best (and surprisingly, she agreed with my peers). 2. Stop drinking coffee…full stop, which would be hard to do in a highly immersed coffee culture business environment. 3. Limit my coffee intake from three cups to two. Also, make sure that I would not consume any coffee after 9 AM. 4. And lastly, bring my coffee to work instead of buying it, as this would ensure I would not only control my intake, and what I would bring from home would not exceed more than two cups. 35
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