Adapt to Thrive: A Quick 4-Step Guide to Success

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SHOW DESCRIPTION

Have you ever learned a skill you didn't think you'd need? Join me as I recount how being forced to learn a manual transmission at 18 became invaluable years later. From causing budgetary chaos to mastering a $3.15 million department budget, discover the unexpected ways our early experiences shape us. Plus, tips on leveraging professional development, and the importance of job shadowing, mentors, and continuous learning in your career and personal growth. 

TL;DR
This episode focuses on continuous learning, professional development, and mentorship in achieving personal and career goals.

Time Stamps

00:00 Introduction to Coffee, Cocktails, and Clarity

01:05 The Unexpected Skill That Saved the Day

02:08 Welcome to the Podcast

03:22 Learning to Drive a Manual Transmission

09:02 Mastering Budget Management

11:49 Rules for Professional Growth

17:15 Personal and Professional Development

18:45 Conclusion 

CONNECT WITH ME
Join my fan page at FanList.com/CoffeeCocktailsClarity and share your thoughts on this episode, ask questions, or share your story. 

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Shai Boston on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShaiBostonLLC

RESOURCES
Note: I do not have any affiliations with, sponsorships or endorsements from any of the resources mentioned. They are listed for your reference.

Mental Health Resources
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Ph: 988
Website: https://988lifeline.org/

Psychology Today
Website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

National Institute of Mental Health
Website: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/

Sexual Violence Resources
RAIIN
Ph: 800.656.HOPE (4673)
Website: https://rainn.org/

Credits
Podcast Editor: Payton Cross Productions

Transcript

0:00

Coming up next on Coffee, Cocktails, and Clarity.

Shai Boston: 0:04

The skill I was forced to pick up at 18 benefited me some 15 years or so later I had so many men staring in amazement at me I ended up causing a complete budgetary mess. I was thrust into the world of full-cycle budget management. I had learned how to effectively manage every aspect of my department's$3.15 Million budget. Baby, I was very proud to get those books under control. We might even be forced to learn how to use AI in our jobs.

0:43

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Shai Boston: 1:06

Several years ago, my husband and I were moving from one rental house to another. I usually handled the moving arrangements, but this time he handled the renting of the UHaul truck. Everything was going fine until he called me from the truck rental center. Shai?" Yes, babe." Um, can you come to the rental center, please?" he asks. Why?" Well, uh, the truck I rented is the big one and it's a stick shift. I don't know how to drive a stick shift." I shake my head and kind of giggle and think about how important it is to double check these types of things. Okay. I'm on my way." As I drive to the rental center, I just really had to have a good laugh and think about how I came to pick up the skill of driving a manual transmission. Hi ladies, I'm Shai, and I'm so excited to welcome you to Coffee, Cocktails, and Clarity. As a woman navigating my own journey, I've experienced the ups and downs, the triumphs and challenges that come with being a woman in today's world. I created this podcast as a space for us to have authentic conversations and connections to share stories and inspire each other. Let's break down barriers, celebrate our successes and support one another on this journey together. So take a sip, sit back and let's have a chat. My beverage of choice today is the Crown Royal Whiskey Lemonade, and this one is the peach flavor. And just pouring a little here into my glass. It's on the rocks. I like this, it's light, it's refreshing. Nice, mellow drink to have. Mmhmm. I'm gonna take one more sip. Mmhmm. Very good. All right, let's get into it. When I graduated high school, my mom and I shared a car for several months before I started college. Realizing she worked in one direction and I was actually going to be going to school in the other, we decided it was time for me to get a car. At that time, I had very little money in order to even get a car. I needed to find something that would work within a very tight budget and with very little credit to my name. We went to a used car dealership and found a car. It was$4,000, actually$4,080 to be more precise and would have my car payments be only$100 a month. First, I know, I'm already dating myself by stating that. But, man, I would kill for a$100 car payment a month these days. Anyway, the car was in excellent condition and perfect for my needs. The only problem was that the car was a manual transmission or what we commonly call a stick shift. I didn't know how to drive one. I literally had one weekend to learn because I had to drive to school on Monday and it was already a Thursday evening. That meant I needed to not only learn how to drive the car, but also how to drive in the hills and park on a hill. If you've ever driven a manual transmission, you know that one of the biggest challenges is driving on a hill, going uphill or parking on a hill. Outside of that, the only big challenge is to get going after you've come to a stop at a stop light, finding that balance between the clutch and the gas, so you don't stall out in traffic, which I did many, many times, but that's a different story. Anyway, why did I have to learn on the hills? Because in case you don't know, I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay area, born and raised in Oakland. I'm an Oakland girl. And I also lived in a city nearby called Hayward. And that's where my university was. My university sat on top of a very high hill. We call that area, the Hayward Hills. So I had to learn how to drive in the hills. Anyway, I did it. Between the guy that I was dating at the time and my bestie, I was able to learn how to drive that car, hills and all. The skill I was forced to pick up at 18 benefited me some 15 years or so later when I had to drive that huge UHaul truck. It was a manual transmission and it was manual effort because there was NO power steering. That truck was like 20 feet in length. So here I am trying to drive without any power steering, having to put all my energy into every turn that I did, manually shift this huge truck, grinding the gears because trying to get the pedal clutch balance was challenging. Do you know how hard it is to drive a truck of that size when it is manual everything? By the way, if you can drive a manual transmission, you can literally drive everything from a car to a truck to heavy duty construction machinery. Just a fact. Now, how's that for skills that can help you shift? I had so many men staring in amazement at me as I drove that truck. Those that were helping us to unload, they were wondering how I did something that even they found very hard and difficult to do. I did it because I had to... Also because I had the ability to. That's the thing about life. I mean, we often pick up knowledge and skills that we think we would never use. How many times have you seen a hack on TikTok or Instagram or somewhere and said,"Duh! Why didn't I know that?" I'll give you an example of one I learned. If you're boiling water, take a paper towel, dip it in some cooking oil or spray some cooking oil on it, and then wipe it around the rim of the pot, then, voila! The water will not boil over the pot. Who knew? Okay, well, you didn't have to exactly brag about that. Anyway, you get what I'm trying to say. We pick up skills or knowledge that we can use later, sometimes unknowingly. I want you to take a moment and think about it. What skills did you pick up in life that you didn't know would help you later on? Was it how to de-ice a windshield with rubbing alcohol?(Yes, you can do that.) Take some time and not only think about that skill or knowledge, but also how you later used it. What skills or expertise would you like to pick up or enhance? There's lots of ways to go about doing that. Oftentimes, your employer may require you to learn something new so it can be included in your job or because it is your job, and maybe you're just not doing it well. I remember when I just started managing the Cruisetours Department for Royal Caribbean Limited. That covered the sales and marketing for their international specialty cruise and land packages for Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Cruises. I was thrust into the world of full-cycle budget management. While I had created budgets for projects or managed projects against budgets and certain expected outcomes, I had never forecasted a budget. While I was familiar with journal entries and some general bookkeeping thanks to being the business manager of my high school newspaper, The Hay Press(Go Farmers! Yes, our mascot was farmers, and that's a story for another time.) I'm going to take another sip on that one... as I was saying, I had some general accounting and bookkeeping and general ledger knowledge. But not finance knowledge, which generally involves things such as budget allocation, forecasting, accruals, shifting line items, reallocation of funds, and all of those different types of things. What made matters worse is that I came into the position halfway through the year. There was money already allocated to certain sales managers and travel agent partners, but I didn't have a proper recording. So it was like I was given a checkbook without a proper register. I ended up causing a complete budgetary mess. It was stressful for me and it was stressful for everyone who was trying to assist me in getting things cleaned up and I owe a big apology to Steven and Sandra. My leadership decided to send me to a basic finance course that our company had. I took the course and when all was said and done, I had learned how to effectively manage every aspect of my department's$3.15 Million budget. For some of you, that may not sound like a lot, and to some of us, it does. Because to me, having no experience, that was a lot of money! But baby, I was very proud to get those books under control. It allowed me to forecast more effectively, to negotiate pricing with marketing and other teams, and to walk away from the team with the books in excellent condition for the next manager. With all that said there's a few rules of thumb that my mom and my mentors taught me that I follow to this day and these few rules are one reason why I was able to excel in that position, as well as many others throughout my career. Here they are. First, learn what they want you to learn. Then take it and run with it. There are times we are forced to take a course like Excel, PowerPoint, budgeting, any number of things. These days, we might even be forced to learn how to use AI in our jobs. No matter what it is that our leadership or company or whomever wants us to learn, learn it. Then you take it and you run with it, whether it's within the company or you take it and run with it somewhere else that will let you grow in that knowledge or skill. We may not always get to choose the things that our leadership or our companies want us to learn, but we are in a position to choose how we utilize that information. Number two, take advantage of all the courses and educational opportunities that your company may have. Most companies have in-house training, either provided by their own training staff, or in most cases, it's being contracted out to someone like me that has a company that might specialize in a specific area of expertise. Look at the course offerings whether they are in person, virtual, asynchronous, meaning self-guided, or if they're webinars. If there's a new skill, or a new level of expertise that you want to learn, research the courses available that can help teach you that skill or give you knowledge in any area you've been wanting to learn. If the skill or the knowledge falls outside of your current position or your department's objectives, find a way to relate it back to your current role or projects within the department, so you can receive approval. Connect it to how it may help you work with other departments when you have to collaborate on projects. Talk about how it can benefit the department in the long run if you prepare now by taking in that knowledge or learning that new skill. Number three, utilize the company's financial resources. Even in a tight economy, almost every company has money set aside for each employee to take outside courses through associations or organizations that focus on specific skill sets. Discuss with your leadership team or HR what has been set aside for your use and how you can best utilize this resource. Now, this is not a college reimbursement, although that is an option too. These are funds specifically set aside for your professional development each year. Many people don't even know about this particular fund and they end up missing out on this very important growth opportunity. So inquire about what professional development funds have been set aside for your use during the year. Finally, number four, job shadowing. Job shadowing is a great way to learn the truth behind using a skill or possessing a certain level of expertise. Shadowing someone else doing a job or skill that you would like to learn helps you to see how it all comes together in the real world. This is one of the best ways to determine if the job or skill is something you would like or would be able to master. It could be that it's one of the things that you might choose to walk away from and you might decide to pursue a different course. It could be that having just a little bit of knowledge is enough to help you be put on the right path to your next learning opportunity or job position. As an entrepreneur, find mentors that can assist you in getting connected to others in your field or with skills that can benefit your professional development, maybe helping you to learn how to run your business more effectively, learn how to market more effectively, or It might be that you need to be connected to someone who is a strong public speaker so that you will be able to become a better and stronger public speaker. Perhaps you need to be better at crafting your message and putting your services and packages together. A certified business coach can help you with that by guiding you through the process and facilitating learning on the topic. I'll talk about coaches and mentors, and how to find a good one, in an upcoming episode, because there is a difference between a coach and a mentor. Personally, we may be looking to grow and improve in other areas of our lives. Some of us want help with time management, improving our nutrition, managing our health situations, guidance on a spiritual journey, or learning to live more intentionally and mindfully. There's no shortage of books, videos, podcasts(ahem) and certified coaches ahem) that can help with every step. It could be a matter of finding the right functional health specialist I have an excellent one I can refer you to). It might be a personal trainer that gets you and your physical needs or limitations. It might be finding the right specialist or having the right community that shares our interests that can help us. Every skill and ounce of knowledge that we pick up in our personal and professional lives adds a stepping stone on our path to opportunities we may not have known about. With a bag full of skills, we never know when we will need to reach in and pull one out. Having skills and knowledge allows us to adjust and shift gears when we least expect it. Even if that knowledge and skill is knowing how to drive a manual transmission that literally requires us to be able to shift gears. Whether it's our first conversation or we've been talking for a while, thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. While you finish your beverage, take some time to meditate on today's conversation and journal your thoughts and feelings. If you liked today's conversation, and you haven't already done so, please subscribe to and review my podcast, then download this episode. Don't forget to join my fan page on Fanlist.com/CoffeeCocktailsClarity, where you can share your thoughts on the episode, ask questions, or share your story. You never know, I may feature you in a future episode with your consent, of course, you can also follow me on social media. The links will be in the show notes. I hope our chat helped you to see things more clearly. I always enjoy talking with you. So let's take some time for us to get together again soon for some Coffee, Cocktails, and Clarity.