HOW TO SUCCEED BY DESIGN
I’ve been a loser for many years of my life.
For many years, I believed that my wins are from supernatural blessings, good fortune, or luck.
I was assigned to TL Edward.
I got assigned to Team Edward in my second year of working in a call center.
Edward is the cool-looking TL that wears glasses and is always smiling.
Edward walks around confidently and checks his agents if there are problems.
Edward is an IT expert, so I frequently asked him about network problems.
My stats aren’t perfect.
My performance goes up and down.
I was assigned to Edward at a time when my stats were down.
Edward called me to a meeting after work.
Edward opened the meeting with these sentences.
“You got assigned to me because your stats are down.”
“Your previous team lead is a close friend and asked for my help.”
“Your AHT is down.”
“Your QA score or call quality is down.”
“Your sales are down.”
“Your CSAT is down.”
“You were late twice in a row.”
I was bracing myself for some painful verbal spanking.
Edward asked me a strange question.
“Do you have an internet connection at home?”
“Yes,” I said.
“What time is your shift?” Edward asked while looking at his computer.
“2 am,” I said.
“Okay,” Edward turned off the monitor and looked back at me.
“I’ve seen you here 40 minutes before the shift.”
“I bump into you at McDo or Mini Stop regularly.”
“I know that you arrive on time.”
“Your shift is at 2 am.”
“Where do you live?”
“I live in Parañaque,” I answered.
“How long is your travel time?”
“30-45 minutes if there’s no traffic and it was easy to find a ride.”
“I set one hour thirty, so I have time allowance to get here.”
“I also keep an extra sixty pesos to take a taxi from Magallanes to the building for situations where there’s no jeep.”
“Okay. You have no problems with the commute.” Edward said.
“What time do you leave the house?”
“I leave the house at 12:30.”
“How long does it take you to get ready?”
“I jump into the shower, get dressed, pack my lunch, and leave after I wake up.”
“I prepare my meals before I sleep or wake up earlier if I’m cooking something that needs to be fresh.”
“I’m usually ready in thirty minutes.”
“Okay,” Edward said.
“How long is your commute home?”
“One and a half to two hours,” I said.
“I encounter the lunchtime edition of the rush hour going home.”
“Okay,” Edward looked straight at me.
“Do you have other errands?”
“I shop for groceries during my rest days. I said.
“I occasionally pass by the supermarket if I forgot to buy anything.”
“Okay,” Edwards said.
“What time do you get home?”
“I get home at around 1 or 2 pm.”
Edward starts counting.
“Your shift is 2 am to 11 am.”
“That’s nine hours.”
“The commute is 1-1.5 hours going to the office and 1.5 to 2 hours going home.”
“You’re on the road for 2.5 to 3.5 hours daily.”
“You spend thirty minutes getting ready for work.”
“You likely cook for an hour or two.”
“You have eleven hours left.”
“What time do you sleep?”
“I try to get eight, but I’ve been getting five or six lately because of the summer heat.”
I get you.
It isn’t easy to sleep during the summer.
“Do you have blackout curtains?” Edward asked.
“I don’t.”
“They cost 600 pesos each,” Edward suggested.
“You might need to buy two or four depending on how many and how big your windows are.”
“Invest in those.”
“I’ve seen you writing.”
“Do you have a blog? What time do you update your website? What time do you check social media?” Edward asked one after another.
“I usually go on my computer before sleeping.”
“Okay.”
“Is your computer close to your bed?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“It looks like I found the problem.”
“Let me start with this,” Edward smiled, then gave me a more business-like expression.
“What you do with your personal time is none of my business.”
“However, if your actions in your personal time negatively affect your performance during business hours, then we’ll both have a problem.”
“I can make suggestions, but the final decision is up to you.”
“If you follow this course of action without changing, we both know the consequences.”
“I don’t need to tell you what’s going to happen.”
“You’re part of batch 69a.”
“You’re one of two people left.”
“Are you open to hearing my suggestion?”
Edward then describes his assessment of my situation:
“You dedicate 13 hours to your job.”
“You have 11 hours left.”
“You come home from work after a long day.”
“You eat and prepare food for tomorrow.”
“You do your thing on the computer.”
“You head to bed when you have about eight hours left to sleep.”
“You’ll scroll Facebook, Instagram, play YouTube, or a show if you couldn’t fall asleep.”
“The activities you do to ‘fall asleep’ put you in a position that’s more difficult to sleep.”
“I’m going to make a request and ask you to make one change to your routine.”
“Are you willing to cooperate?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Move your computer time from before you sleep to after you wake up.”
“Don’t check social media and email before going to sleep.”
“Don’t do your blogging before going to sleep.”
“Just go to sleep after eating and your preparations.”
“But that’s it,” Edward continued.
“Go to sleep first.”
“The blue light from your phone and computer wakes your brain up and prevents you from sleeping.”
“Use the blue light from your phone and computer to wake yourself up.”
“Do your thing when you wake up.”
“Write on your notebook instead of on your phone or computer if you need to write before bedtime.”
“You can encode when you wake up.”
“You can put the clothes that you’ll wear the next day on your desk, so you’ll be a few minutes faster.”
I cooperated with the advice.
I experienced a lot of improvements to my stats.
Edward called me to another meeting.
“We had a meeting with the other supervisors about your stats,” Edward opened.
“You’re improving a lot.”
“Great job” Edward gave me a high five.
I told him about how I now check my phone and computer when I wake up instead of before sleeping.
“I told you!” Edward grinned from ear to ear.
“One change!”
“You’re on the road to top agent again!” Edward declared victoriously.
“Remember this lesson Kevin,” Edward went back into his supervisor mode.
“The troubleshooting that we do for customers is not limited to technical support.”
“Troubleshooting and problem-solving also apply to other areas of your life.”
I wrote the advice in my notes after the meeting.
Troubleshooting applies to other areas of your life.
I list down my thoughts about what I learned from the conversation.
Make an inventory of all the elements.
Inspect each moving part.
Look for anything that’s out of place.
Start making changes to the part that’s not working.
I was assigned to Edward for over a year.
I’ve been a consistent top performer under his guidance.
I made an extra ₱4,000 to ₱7,000 a month from incentives because of his support.
Thank you, TL Edward!
If you need help getting to sleep, send me an email.
I prepared a list of topics on how to improve sleep.
TL Edward taught me a lot of cool tricks that helped me maintain my high score.
Ask me the question “What else did TL Edward teach you?” and I’ll know that you are a reader from my blog.
Thank you for reading this far and thanks for your attention.
I am praying for your success. God bless!
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