Another Step on the Path to Greatness

So on Monday I start my new career as a wine broker. Is this the path I want to be on for a long time (a fast track route to alcoholism) no not really. Without really knowing too much, I don’t think that this is going to be creative enough for me. I do however think that it is something I can do, without trying too hard. I have always prided myself in being a people person and believe that I can pretty much talk to anyone, so I think that this skill will come in handy with this new job. I hope to be able to sell the socks off these people and make a statement.

I also however am not closing the other doors behind me as this new one opens. I am still focusing my attention on getting myself to where I believe I should be. In the creative world – doing magical things. So I see this simply as a stepping stone – something to fund the path of the future.

I also hope to use this as a tool to meet people and hopefully extend my somewhat male dominated social circle. Adding some estrogen to the situation may be scary but may also quite refreshing.

I read an article the other day that said that, “Even though you need to get connected with others, WHO you choose to connect with can either make or break you.”

So although I don’t yet know my future colleagues I hope that they will be the kind of people that will help keep me on my desired path.

I hope to learn from these new people in my life and grow in a personal and professional capacity. I believe that you learn from everything in life and I see this as yet another learning platform along my way to greatness. I will take whatever I can away from this position and these people. I will take their ideas and their methods and hopefully out them to use in my own way. It takes a certain type of person to excel at sales and assuming my future colleagues are good at what they do, I hope to learn from them.

It is said, you are the sum of the 5 people you hang around with the most. I hope to extend my 5 and differentiate, making me a complex and interesting person. I hope to surround myself with people who share the same values and excitement levels as I do. They may not be excited as the same things as I am but who cares. Excitement feeds of excitement.

I feel that my 5 back home were amazing and made me who I am so I guess I hope to find another 5 who will keep me on that path. I had a little bit of crazy, a little bit of class, a lot of professionalism, mounds of creative genius, so much passion, more than enough love, sometimes too much fun but above all I was constantly surrounded by amazing people who had so much to do with everything that I am.

I need other people around me to inspire me to be hugely successful no matter what I do. And although this new job was not something I saw on my path, it has been put there and I plan to excel. It’s a job – it’s not a life sentence, and everything only builds on what you already have right?

Stand Strong South Africa

With the 2010 Soccer World Cup drawing to a very exciting close, we cannot help but applaud South Africa for putting on a wonderful show. OK so I was not actually there, but for a South African being away from home I have never felt so proud.

I have heard nothing but fantastic reports from locals and visitors - when in all honesty I was expecting otherwise. I will be the first to say that I was skeptical. I wasn't sure whether we could pull it off. I was one of those people thinking that logistically we could not cope with that amount of people. But I am glad to say that I was wrong.

After many years of planning, South Africa finally got their public transport system in order and succeeded to move hundreds of thousands of people within the cities without fail.

The Fan Parks and Fan walks were genius and served their purpose of reducing traffic and congestion and of course brining people together, giving them the opportunity to celebrate as one. After seeing the photo's and hearing the noise of these Fan Walk nights I can only wish that I could have been there to experience it. Never in my life would I have thought of walking from the middle of Town to Sea Point late at night - but it has been done, and safely.

It is so nice to think that so many people will be returning home (potentially with broken hearts due to a loss) with so many great stories and memories of their trip to South Africa.

One has to however ask the question - what is going to happen when the teams and tourists leave and the stadium lights switch off? I pray that things stay exactly the way they are. I hope that South African will remember how it feels to be a country united and happy. With everyone living and celebrating life together. No divides, no sadness, no crime.

South Africa you have shown that you can accomplish so much - the biggest thing - change. Lets keep it this way. It has brought such a smile to my face to see the photo's and the videos and hear the songs of happy people. Happy South Africans. Proud South Africans. South Africans waving flags and holding hands. Singing and dancing in the street. Showing the world what an amazing country we have and what amazing people we share it with.

Remember this feeling South Africa. Remember it and treasure it.

I am Proudly South African.

Lunch Is For Wimps

was recently asked to do a little bit of writing as part of an application for a job and I thought I would put that piece of writing to good use and hopefully by putting it further out into the universe it will bring me closer to the job. It's worth a try right?

Anyway - here it is.


A phrase made famous my Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas), Lunch is for Wimps, has sparked many thoughts and debates around the illusive lunch hour.

Back in the day a lunch hour was just that – a full hour where employees were given the chance to have a leisurely lunch, catch up with colleagues and simply relax. The logic behind lunch hours being that workers would happily return to work rejuvenated and ready to push themselves for the rest of the day.

Times are however changing and a lunch hour is commonly more like a lunch half-an-hour. In fact, studies show that 55% of workers are taking less than 30 minutes for lunch each day.

Many people wrongly think that this deteriorating lunch hour is due to mean employers forcing their workers to sit at their desks and starve, when in fact studies have shown that a shorter lunch hour is often at the hands of the hungry employees themselves.

Employees are beginning to see lunch hour as a dispensable luxury – by skipping lunch they are giving themselves more time to work and produce results. They feel that they are proving their loyalty to their employer, and in today’s world where everyone is doing whatever needs to be done to fight their way up the corporate ladder, this is just one more way of getting ahead.

But is desk-top dining really improving productivity? Just because you are physically sitting at your desk for 9 hours a day does that mean that you are working to your full potential for those 9 hours?

To give my two cents worth and as a “lunch at my desk” culprit, I can say that those extra sentences typed between mouthfuls can be crucial but it has also been proven that sunlight and fresh air are healthy additives to any work day. Standing up from your desk every now and then, if not to keep the blood flowing, might delay an email response for a few minutes but I’m sure employers would rather have healthy workers instead of emaciated corpses with bad circulation.


Victoria Maltby
Thursday, July 08, 2010