Careers, Positivity and Pushing Boundaries with Septina George

I've been at Vodafone for over 2 years, starting out in the Digital Transformation Team but I'm now in the Strategy Execution Team as a Programme Manager. 

What I've learnt from rejection

In the early part of my career, I had a huge fear of being rejected, and that stopped me from applying to a lot of roles or taking on new opportunities. Though, one quote that has resonated with me is, 'Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know'. 

Therefore, some of the lessons I've learnt from my experiences of rejection are:

1. Being rejected from something, most of the time means you're being redirected to something greater, so keep the faith, remain positive and know that good will come.
2. Remember to comfort yourself in the fact that sometimes people's actions towards you often have nothing to do with you, in most cases it's a reflection of how they feel about themselves.
3. You're amazingly capable, you're whole and you're lovable - the right opportunities will come your way. What you need to do, is own your story and your own truth.

How to balance work and personal life

In terms of balancing work and personal life - it's something that I, along with many, battle with on a daily basis. These are some things I try to do to help:

• Establish clear boundaries - set times to log in and off for work and try to do something else that is not work e.g. go to the gym or have a walk, for personal time
• Try to prioritise my tasks by allocating time in my week for what I do for work, what I do for family (e.g. talking on the phone to friends and family) and what I do to support my personal goals too. 
• Be flexible to changing needs and circumstances across both work and personal life. Making sure I actually do have time to reflect and not be so rigid in my plans.

Stepping out my comfort zone

Earlier this year I was invited to do a talk for a charity, and was also persuaded into joining the fashion show, which included modelling outfits on the runway! In all honesty, I had fun, the music was great and I even did a little dance on the runway - check out my LinkedIn to see it in action. I really did enjoy it, though it wasn't something I normally do but it was an achievement for me to step out of my comfort zone.

And that is exactly what this years Black History Month theme is all about - celebrating and shining a spotlight on the achievements of women - in history, doing phenomenal work in our society today and the future of our generations to come. 

I'm really excited for all the celebrations across Black History Month, and I've committed myself to a number of events across October to be part of it, shine a spotlight and learn about the women that have come before and what their contributions have been.