Don’t Obsess, Andrea’s Story

To invite you to reflect on why it is essential not to obsess, we present a curious story. Andrea’s tale is about an extraordinary accountant. A brilliant and ambitious young man who wanted to go as far as possible. He finished university with excellent grades and for this his professors recommended him to work in a prestigious company, where he started as a consultant.

Andrea was the first to arrive and the last to leave. He wanted to immerse himself totally in the functioning of the company. His goal was to learn a lot and be so efficient that society could deem it indispensable.  For this reason he spared no effort in his work.

With such a motivation, the quality of his work was very high. His boss therefore decided to promote him. As for the previous assignment, Andrea carried out the new one in an excellent way, indeed this time he increased his dedication. When he wasn’t working, he read material on the job or experimented with new ways to become more efficient. He became a highly respected person in society.

A new responsibility

Everyone was talking about the great gifts of the young man. After only two years, the board of directors decided to appoint him as chief accountant. No one was better than him to do that job. He had earned it and the company’s accounts could not have ended up in better hands.

When Andrea held the position of manager, it was impossible for him not to become obsessed with the ghost of error. He no longer worked 8 hours, but 12. He began to worry for no reason. He began to think that others wanted his job, as he enjoyed an enviable salary and considerable prestige in society. From that moment, a mistrust was born in him that would end up poisoning him.

As a manager, he had to manage the work of others. However, Andrea became very suspicious. It did not help anyone precisely, but gave as little information as possible. He thought that if he gave too much information to his employees, maybe some of them could emulate his knowledge and steal his new job.  After a short time, no one asked him anything more.

A sudden change

Everything was fine for the new boss, but a couple of years after the promotion,  the president of the company personally asked him to train Giovanni. He was another guy who joined the company to be Andrea’s right-hand man, as everyone thought he was overworked. Obviously, Andrea did not go well with this new situation.

As was his custom, instead of training John, he gave him very few instructions. Giovanni noticed this and did not want to insist. Rather, he devoted himself to researching the details of the assignment on his own with colleagues from other industries. He asked questions here and there. Thus he managed to perform well and compensate for the shortcomings in his training.

Another five years passed and the board of directors announced that it would appoint a new general manager of the company.  Andrea, who dealt with many important issues of the same, thought that his big moment had arrived. After a careful selection, only two candidates remained: Andrea and Giovanni.

Do not obsess and moral of the tale of Andrea

Against all expectations, Giovanni was elected as general manager. Andrea couldn’t believe it. No employee was as efficient as he was. He did not understand how they could have stolen the assignment from him. The board of directors explained that he was indispensable as a chief accountant. No one could do that job better than him, so he had to keep his job.

Later, the accounting clerks were invited to a training course. Andrea wanted to participate, but he couldn’t.  It was impossible for him to have enough time to attend the course as he took care of most of the tasks and worked 12 hours a day.

Unfortunately, the training course was about new forms of work and new computer programs for society. Since Andrea had not taken part in it, his shortcomings became evident in a few months.  He couldn’t adapt to the changes.

Furthermore, the new software performed some of the functions that Andrea had specialized in. Considering his seniority, he was reassigned to a lower post. And this is how Andrea’s fable teaches us that obsessions make us blind and in many cases make what we fear so much real. Not getting obsessed, therefore, is essential for a more peaceful life and patiently reaching your goals