Astrid Michalak

I attribute my success to not accepting failure as failure, but as an opportunity to learn. I am kind of analytical and introspective, and I spend a lot of time thinking about things. It's very important for me to make changes to the way I process things. I would consider myself to be a processor now, and not someone who reacts. Someone can say something to me that's pretty horrific, and I will look at them and not react. I will ponder whatever they said until I've understood it from six ways from Sunday. I will look at it from every possible angle, and when I've completely ingested it and completely have understood it, then I'll say something. That wasn't always the way I dealt with things, but I find that it has served me well to understand what it is I'm talking about before flying off the handle just because it doesn't agree with me.

I just believe that if you're gonna do something, you need to do it right, and that's advice that my dad gave me a long time ago. But it served me very well throughout my life. If I'm gonna give my time and effort to something, it needs to be done correctly. It's no use trying to do things to get by, because in the dental lab in the beginning, if it's not perfect, it doesn't get cemented, and then it's a rework, and the patient has to take more time off work, and the dentist gets upset because they need to schedule more of their time redoing something that should have been done right the first time. So the importance of doing things with precision, if you're gonna do something, do it right. Pretty much, I've dug my heels in through my corporate jobs to ensure that when people were trying to cut corners, that we didn't, because inevitably, that's going to lead somewhere where you don't want to go.

To never give up. To always have hope. To not focus on present circumstances, but always focus on a goal. And as you're moving through difficulties, realize that that's what they are, they're passing. Everything shall pass, this too shall pass, when it's something that comes, some kind of roadblock, or impediment, or difficulty. And keeping a level head is very important, because it does pass. And if you completely fall apart or completely come undone and have a rumpelstiltskin fit, it doesn't serve you, because this is transitory, it will go away, and things will return to normal. So having that level-headed approach to things always makes everything easier. It serves you better.

I would say this most recent one was the biggest one, being laid off at a point where, at 64, do I want to go back to my employer and take another role after they've done this to me? Or do I really want to go to another corporation where I have to learn the whole corporate ethos again, and start over? At 64, do I want to do that? I've got to work until I'm 67, because I can't get my Social Security till then, and Medicaid is a year away. I think, really, that this is the biggest impediment of being laid off in an untimely manner when you're not of a retirement age, but you're very close to it. That's the biggest thing that I've ever faced. And before that, it was just applying for jobs that are normally held by people who have their master's degree. Because I've been older, and I've had such a diverse and solid base of experience to draw from, I haven't been afraid of applying for those roles. And I have been given them. The capability manager role is a good example of that. I have been given those roles, and I have been very successful in them. So before that, not having the master's degree was a challenge for me.

I would say faith is the most important thing to me. It's very important to have a relationship with God and to align yourself that way. I also believe in being honest, having integrity, those kinds of things, but those are all byproducts of when you have a proper core faith in your heart and in your mind. You follow the Ten Commandments. It just modifies the way you are. It's important to be a faith-based person, I believe.