I end my Sunday jogging jaunt at the office. After taking a 30 minute rest, I proceed to schedule my upcoming working week. This has become some kind of a ritual for me, the downside of it being that I often have to charge my co-workers with tasks and assignments.

Being a chronic workaholic is not right. But if you are keen on achieving the set goals instead of spending the entire day loitering around the office, you cannot always blow through your schedule without working long hours. I myself used to work much at nights. If you are passionate about the things you do, you are likely to stay late at work.

With time you learn to take setbacks in stride. Problems in life are unavoidable, whether you want it or not. That is why you would be better off minimising the emotional stress for yourself and the people around you while tackling your issues. Strong emotions never did anyone any good. That said, I do not have a silver bullet for boosting emotional self-control.

People underestimate managerial challenges. When you make plans or develop a management strategy you should depart from the assumption that everything may turn out to be the other way around, as this assumption proves to be true in the majority of cases.

A manager must be good at changing plans. A true professional is always up-to-date with the latest news and can develop the right strategy today to achieve the desired result tomorrow.

Employees possess the same knowledge as their managers. This is a common belief among the managers, but it is not true. Many employees lack the required information and often tend to disagree with their manager.

A manager must help employees develop their skills. There is usually too little time left to closely follow the personal growth of your team members, which is wrong. At SIBUR, we seek to encourage the managers to pay closer attention to the staff development.

I have developed a passion for an active lifestyle. After two weeks without sports I start feeling physical discomfort.

I always opted for team games learning to build relations within a team. Sports helped me a lot, as they taught me to develop a strong personality while also remaining flexible in my relations with other team members.

Basketball and football have been my passion since early childhood. I did quite well in basketball, however my parents tried really hard to talk me out of pursuing a career in professional sports. Back then I was very upset about this, but later in life I came to appreciate their decision. While I did have some success in sports, my physical abilities were not good enough for me to join the ranks of top-performing athletes. Needless to say, I was not ready for any form of compromise.

The army taught me self-discipline. For a guy who was born and raised in Moscow, military service in Baku came as a life-changing experience. It taught me a lot of valuable lessons and gave a brand new perspective on life. I can safely say that the army completely changed my personality.

Even if I want to idle around, I know the limits. The lifestyle I have grown accustomed to requires a balanced approach.

If I run too fast, I always know when to stop. Both literally and figuratively. Regular short breaks (a week in a season) set me up for the rest of the run. I structure my schedule in such a way as to have an opportunity to handle various tasks throughout a day. This is a funny exercise that helps me stay active and energised.

As I grew older, I came to realise the importance of following a balanced meal plan. I am not an adept of extreme diets or vegetarianism. Instead, I seek to stick to the food combining principles and avoid binge eating. I know which products are considered to be junk food and try to exclude them from my diet. After that, I listen carefully to my body. If I feel well, it means that I am on the right track.

A healthy lifestyle is of great importance. I have always believed so.

It makes me sad to see people who fail to do simple workouts that could help them feel better. The reason for this failure is either ignorance or lack of sufficient motivation. All this encouraged us to launch SIBUR. A Healthy Future, a project promoting healthy lifestyles and providing people with useful tips. Persistence and stubbornness. If you want to get something done, make an effort.

Download PDF