Bless your souls
Sep. 30th, 2008 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantWhat absolutely amazing imaginary friends I have! I'm bowled over by all the thoughtful, creative, and helpful responses to my choose a new career for me post. Thank you all.
(I'm still interested in suggestions, if anyone has them, and I welcome comments from strangers here as well as people I already know.)
Most expected response (also most votes): Library work.
Most unexpected (yet intriguing) response: Epidemiology.
Most interesting response: Urban planning, because this was my father's career when I was a kid.
Jobs I didn't even know existed: Patent searcher, lab manager, research administrator.
Next step: basic research to tell me what the jobs in each field are called, and what they consist of, and what the differences are between them, followed by lots and lots of individual requests for further information.
I often look with bafflement on my choice of journalism as a career, but one good thing I have to say about life as a newspaper reporter: Despite my introversion, I'm not a bit intimidated about calling/e-mailing a bunch of people who don't know me and asking them questions about their work.
If there's anything I can do for any of you along these lines, I'd be happy to do it.
Meanwhile, in return for your help, I'll give you the digest of some of the books I've been reading as part of this process.
Julie Morganstern, Time Management From The Inside Out.
Most helpful practical suggestion: First decide what's important to you (exercise? strengthening family relationships? getting promoted? having a beautiful house?) and then allocate your time accordingly.
Most striking insight: "It's my observation that the areas we spend the most time on are the areas where our goals are most clear."
(This explains why I can always manage to get the sheets changed every Saturday, while weeks can go by without my having done anything at all toward career change, even though, you know, which one is likely to have the greatest impact on my future happiness? But if the sheets need changing, the goal is: Put new sheets on bed. Wash and put away old sheets. Whereas the career-change thing looks like a big morass from which it's impossible to pick out a single action to take.)
Drawback: If you're really mired down in procrastination, then trying to organize your time is going to be like trying to neatly put away in the closet a bunch of clothes that don't fit. You don't need to organize four hours of playing Zuma. In that case, you want to read:
Neil Fiore, The Now Habit.
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julad recommended this, and I happily pass on the rec. This is a self-help book about procrastination, but it's rooted in an optimistic, humanistic view of life that's very appealing. It asks: Do you believe that human beings are fundamentally filled with eager curiosity? Yes? OK, that includes you too.
He sees procrastination as self-protective, and the book has a lot of suggestions about other ways to identify what you fear and protect yourself from it.
Most striking insight (on perfectionism): "There is no level of human perfection that will put you above criticism and rejection."
Richard Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute?
The first sections are all about job-hunting, and for years every time I picked up the book I thought, "This really isn't telling me much that's new."
If you're interested in finding a new career, skip those sections -- seriously, don't even read them; there's a good chance they'll either bore you or fill you with anxiety. Go directly to the section where you do exercises to identify your skills and interests. I particularly liked the exercise where you wrote seven little stories about times when you did something that was fun while you were doing it and a source of pride when you were done, because that turned up unexpected things about the skills I most enjoy using.
Of course, once you've got that list, you have to do more research. Namely, you have to talk to people you know and say, "OK, here's my list; where do you think that points me?" I'm seriously thinking about printing the list out on cardstock and keeping it in my wallet, ready to pull out any time I'm in a group of helpful people.
I'll probably still talk to the people I know in three dimensions, but I can't imagine they could be nearly as helpful as y'all -- I mean, you meet people through college and work, which means nearly everybody I know is in either journalism, programming, or graphic design. Whereas you folks, I'm discovering, have a really unexpected and fascinating variety of jobs and experiences, and can actually tell me things I don't already know.
Tip: Every year, an updated version comes out. That means that you can usually get a used copy of last year's version very cheap on Amazon.
(I'm still interested in suggestions, if anyone has them, and I welcome comments from strangers here as well as people I already know.)
Most expected response (also most votes): Library work.
Most unexpected (yet intriguing) response: Epidemiology.
Most interesting response: Urban planning, because this was my father's career when I was a kid.
Jobs I didn't even know existed: Patent searcher, lab manager, research administrator.
Next step: basic research to tell me what the jobs in each field are called, and what they consist of, and what the differences are between them, followed by lots and lots of individual requests for further information.
I often look with bafflement on my choice of journalism as a career, but one good thing I have to say about life as a newspaper reporter: Despite my introversion, I'm not a bit intimidated about calling/e-mailing a bunch of people who don't know me and asking them questions about their work.
If there's anything I can do for any of you along these lines, I'd be happy to do it.
Meanwhile, in return for your help, I'll give you the digest of some of the books I've been reading as part of this process.
Julie Morganstern, Time Management From The Inside Out.
Most helpful practical suggestion: First decide what's important to you (exercise? strengthening family relationships? getting promoted? having a beautiful house?) and then allocate your time accordingly.
Most striking insight: "It's my observation that the areas we spend the most time on are the areas where our goals are most clear."
(This explains why I can always manage to get the sheets changed every Saturday, while weeks can go by without my having done anything at all toward career change, even though, you know, which one is likely to have the greatest impact on my future happiness? But if the sheets need changing, the goal is: Put new sheets on bed. Wash and put away old sheets. Whereas the career-change thing looks like a big morass from which it's impossible to pick out a single action to take.)
Drawback: If you're really mired down in procrastination, then trying to organize your time is going to be like trying to neatly put away in the closet a bunch of clothes that don't fit. You don't need to organize four hours of playing Zuma. In that case, you want to read:
Neil Fiore, The Now Habit.
julad recommended this, and I happily pass on the rec. This is a self-help book about procrastination, but it's rooted in an optimistic, humanistic view of life that's very appealing. It asks: Do you believe that human beings are fundamentally filled with eager curiosity? Yes? OK, that includes you too.He sees procrastination as self-protective, and the book has a lot of suggestions about other ways to identify what you fear and protect yourself from it.
Most striking insight (on perfectionism): "There is no level of human perfection that will put you above criticism and rejection."
Richard Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute?
The first sections are all about job-hunting, and for years every time I picked up the book I thought, "This really isn't telling me much that's new."
If you're interested in finding a new career, skip those sections -- seriously, don't even read them; there's a good chance they'll either bore you or fill you with anxiety. Go directly to the section where you do exercises to identify your skills and interests. I particularly liked the exercise where you wrote seven little stories about times when you did something that was fun while you were doing it and a source of pride when you were done, because that turned up unexpected things about the skills I most enjoy using.
Of course, once you've got that list, you have to do more research. Namely, you have to talk to people you know and say, "OK, here's my list; where do you think that points me?" I'm seriously thinking about printing the list out on cardstock and keeping it in my wallet, ready to pull out any time I'm in a group of helpful people.
I'll probably still talk to the people I know in three dimensions, but I can't imagine they could be nearly as helpful as y'all -- I mean, you meet people through college and work, which means nearly everybody I know is in either journalism, programming, or graphic design. Whereas you folks, I'm discovering, have a really unexpected and fascinating variety of jobs and experiences, and can actually tell me things I don't already know.
Tip: Every year, an updated version comes out. That means that you can usually get a used copy of last year's version very cheap on Amazon.