I didn’t realize I’d been ignoring this blog. Sorry about that, guys. If you could see my calendar, you’d understand what’s happened. To catch you up quickly, both of my workplaces were bought this month, and so there’s a lot going on. In one case, it’s coming right as things are starting to get better. In the other…well…for the second time in twice as many months, I may not have a second job for long. My jewelry store is slowly filling with lovely pieces, and it looks like someone might be interested in bugging me to write out my patterns.
The universe also thinks i need several neon signs screaming at me to give writing a real try (as in something other than just narrowly missing freelance jobs). It doesn’t seem to care what I write professionally, just as long as I do. Thankfully, I’ve been working on Dead Bunny’s first book for the past three weeks or so, and the first draft is coming along quite nicely, even if it’s pointing out huge gaping holes in the blog! (Yikes!)
This update isn’t what actually what brings me by today, though. I thought I’d try out a new feature, and you guys can tell me what you think of it. I used to try to review every book I read in its appropriate Niche, but my time just isn’t conducive to that anymore, so I thought I’d share the list of what I’ve read in the past month.
- Seeing What’s Next- It impressed me so much that I put it down nearly halfway through. I read it because it was on the Personal MBA list, but I really felt it was one of the weaker books in its section.
- The Dip- Who doesn’t love a good Seth Godin book? Also a Personal MBA recommendation (that’s been recommended by everybody and their Uncle Phil)
- The Simplicity Survival Handbook-Another Personal MBA recommendation that I believe simply everybody must read! If you can’t find something in it that will make your life just a hair simpler, I’ll eat my Mariners cap!
- Ready for Anything- Personal MBA recommendation that probably would have done more for me if I’d read it several years ago. Still a good book, though.
- The Path of Least Resistance for Managers- I was supposed to read a different version of this book for the Personal MBA, but I found this one rather redundant for me so I didn’t feel compelled to track down the correct version. It’s another one that would have benefitted me if I’d read it much earlier.
- Competitive Strategy- Much like the first book in this list, it’s a Personal MBA book that I put down fairly quickly. I found it very dense and had a hard time getting into it.
Toward the end of each month, I’ll try to post what I read that month wit a brief bit on what I thought. I think a book or two might get skipped, but I’ll try my best to not let any fall through the cracks.
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Personal development at 7:32 AM EST
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“If they didn’t hire you, don’t solve their problem.”- Gerald Weinberg
I really need to take this one to heart. The problem is: I’m a natural problem solver. I see a problem. I try to solve it.
It’s a disease, I tell you!
And it really doesn’t matter where I am. A problem shows up in front of me, I try to handle it. One of these days it’s going to get me into serious trouble.
I’d settle for it just landing me a better job.
My current employer keeps me around because they call me “The Unkinker”. No, honestly, one of my directors has called me that. To my face, no less. A normal day at work for me involves being met at the door by a director saying, “So…we have a problem.” Great. They’re the director. I’m just the lead instructor.
And I’m the one who thinks of the solutions they either haven’t considered or have forgotten. Or I’m the one who has the technical ability to resolve the problem.
At work, my problem isn’t really that I’m solving problems for no pay. I’m solving a ton of problems for low pay. (And we wonder why the economy is so scary right now…)
Maybe I should consider being more restrictive about who I help? Sadly, I know I don’t have the will power to draw that line.
Anybody have a suggestion to solve my problem?
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 7:50 AM EST
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This is something that’s been on my mind a lot over the past few months. I can write a post on a topic. I can explain why I link to something. I’m told I’m thoughtful in my posts, but I’m not sure people are hearing me in my posts.
That’s not to say I’m not a thoughtful person, but my friends can tell you often I sit there with my foot in my mouth because I’ve said something completely innocent that came out not so innocently. I’m an intelligent person, who spends her fair share of time rewinding and trying to say something again because she either flips the words around, or she realizes she just explained something backwards. (My students find this fairly amusing.)
I’ve been told I’m a fairly funny person. The problem is that most of my humor comes out in a sarcastic wit. Did you know I have a sarcastic wit? Probably not, because nearly every post I’ve written anywhere in the past nearly six years (even in my personal blogs) has had a dry sense of someone who forgot to leave the academic behind when she left school several years ago.
I’m not sure how I’m going to approach this problem, to try to inject more of myself into my writing. I’m willing to try, though.
Please be patient with me. This could get a lot worse before it gets better. (I have that habit.)
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 8:16 AM EST
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It’s taken me a long time to figure that out, but it really is what I am at my core. You can see it in those activities I spend most of my time with- teaching, writing, reading.
I’m constantly taking in information. I’m constantly trying to figure out some of what I know so I can put it into words so someone else will know what I know. And that’s not even counting all the time I spend answering random questions that start with, “Maybe you know this. You know everything.” I don’t know everything. I’m just well-read, and I know how to look things up.
More importantly, I’ve always loved learning new things, I love doing research, and I love helping people out. I guess in that respect teaching and writing were both eventually givens for me (I fortunately found both early in life).
Now if I can just figure out how to put aside my shyness, find someone with far better business sense than me, and figure out how to use my love for taking in and spitting out information to my advantage. Any suggestions that don’t involve becoming a private tutor? (After the last two years, I feel a need to take a break form tutoring for a bit.)
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 8:09 AM EDT
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There are days when I feel I’ve missed my calling and should be a coach instead of (or maybe in addition to) begin a teacher.
I seem to run into a number of people who are wrestling with a behavioral issue, and either don’t see a problem with this or genuinely want to break the habit. (I see more of the first than the second.
When you keep doing something you know you shouldn’t, regardless of how you feel about it, there are generally negative consequences that result from it, and because you’ve done nothing to create a more positive situation, you’ve lost your right to complain about what happens to you.
What I’ve been trying to encourage each and every one of these people to do is to take the energy they would have put into the destructive behavior and channel it somewhere creative. They don’t have to make art, but they do have to create something. So far, no one has told me how it’s going, but I’ve just started promoting this technique, and I hope to find someone having a breakthrough before too long.
Are things going poorly for you? Identify behaviors that might be self-destructive, and every time you see yourself trying to do that, stop and channel that energy into creating something. You’ll find it’s a far better use of your time and energy, and something positive might even come out of it!
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 7:41 AM EDT
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I’m nearly done working through the competencies. I think I’m approaching them wrong, though, because I seem to be more focused on my general behavior than finding really specific examples…which really defeats the point of the competencies. I’m sure I’ll be going back through and reworking them with a little more thought.
Things are slowly emerging, though. Patterns and histories I’ve forgotten. It’s been kind of fun to reconnect with myself through something that wasn’t exactly designed to make me reconnect.
I’m also looking through The Artist’s Way with the intention of starting it after I get my competencies straightened out and start organizing them into a new resume. It’s supposed to help you find your lost inner creativity and push through artistic walls, but I’m finding that much of the advice and exercises are things I’ve put myself through in the last year or so on my own because it occurred to me on my own that they’d be useful.
I’m not sure how to deal with that.
The best part about working through all of this is that both together are providing a framework of sorts to start redesigning this website, something I’ve needed to do for a while. I’m learning who I am, what I am, and what’s important to me. That’s going to come in very handy when trying to make this site better reflect me.
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 7:46 AM EDT
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Working my way through this competency-based resume and strengths finding material has taught me one thing- teachers really have to have it all.
In pulling together anecdotes and examples for each competency, I’d noticed that a good number of my leadership examples came from my days with a medieval roleplaying group, and the rest came from somewhere in my teaching experience. I think almost all of my communication examples have come from somewhere in my teaching background.
I think this has a lot to do with the fact that a teaching situation is a microcosm. Regardless of how the teacher sets up that teaching situation, they are still the one in charge, the one running the show. They have to be able to communicate expectations and explanations without losing the student. They have to be able to facilitate changes in the teaching situation. They have to remain approachable to their students and their peers. They have to be able to bounce ideas off their peers, and to be able to allow students to bounce ideas off them.
There’s a lot more to teaching than most people realize.
In creating my examples, I’ve noticed a large gap of time where I wasn’t really drawing on any of my innate skills. I was very unhappy and at the end of my rope during that time. I think that speaks volumes about working toward your strengths and being the person you are supposed to be, rather than the one who just tries to get by.
I realize I took this project on as a means of revamping and strengthening my resume, and as a backbone for building a portfolio, but I think in the end it’s going to be an interesting way to find myself, to find the person who’s been lost for so long. Even when I have to ask myself, “Is that all?” when I can only think of one example for a competency, I’m learning so much about who I am and how I function.
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 8:41 AM EDT
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I came to the horrible realization yesterday that we’re in the middle of April. It can’t be April! I was begging for it to not be February
just yesterday, right? Sadly, much of my 2007 Goals list remains untouched for a variety of reasons…not the least of which is I don’t know where March went.
Part of the problem has been motivation. Part of it has been trying to get myself to resolve some professional issues (which remain unresolved, and that’s definitely starting to take its toll). Mostly, it’s just been trying to find my feet and a little inspiration.
Getting sick seemed to be very helpful with that second one. Once I stopped falling asleep when trying to watch 20-minute cartoons, I found myself addicted to Top Design. It reminded me of some habits I used to have that seem to have been lost over the past few years.
I’ve lost my will to design… Ironically, if you look at the title of this blog, I consider myself a designer. But I’m a designer who has really stopped designing, and I have no idea why. I’m trying to drum design habits back into my routine. I now carry a notebook and a sketch book in my bag. I’ve even added a bag with nothing but my colored pencils and a pencil sharpener in case I want to design in color. I’m debating just going to a sketch book for all my design needs, but I really prefer to write on lined paper and it’s hard to find a journal that will have lined paper where I need it and unlined paper where I need it.
I’m just a tough nut to crack!
It seems to be working, though. I’m very close to pulling out my sketchbook and drawing out the furniture pieces I want for my room, and even to design a layout for the room…maybe solidify the main scheme I’ve been longing for. My writing notebook(s) are slowly filling up with ideas and explorations of twisting old story plots and interactive fiction.
Maybe I can reclaim this part of myself by the end of the year. Otherwise, I’m going to have to change the name of this website!
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 7:30 AM EDT
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I’m grateful to put the last two weeks behind me. It’s been crazy, and I think the posts (or lack thereof) around here have really reflected that.
I’d hoped to have some work done on this website by the end of March. Of course, I’d also hoped to have roughly a quarter of my writing/editing queue finished and to have made a serious dent in my reading list. I’d planned to move JewelryNiche to its new home at my personal blog. I’d planned on having a plan to gracefully step away from CareerNiche because I’m no longer doing anything related to those topics.
It’s funny how things don’t work out the way you planned sometimes.
I did finally manage to get some work done on a project someone sent me at the beginning of March. I’ve read one e-book off my list. JewelryNiche is still sitting here, and I;m feeling guilty for not updating it more frequently, but my life isn’t allowing me the time or patience to sit down and create the pieces I’m sketching out, so I don’t necessarily feel a drive to share more about bead symbolism or design issues. And these past two weeks saw the full force return of my inner coach…the one I haven’t sought out training for because I’m not sure that’s a route I want to go.
I’m still looking to boil this site down to reflect what I’m up to, but with my inability to get a good grasp on my time for more than a couple of days, it’s become very challenging to see what it is I am actually doing.
Maybe this is the cosmic signal that I’m getting ready to shift myself away from what I’m supposed to be doing. Or perhaps I just think too much.
Posted by Rebecca as Personal development at 8:45 AM EDT
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In a day where everyone is being encouraged to specialize in something, I take great pride in being part of an endangered species. You see, I am a generalist. I’m one of those people who has to know everything at a functional level (minimum) and then be able to blend those diverse skills into a smooth product.
This used to serve me well when I had to develop a workshop or program in only a day or three. Currently, it’s the source of too many headaches as my ability to learn quickly pairs with my generalist tendencies to make me the sole person capable of doing many things at work. As a friend pointed out to me yesterday, it’s my generalist capabilities that made me Teacher of the Year last year.
While many people think a generalist is just someone who was too lazy to pick a specialization (or perhaps afraid of commitment), I know the truth.
The generalist is the one capable of seeing the big picture, of seeing how all the smaller pieces fit together. They often don’t break down task by the normal skill division lines, because they see that certain tasks just group well together, regardless of the fact they call on separate disciplines. The generalist can adapt quickly to new situations because they can shift their skills around to suit the new expectations, or propose fast solutions for problems because they can see it in multiple dimensions.
Being a generalist has generally made me indispensable in many of my volunteer and teaching jobs, and I’m looking for the perfect opportunity to use the natural flexibility of being a generalist to help guide me into the next stage of my professional life (which I hope will see me developing educational programming again. Anybody looking for a quick learner looking to learn the educational media/interactive design scene?)
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Personal development at 7:57 AM EDT
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