Maximise, she says

During a discussion of what makes a good job, a wise woman told me to check out the Gallup Strengthsfinder 2.0 as one strength, Maximiser, sounded like me:

Excellence, not average, is your measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling.
Seek roles in which you are helping other people succeed. In coaching, managing, mentoring, or teaching roles, your focus on strengths will prove particularly beneficial to others. For example, because most people find it difficult to describe what they do best, start by arming them with vivid descriptions.

We each have 5 dominant strengths, and this is just one. It's one I didn't have a name for before. Knowledge is power. This is a hard concept to explain in a resumé: I have been threatening for a while now to have business cards printed with 'agent provocateur' as the job description.

Want to know about your own strengths? Buy one of the strengthsfinder books (from bookdepositry) and you get a key that allows you to take your own strengths questionnaire.

This is post 2 of 43 posts.

A job well done

Life and work are more enjoyable when we can take satisfaction from the job itself. Doing what needs to be done, to an acceptable standard (or better) can be a significant reward if we value the task at hand. Even if no-one else rewards us.

Sometimes the task is undervalued by our peers and/or those whom we serve (bosses, clients, children, etc.). Stay-at-home parents are familiar with their work being invisible until it isn't done.

Sometimes the task is undervalued by us: most of us have, at some point in our life, thought, "Why do I have to do this boring/tiring/dirty/menial/basic/repetitive task?" Jim's Mowing keeps a lot of people in business by recognizing this. The outcome is valued, but the task itself is not. This is a pity.

Occasionally (or more often in a large bureaucracy), we do a task that is pointless or counterproductive. There is very little job satisfaction to be had in, for example, filing reports no-one cares about or will ever read. More often, we don't have our head on right. We're living in the future and not honoring what we're doing right now.

Today I have been scrubbing mould. Yes, it has been wet and warm for more than a week now and the 'comfort facilities' at my music school are in the basement. The mould has been enjoying our absence during the Christmas/New year break.

Scrubbing mould is not a dainty task, but I found it enormously satisfying because I know why it needs doing, I was the only person available so I didn't have the option to delegate it to someone else, and because cream paintwork looks better cream. (The - only - nice thing about really bad mould is that you can really see the results of your labours when you scrub it off.) Funnily enough the many people who would like to own their own business seldom realize how much emergency cleaning is likely to be involved.

Oh yes, and hard physical work puts paid to insomnia. So I'm off to bed.

This is post 1 of 43 posts.
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Instances of the number 43

Recently I turned 43, and it's been 43 days since my last post. I only noticed after thinking, 'it can't be that long since I last posted...' but it has. So why did I decide to post today, rather than on New Year's Day or my birthday? There ought to be some meaning or significance in that. I wish I knew what it was.

I find the number 43 odd. The same way some words look odd when you write them down and then think, 'that can't be right...' A good friend tells me it may be because it's a prime number and therefore only divisible by itself and 1. So 43 is a number that doesn't play nice with others. Both 42 and 44 are somehow more approachable.  There ought to be some meaning or significance in that. I wish I knew what it was.

In advertisements when I was a child, Nescafe told us there were 43 beans in every cup. Twenty years later, when first introduced to chocolate coated coffee beans, an acquaintance ate them by the handful on the basis of that advertising campaign. He regretted it later when he didn't sleep that night. The only meaning and significance I can find in that is caveat emptor or perhaps all marketers are liars.

Anyway, I've decided to commit to posting for the next 43 days (starting tomorrow). Basically, it's harnessing serendipity to create an arbitrary and convenient goal post to aim toward in this post-Christmas summer slacking season. There ought to be some meaning or significance in that. If you find some, do let me know what it is.