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I noticed my morale at work has been improving this week, even though it's become near-certain that I will stay whilst (contrary to my strong preference) they convert my position to full-time. This is counterintuitive.
It occurs to me that this week I've been doing more of the kind of work I enjoy, which is "take this entire problem and sort it out properly" as opposed to familiar administrative tasks. And it occurs to me that there's a commonality there with the other career paths I've followed.
I'm a Fixer. (In the Pulp Fiction sense, minus the violence and deception.) I can keep a web of interpersonal and logistical concerns in my head, choose the most satisfactory path in light of everything, and implement it. I can enter the worlds of people with contrary stands, and find a middle ground or a frameshift or a third way that enables us to move forward together. I can pick the brains of everyone in range, learn the guts of any skill, and pull answers out of the thin edges of the net.
Paired with my computer talents, that puts me in a high-paying career where I have a reputation for asking lots of questions, getting complicated things done right, and returning everyone's phone calls. Still, undersatisfying. (Need more articulartion there.)
Paired with my ethics, being a Fixer puts me in the counselling field, in a discipline where I don't "fix" people, but nevertheless put my seeing-everything skills into service along with my high standards for how folks should be treated and all my loving energy for people. Much more satisfying, but doesn't have legs yet. (Articulate.)
Paired with my cuddlebug nature, that puts me in the massage field, where I can resolve a subset of body pain both temporarily and durably, at the same time as handling the interpersonal side of the client-therapist relationship exceptionally well. Has legs, but needs more scope. (Articulate.)
As a legislator, I'd be a good House Majority Whip (minus the threats). In fact, I'm quite confident I could kick butt in law school if I wanted to go that route. Have I mentioned that all four of my parents are lawyers? I'm not keen on the adversarial profession, though. I don't want to distort reality to direct attention to my chosen outcome. Nor do I want to Fight The System as a fundamental part of what I do.
Being a Fixer doesn't attach to any particular content. I could help people with their problems. I could help people with their back problems. I could help companies with their people/computer problems. I could help lemurs with their flying coconut problems. Hell, probably every human endeavor needs Fixers (in the sense I'm using the word here). However, nobody looks to hire Fixers per se, at most they look for someone with a history of being a Fixer in a particular realm. Or else a Fixer comes along and says, "See how you have this problem? You need me."
I've shown I can get good at anything that interests me, and rise to Fixer status therein. So what remains is to get interested in something new and run with it, or take something I'm already interested in and crank it up. Hello again, square one.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
It occurs to me that this week I've been doing more of the kind of work I enjoy, which is "take this entire problem and sort it out properly" as opposed to familiar administrative tasks. And it occurs to me that there's a commonality there with the other career paths I've followed.
I'm a Fixer. (In the Pulp Fiction sense, minus the violence and deception.) I can keep a web of interpersonal and logistical concerns in my head, choose the most satisfactory path in light of everything, and implement it. I can enter the worlds of people with contrary stands, and find a middle ground or a frameshift or a third way that enables us to move forward together. I can pick the brains of everyone in range, learn the guts of any skill, and pull answers out of the thin edges of the net.
Paired with my computer talents, that puts me in a high-paying career where I have a reputation for asking lots of questions, getting complicated things done right, and returning everyone's phone calls. Still, undersatisfying. (Need more articulartion there.)
Paired with my ethics, being a Fixer puts me in the counselling field, in a discipline where I don't "fix" people, but nevertheless put my seeing-everything skills into service along with my high standards for how folks should be treated and all my loving energy for people. Much more satisfying, but doesn't have legs yet. (Articulate.)
Paired with my cuddlebug nature, that puts me in the massage field, where I can resolve a subset of body pain both temporarily and durably, at the same time as handling the interpersonal side of the client-therapist relationship exceptionally well. Has legs, but needs more scope. (Articulate.)
As a legislator, I'd be a good House Majority Whip (minus the threats). In fact, I'm quite confident I could kick butt in law school if I wanted to go that route. Have I mentioned that all four of my parents are lawyers? I'm not keen on the adversarial profession, though. I don't want to distort reality to direct attention to my chosen outcome. Nor do I want to Fight The System as a fundamental part of what I do.
Being a Fixer doesn't attach to any particular content. I could help people with their problems. I could help people with their back problems. I could help companies with their people/computer problems. I could help lemurs with their flying coconut problems. Hell, probably every human endeavor needs Fixers (in the sense I'm using the word here). However, nobody looks to hire Fixers per se, at most they look for someone with a history of being a Fixer in a particular realm. Or else a Fixer comes along and says, "See how you have this problem? You need me."
I've shown I can get good at anything that interests me, and rise to Fixer status therein. So what remains is to get interested in something new and run with it, or take something I'm already interested in and crank it up. Hello again, square one.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
