Weekly Challenge: The Parts of Victory

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I want you to think about one of your finest achievements this week.

Go on, pick one.  Don't worry about being arrogant or whatever, I'm sure it's something worthy of your analysis.

Now, turn it over in your mind and ask yourself this – what were the major parts of it?  Write down the major parts of that great achievement.  For instance if you're quite proud of your first novel think of the formatting, the editing, the writing, and the inspiration.

Now see each of those parts?  Break them down.  Write down those parts.

Keep going until you can't break things down anymore – or you get tired of it (I give you until you get to 14-20 different parts).

All our great achievements are made of smaller ones.  It's important to remember that, especially because, as we get used to them, we forget it.

It's also easy to forget how we built ourselves up, accumulated our strength, and made our dreams possible.

So take a moment to find the small parts of your life that became something awesome.  Next time you want to do something incredible, you mind find the perspective useful for building yourself up.

– Steven Savage

Old Words, New Words

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I'm a Project Manager.  This wasn't exactly a recognized profession a few decades ago, but over time people realized they needed someone who could actually manage projects effectively and knew how to do it.  What I am now I would not have been decades ago.

In fact, in my area of work, video games, Project Management isn't as common as other organizations.  It's becoming more prominent, and some jobs are being reclassified as Project Management.  My profession is growing by simple changes in terms.

One of the hardest things in our careers is to find a way to describe ourselves.  That few words we use to describe our job, our business, etc. acts as a touchstone, a symbol, for what we think of ourselves, what we do, how we relate to people.

The only problem is its changing all the time.

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Convention Idea: Retirees?

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The roundup of convention ideas is here.

When putting people on your career panels, you have many choices; the guest, the hip student, the hard working pro.  Once you start looking for potential guests you'll be amazed at the people you can call upon.

Have you thought about inviting people who are already done with their careers?  In short – have you looked at retirees?

Think of all the people you may know – or others may know – who have had long and successful careers.  Some of them may even be guests or the parents/grandparents of attendees.  Consider, just for a moment, how many people out there who have had amazing careers and lives that can share that information.

To give an example, I live in an area that has a Computer History Museum (http://www.computerhistory.org/).  The staff is largely volunteer, and I've met some who were completely or partially retired.  Imagine what they could say to a group of young potential programmers at a science fiction convention.

Or retired actors who may want to speak on the craft – seasoned enough to speak, but out of the spotlight to enjoy enough privacy.

Or writers . . . well, you get the idea.

Tapping into retirees gives you some special edges in events:

  • You have living examples of success.  People may not take the 20-something person who just broke into videogames seriously, but they're going to listen to someone who worked at IBM for 40 years.
  • You have people who understand the sweep of history, which is something that you have to live career-wise.
  • You have people who can speak to evolving technologies and their impact on careers.
  • The retirees can probably help connect you with even more resources.

So when you're thinking profan panels, don't forget those who have already had long careers.  They have a lot to say.

– Steven Savage