Weekly Challenge: Review Of Patience

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Do you like waiting?

Trick question of course.  No one likes it; people at best tolerate waiting.  Yet we have to wait all the time, and it usually drives us a bit crazy.

Of course waiting patiently is often part of success.  Farmers of ages past had to wait on rain, flows of rivers, and the seasons.  Investors have to be patient to find the right time to buy or sell.

This week's exercise is a two-parter.

First, I want you to sit down for five minutes and write down all the things you've given up on in your career because you decided not to be patient.  What are the repercussions of these actions in your life and career?

Secondly, pick one thing you were looking forward to doing this week and delay it by at least one day.  Do it just to built a little patience.  Maybe in the weeks and months to come you can play with your impatience and purposefully develop your ability to be patient.

– Steven Savage

The Ethics of Doing What You Like

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Now and then when I talk to people about their careers, there seems to be a strange undercurrent of guilt when they discuss having their ideal career.  They feel that what they truly want to do is useless, that it doesn't benefit people, or that they're being selfish.  I usually encounter this among artists or people interested in video games, but I see it everywhere.

In short, I meet people who think "Doing what I really enjoy doesn't make the world a better place, so I shouldn't do it." 

What they're really saying is "I should do something I hate and would be lousy at in order to attempt to make the world a better place."  It's a strange kind of moral argument.

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Convention Idea: Talking About Tools

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The roundup of convention ideas is here.

So, what is it that your profans, progeeks, and protaku actually want to use on their careers?  What books should they read?  What software should they use?  What websites should they use for their job searches.  What are the resources they should use in their careers?

Congrats.  You've just got some panel ideas for your convention – you can have your panelists, experts, and guests discuss what people should be USING in their geeky jobs?

Consider the possible panel topics:

  • What are the best books to read to improve your art?  To learn about game careers?  To keep around for your web design?
  • What are the best websites to search for jobs if you're a programmer?  An actor?  A freelancer?
  • What are free resources for programmers online?  For freelance writers?
  • What are the best online training websites?

If you're going to have "talks on tools" there are also many ways to implement them at your conventions:

  • Have a general sharing roundtable.
  • Have a debate – get people who have strong different opinions and center the panel around their discussion.
  • Have a recognized expert discuss the options.
  • Invite the writers, webmasters, teachers, etc. who created some of the resources in questions.

Next convention, take a look at the events you can do focused on the resources people should use in their geeky careers – or in getting there.  You've got a wealth of ways to inform people.

– Steven Savage