Acquiring Information

If you have heard of the StrengthsFinder book/test you know that it measures your top five strengths, out of 64, based on your response to a long, tedious computer test. (I wonder if there is a strength given to those who just don't finish the test?!) If you didn't know that, I just told you and you can buy the book and get a code and take the test and find out what you should focus your energy on, strengths wise. The argument is that trying to fix weaknesses doesn't improve your ability to contribute to anything - work, relationships, or hobbies. Rather, focusing on what you are good at, and getting better, leads you into a life where you will be most "successful" or at least really good at what you are doing, depending on your definition of successful.

Three of my top five strengths involve information. Input (Gathering Info), Intellection (Thinking about Info), and Learner. (The other two are Restoration and Connectedness if you were wondering).

This test has helped me understand that I am not a fickle, flighty person who just jumps around from thing to thing, uprooted and irresponsible. Rather, I now see that I am wired to search, attain and process information. I am Google. Walking.

Week Gone By - Test Your Time Skills

My sister and I were talking last night about how perspective changes everything. For example: You sit down with someone who keeps telling you they have no time and have them actually write out their schedule and show them where they do have time. Or, the person who always says they have no money, but a quick review of their ledger shows otherwise. Perspective truly changes everything.
My sister brought up a good point about expectations. It seems, and I am guilty of this, most people put lower productivity expectations on themselves then they do other people. If I work four hours, I feel accomplished, but when my mom says she is tired after her part-time job I heckle her. Yes, heckle.
This week I saw this first hand - somehow, having to be at work at 8:30am meant that I didn't have time to work out, work on the magazine, grocery shop, do laundry or be at all productive. Silly me, I was done working at 12:30, I had all kinds of time! However, once I walked out and away from my computer I was tired and felt like I had done enough. That is what happens when someone else decides my schedule. I just don't take control of my time.
I am using this example as an arguement for being my own boss forever.

Vision Attack! Small weapons make all the difference.

I have to candidly admit that I had a really hard day yesterday concerning my current venture of co-launching Eye See Media. Up until now - about six months - I haven't thought twice about our "ability" to do such a thing. The right events, people, encouragement, finances and focus have all been available and we have repeatedly said that it felt like the train was moving with or without us. For some unimaginable reason yesterday was different. I sat back at my temporary little law office desk and felt this incredible anxiety - what if we couldn't do it? What was I thinking? How could this really be accomplished? It all went streaming through my head and my heart, willing me to throw in the towel on everything we have already done.

Later that day I went to lunch with my mom and grabbed an Honest Mate out of the cooler. When I opened it, the cap read simply:

Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,

nothing is going to get better.

It's not. -The Lorax, Dr. Seuss.

It seems simple enough, but it made a huge difference. I want things to get better. I am young enough or naive enough to believe it can happen because people can be a part of change. It is funny how the smallest thing can spin you back around and face you the right direction.

Follow up on the Fuel Tank

I mentioned in my previous blog that I barely made it to work on the gas I had. It is not an exaggeration. I coasted part of the way and took only streets that I wouldn't mind being stuck on if it came to that. After four grueling hours of work (and trying to figure out how to put gas in my car with 93 cents in the bank), I decided the best bet was to count up the change laying around the floor and ashtray. The total: $2.10. Not enough for even a gallon of the premium unleaded fuel required to run the WRX, but enough to get me to the nearest Safeway (7 miles) so I could use the gift card I had sitting in my wallet.

That particular Safeway is only 3 blocks from my paternal grandmothers, so I stopped in for a visit with the feisty woman before heading home, not running on fumes, and sure I could make it into work for one more set of hourly wage fun!

Thinking Clearly

I always seem to think more clearly about money when I don't have it. You know, the in-between paycheck time when it is very clear where the money should be going versus the money-in-my-pocket time when I desperately need things I didn't even consider before - and need them more then I need to pay a bill. So I have started budgetting differently. Since I don't have a steady income, I haven't been able to have a steady budget. On one hand, it has been great to know (and a good deal less stressful) that I don't have credit card bills or major car payments, but on the other hand it means I have to reign in the freedom and make good decisions. Realizing all of this I have started to make out my bi-monthly budget during the low points in the ledger. It is then that I remember bills I tend to put on the back burner during the surplus. It is then I tend to want to be the most generous. And it is then that I count my blessings for at least knowing a check is on the way. So today, a barely-made-it-to-work-with-that-amount-of-gas day, I budgetted my upcoming paycheck and am proud to say it looks better then I expected. I have thought it through, kept emotion out of it, and wasn't trying to budget in any new fabulous clothes staring me down straight from the rack.

I also have discovered the newest form of cyber coupon cutting. Check out the Safeway or King Soopers websites and you will find a link to a site where you register your club cards, click on the coupons you would want to take to the store and, instead of clipping, printing and trying to remember, the coupon is loaded right onto your club card and is used automatically when you scan it at the register. Beautiful.

Melting Pot Culturalism

(image by: Marianne Von Fange)

I am a country girl. I listen to country music and like the wilderness. I camp. I can make a great fire. Campfire is actually my favorite scent, but I often opt for pine. Hiking may be my all time favorite activity. I can grill a mean steak.

I also love things like traveling, plays, underground music, string instruments, painting, reading classics, talking politics, coffee shops, hammocks, oceans, curry, heels, pubs, and pedicures. I have a rather low patriotism, not because I don't think this country is great, but because I have seen too much to actively pedestal our ideas.

I am a product of melting pot culture. A conglomeration of traditions, histories, and dreams from all over the world. Resilience is inherent because of my ancestors fight. Ambition is highly valued as we grab another rung. Independence is vital as dependence has meant pain and destruction for the group.

One of the great things about melting pot culture is the opportunity to understand others. One of the downfalls: Options.

We are a great number of individuals, from 20 to 50, that don't know what to focus our lives on. We have so many options and the inability to narrow our scope has made a group of un-specialized, ineffective, inch-deep world changers. No wonder we are frustrated with the lack of result. We have tried everything under the sun for a few months and then moved on. We left our shovels and bull-dozers to rust while we pulled out a spoon to dig.

Some of the best advice I was ever given was to ask myself the following question: What could you do for hours on end, without getting paid, and be energized by it? If list is long or disjointed, prioritize and begin to specialize. (Credit for good advice goes to Aaron Stern)

At the time I didn't even know how to answer the first question, let alone choose a direction. I was interested in everything, wanted to go everywhere and see it all. As the following year passed I realized what my answer was and can now be found for hours on end, in a coffee shop of my daily choosing, working for no pay and loving every minute of it - and for the first time I can see real change happening. I am not doubting my effectiveness or position in life. There is possibility at my fingertips and I will dig for this non-material motherload. It is worth too much to leave behind.

I hope you dig deep. Plant deep. See change happen deep. There is no other way to reach our goals then to actively pursue them through the storm, to take the time to understand and answer with a new strategy.

Genius Sidebar

I wish life had a Genius Sidebar. You know, that part of iTunes that recommends what you might like based on what you already like. It would be great for a little screen to pop up that said, "If you like these restaurants, try ______" or "If you like that cup of coffee, try ______" or "This TV show might be just right for you: _______" howabout "If you are friends with this person, you'll really get along with ________" Yeah, it would be great to have those kinds of recommendations throughout the day. There will always be the true favorites. Cappuccino from Rico's in downtown Colorado Springs. Noodles from that random restaurant in China - I still crave those sometimes. Any and every part of Ireland - Talking horses, bogs, rentals, Skellig, the smell of fresh beauty. Nepali food. I enjoy the adventure of discovering, uncovering, risking and stepping out into the new, but sometimes I could use a little Genius.