31Ways2GetItStarted™!: January 23, 2013

Day 23: Use What You Have to Get What You Want!

One reason I gave in and started this business was that, following law school, I needed an income. Irritating, yet true. I seem to have no luck in marrying for money because I can't keep my opinions to myself. Also, when the men tell me to make a Sophie's Choice between the cats and them...well, I mean, the cats think I'm wonderful. Or...at least they don't interrupt.

So,I had all these lovely law loans, and the feds, with all their hang-ups and rules, made it clear that one day I would indeed have to repay that money or do an excellent job of faking my own death,which means faking the cats' deaths, which means forget it. Thus, needing some type of gainful employment, I freelanced for a while in the pit known as TV news. Thus, I had to deal with HR "types," looking at my resume, at the numerous positions I had held in network news, for almost a decade...and saying,"Oh...so you're interested in law news, right? You went to law school..."

No, I was interested in cashing checks, but sure, law news, whatever, fine, I love it. Grrr. What I previously loved about network news was the freedom to try many roles. The way management had encouraged me to learn as many different skills as possible. Now that management had all been replaced and I had to deal with HR people who became distinctly nervous when interacting with humans who had done many different things. They wanted an "understandable" narrative; they got me. #Haha

At that point, I felt somewhat depressed by my resume: was it that bad? Sigh. Let's see: Wellesley College with Latin honors, juris doctorate from IU School of Law, extended experience in network news in Russia, NY and Washington, D.C., produced playwright at age 17, legal internship with Sen. Clinton. You're right: pretty mediocre. Pretty average. 

Finally, I stopped trying to justify my layered experience to other people, and instead used the skills I had gleaned from various disciplines to help myself, and, by extension, others. And things started coming together. All the experience made sense. I used the skills and experience I already had to create the business I wanted. I stopped trying to adhere to other people's standards of what was a "normal' career. They didn't want normal, they wanted conformity.

You have a choice: you can choose to accept and be grateful for all that you've achieved, and build on that...or try to constantly match up to other people's bullshit standards. Ugh, that makes me cranky just thinking about it. While those HR geniuses were "majoring" in "business travel," at some third-rate cow college and trying to figure out how to make a career of dressing badly, I was earning my network experience in Moscow, at the Kremlin, and then at the White House briefing room. (#meowmeowmeow...meow.)

 Want some help in figuring out how to use all your unique skills and experience to create the unique life you desire? Email me @carlotazee@gmail.com, or holla at me in the comments.

 

Creativity Coaching Hint #1

Procrastination is a form of fear, so confront the thing you've been putting off, and just get it over with!

I write this as a master procrastinator. A skill I truly became proficient at while in law school. Here's an excellent example of how I would procrastinate: let's say, my legal writing prof assigned me two weeks to write a soul-crushingly boring research exercise about Title IX issues in women's sports. Or land rights for the indigenous peoples of Alaska. Or some other subject which makes me want to start drinking right now just thinking about it.

Two weeks! Two weeks is an eternity! In reality, I have 13 gloriously care-free days to avoid even reading the assignment, until it's about 10pm the night before the paper's due. Now: the magic begins. Now, I shall be up all night, cursing and writing till the last possible minute. Which means that if class is at 9am, I'll be printing the finished paper at 8:55am, and speeding like a maniac through town, as ahead of me some idiot in a Hummer with a John Birch Society bumper sticker goes extra s-l-o-w. Good times.

Now, being self-employed, I can't do that. Procrastination is a form of self-sabotage, if you want to get all Soviet about it. Now, I'm forced to do the thing I dread immediately, in order to get it out of the way, so my to-do list doesn't end up reading like Sophie's Choice. And here's, of course, what always happens: I do the thing I've been dreading and it's...not that horrendous. (*shifty eyes*) There's a lesson here, if we knew of a talented creativity yenta to teach it...