Monday, July 11, 2005

A Few Things I've Learned

Now that I've officially entered unemployment, I have time to ponder things like: what I learned in nine months as a non-profit grant writer.

1. I prefer that my job require human interaction.
This was the number one take-away from my most recent job. As a five year old, I was shy, but believe it or not, I've changed a bit in twenty years. So although I still think of myself as the shy five year old, on the whole, I like people and by extension meeting them, helping them, brainstorming with them, and generally interacting with them. Now, I still have an inner introvert, or at least a preference for doing many tasks on my own, but it's nice when there is a mix, and when the day isn't limited to me and my computer to get the job done.

2. I like to be busy.
I'll take a busy phone and thousands of pages to photocopy over sitting in a cubicle twiddling my thumbs any day. I despise being bored. It makes me cranky and depressed. I learned that I can generate my own work and pace myself to a degree, but I hated those days when I had checked off everything on my list through Friday and it was only Tuesday.

3. I manage time and multiple tasks well.
I consistently completed all of my grants well ahead of time and had ample time to write grants that had rolling deadlines. The pace didn't feel particularly fast (see #2) and I never felt overwhelmed. Yet I apparently got more work done in less amount of time than any of my predecessors and my boss. As long as I can see what's coming a week down the pike, I'm almost always able to estimate the amount of time I'm going to need and budget other things accordingly. (Note: I'm less successful with this in my personal life ie: running errands and then meeting friends on time)

4. It's helpful to believe in the greater mission of what I'm doing.
When I worked for a large publishing house owned by Rupert Murdoch, I had the books and my belief in reading and writing and the exchange of ideas to sustain me. But I got pretty disheartened realizing just how entirely commercial publishing has become (to the point of excluding lost of excellent and interesting literature because there isn't a convenient way to market it). Working at the non-profit, I had a greater sense of purpose, and I liked this. I saw the patients coming into the clinic and had a sense of satisfaction that the grants I had secured were providing the money that enabled them to get reduced-cost or free care.

5. Being around articulate and verbally-gifted people is a bonus.
Working at a publishing house meant that a lot of my colleagues were very well read and verbally astute. There were lots of puns and allusions to characters and ideas, a strong dose of sarcasm, and general playful banter. Working at the non-profit meant that there were a lot of very earnest people doing great things. Many of them were bilingual, but English was not their first language. It was a great opportunity to learn more about other cultures, and learn a tiny bit of another language, but I really missed the verbal sparing and wittiness of the publishing house.

There is more that I learned, but these are some of the immediate take-aways that came to mind.

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