When random people ask what I do, I generally say "I'm a consultant." Saying that amuses me endlessly because it's basically as useless as saying "I work." The truth is that what I "do" is not easily described by a job title or one sentence response. Despite being in my current role for over 2 years, my friends and family still don't quite get what I do.
For example, I was in St. Louis last week giving a speech to the ASTD association in St. Louis. When I returned home my dad asked what I did on my trip. When I explained what I presented, what the group was about, and how many people were there he said, "Cool, who else gave a speech?" I said "No one, just me." He said, "Was it part of a bigger conference?" "No" I responded. "So they came just to see you?" "Yep, and thanks for looking so shocked!"
So, I will follow VHRG's lead and post a minute by minute(ish) account of what I do during the day blog post by Tuesday. I may actually post a few, because in the past 2 years I honestly can't think of a single day that has been like the last.
I will also mention when I am performing in-preference for me (ISTJ) and out of my MBTI preferences. Linda McKenna posted a hilarious blog post about her life as an Perceiver.
So, now I challenge you. Walk us through a day in the life of YOU! Write it from a MBTI perspective or just a experience/task/thoughts perspective. I want to know what you do all day!
You can either post the account of your day here in the comment section, or write the post on your own blog. If you post on your own blog, link to this article and then leave a comment here to alert my readers to your blog. On October 15th I will randomly draw 1 winner of the "What exactly do you DO contest" and you will have a choice of prize:
This library includes:
- Introduction to Type®
- Introduction to Type® and Careers
- Introduction to Type® and Change
- Introduction to Type® and Coaching
- Introduction to Type® in College
- Introduction to Type® and Communication
- Introduction to Type® and Conflict
- and Introduction to Type and Decision Making
- Introduction to Type® Dynamics and Development
- Introduction to Type® and the Eight Jungian Functions
- Introduction to Type® and Emotional Intelligence
- Introduction to Type® in Organizations
- Introduction to Type® and Teams
- In the Grip
- Using Type in Selling
Choice #2: Using Type in Organizations Binder for Trainers ($250.00 value)
Description: This completely updated, comprehensive guide contains everything you need to conduct an MBTI® workshop geared toward organizational needs. It will help you increase your repertoire of type activities, enhance your use of the MBTI® tool in organizations, and better serve your clients through practical experiences with psychological type. The binder includes five expanded applications modules-Leadership Development and Coaching, Team Building, Communication, Career Development, and Change Management and a number of other new features:
Let the CONTEST begin!!! Tell me what you do all day!
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2 comments:
A Contest!! My eyes bulgeth... and I'm determined to win, even though I already have all of the listed prizes. :-) I posted a detailed account of my day on my blog.
I've asked friends to enter as well, to increase our chances at winning. Ha!
Fully realizing that the contest period has ended, and yet being an ISTP who believes deadlines are arbitrary contrivances that Js set in an attempt to expand the misery in the world, I offer the following:
6:00 alarm sounds. Curse. Turn the damned thing off.
6:30 second alarm sounds.
6:45 grumpily roll out of bed & get ready for work
7:15ish let the dog out. She wants to play but there’s no time, little doggie. She looks really cute and so forlorn, though, and oh, ok, I will just throw the ball five times but then I have to go to work. Well, maybe a few more times, then....
7:35 OK, dog, I really, really have to go. Oh, ok, one little treat. OK, one pat on the head. OK, one snuggle…..
8:00ish at the office. Turn on PC. Fetch mail and first gi-normous cup of coffee while waiting for the stupid PC to wake up.
8:06 Still waiting for stupid PC to finish its morning logon rituals. Open new trade magazine and look through the table of contents.
8:10 Open “Current Projects” folder on the PC and pick the most interesting project with a relatively close deadline. Ignore/procrastinate on the projects I really don’t want to do, even if they have earlier deadlines, in hopes that someone will cancel them before I get to them. [It happens!]
8:15 Format the Word file exactly the way the magazine formats its articles. Headline, blurb, authors, text, subhead style, references & author bios (if any), captions. Get all that on the Word file so it is ready when the muse hits. [This seems like a “J” moment, but it's actually procrastination.]
8:30 Go into fact-gathering mode. Read background and notes from earlier conversation with the field engineer. Surf for more technical papers. Read the background again. Draw mental pictures. Draw real pictures. Look at the bad photos the field engineer sent. Read my notes again. Leave a voicemail for the field engineer. Get another cup of coffee. Read the background again. Look out the window. Surf for a more understandable description of some esoteric piece of background. [I can’t do any writing until I know/understand/breathe everything about the technology. I can hear Yoda: "One with the technology you must become..."]
11:35 ENFJ co-worker scares the poo out of me by appearing suddenly in the doorway to ask if I want to go to lunch. I do because I’m frustrated that I can’t get my brain around this technology. Need to step away from it.
12:45 Back from lunch & wanting a nap but oh I bet if I just read that technical paper one more time, the light will come on. More reading, surfing, thinking…..
2:30 Eureka! I grok! Rapture! I leap into a writing frenzy. Ideas start pour out of my fingers, in exactly the order they should be – but not necessarily the exact vocabulary. Occasionally I (verb: write/keyboard) sentences with missing (noun: technical words) because if I stop for trivia, this flood of knowledge might (verb: get away). But I also don't want to forget to fix those oh-so-evilly-wrong words.
5:10 Co-worker scares the poo out of me by appearing suddenly in the doorway to say goodnight.
5:35 First draft is done, and I am ecstatic but drained. [Sometimes this does not happen until 6 or 6:30, but ya have to stay because ya can’t fight yer muse.] I shut down the computer, knowing that tomorrow around 8:15 I’ll go into an editing trance to create something that I can actually show other people. However, I carefully leave the paper files for this project on top of my keyboard so that when I get in tomorrow, I'll remember that I need to finish this!
6:00ish Home. Dog’s tail says, “Play play play!” Throw the ball around the backyard while reading e-mail & Twittering on the iPhone.
6:45ish Dinner for dog + me. I open a book while eating and go into a reading trance. Dog curls up on my feet. Hand reaches down mechanically to skritch her head occasionally.
10:00 I realize I’m still at the kitchen table, reading. Go, instead, to bed & read. Dog chews on a bully stick.
1:00 Dog starts to snore. This is such a comforting, sweet sound that it has the power to pull me out of even the deepest trance. I realize I’m still reading and the alarm is really going to suck in a few hours, but oh hell, there’s only another 100 pages, so I might as well just stay up and finish the book…..
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