Want to find your dream job? You need to understand your Career Anchor. Edgar Schein at MIT came up with 8 and after taking a 40 question assessment, I came out being “Security/Stability.” While I was hoping to be “Lifestyle” where I balance personal and professional, I always have preferred a job that I am happy doing, and one that is secure. Doing my job, and doing it well are my measures of security aside from the company’s stability and reputation. I have co-owned a restaurant “Patrik’s Culinary Kreations” and currently a bakeshop “Simply Sweet Kreations,” one would think “Entrepreneurial Creativity” would have been my top Anchor. While I do like the proposition of retiring and owning my own business, the initial startup can be risky and I don’t mind this as a secondary source of income, but until established, would not be my only job.
Hope you have all been enjoying the nice weather. I did not need to wear a coat today! 🙂
We all like surprises. Do something that makes another happily surprised. Just do it! Surprises are wonderful and unexpected. I am not suggesting buying a 20 Karat diamond ring, but rather something as little as a note in a loved ones backpack or lunch bag, or a book from the local book store that they would enjoy.I usually send text messages to my partner, but last night, I wrote a note and put it in his backpack. Unfortunately he found it in the AM before he left for work…mind you at 6:30 AM I am still in bed since I don’t have to be at work until 9. It was nice to see him look into his bag….notice a piece of paper that was not in there before, and open it up to find a note :)No pole today, but let me know if you do this and if you received a happy emotional response. I am sure you will.Keep cool. It felt like 104 degrees F in DC today.
In line with my earlier blog post about blogging my paradigm shifts..here is one that happened a few years back. This is one that if it has not happened to you, probably will not because it is just common sense 🙂
Location: Wegman’s Supermarket, Rochester, NY
Date: Unknown Weekend
A little background…..Met her and her husband at an Allegheny College gathering at the Art Gallery in Rochester, NY. Her husband was a year ahead of me and I believe she was in my class, though I never actually met her there. So, we chatted then and then one random weekend, while I was working part time making subs at a local supermarket chain (Wegmans)I saw her and her husband enter the store. He came over and chatted with me while she went off shopping. I noticed that she had a bulge in her lower abdomen, and knowing how skinny she was just a few months before in the fall, it being the spring now, I said “Congratulations!” He replied “For what?” “For the baby” I replied. He said nothing and turned and walked away. His expression was rather a emotionless one, almost like a deer in headlights appearance.I thought to myself, man, I really screwed up. She gained weight over the winter and I just really insulted the husband. I was glad though that I did not say that to her!My ability to determine baby vs additional belly flesh was revealed to be flawed. I no longer mention pregnancy in any conversations. If they are pregnant and want to divulge, she will say so.I do like my polls…here is another one. Have you ever made this mistake before? Have you had any paradigm shifts in your life? P.S. – I saw the 3 of them in the fall later that year. No, I was not referring to her as 2 people, they were pushing a baby stroller! While I was right, I think my decision to not presume is the best. I am not sure his expression to this day, but perhaps they were not ready to tell everyone, or he was not really all for the idea of a baby, I will never know.
I hope I am not the only one and I think this is the second time this has happened to me.
Location: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Date: July 2007
It was just a normal day volunteering at the National Air and Space Museum helping visitors locate the IMAX film schedule, closest bathroom and food court. Quite often there are those visitors that look completely lost, staring at the scrolling schedule on the plasma screen or at the countless brochures on the counter. Usually I cheerfully say “Sir, can I help you?” or “Maam, can I help you?.” So here I go, a visitor staring aimlessly at the countertop approaches from the east…..okay, so I am not being hunted, but you get the idea. Now is my chance…. “Sir, can I help you? SHE looks up and says “No thank you.” OUCH. Haircuts and visitors from all corners make it hard these days. Of course if she had asked for help or said hello before I adressed her, I could have figured it out, (well most of the time).My shift went from “men and women are easy to tell apart” to “when in doubt, leave out.” 🙂 In other words, when not necessary, leave out the “sir” or “maam.”Have you ever made this mistake? Let me know.
