Quite some time ago my sister Al asked me to write a guest post for the “Starting Out” series on Life in a Pink Fibro. “You can write it on how you turned your blog profile into an actual job,” she said.
This morning she emailed me again, “Is your blog to job post coming today?” she asked.
“Um… YES,” I replied (I actually wrote that um in there). “I’ll get straight onto that…”
So, I got straight onto that and I didn’t give it half as much time as I should have, as Al deserved. Don’t you hate it when you do that? It’s the curse of the procrastinator (or the very busy, I still can’t decide which one I am). You do things last minute, send them away and then think of ten different ways it could have been better.
I digress. Just like I did when I wrote the post for Al today. So, pop over and read what I had to say over there and than then pop back here for the rest of it. Here is the point I wish I’d included on my post:
Be good at any job.
There’s are many reasons that some people seem to slide easily from one good job to another. Luck is definitely one of them, but there are other more replicable reasons too. Here are the five attributes I think you need to be good at any job.
1. Attention to detail
An accountant needs this, I think a writer needs it even more. Great writing is in noticing the little things- and proofing them too.
2. The confidence to fail
It’s actually rather rare to fail in such a way that it’s a total disaster. Most failures are small and recoverable and look a lot like success in the end. If you give yourself permission to do badly, you’ll be amazed at all the things you can do very well.
3. Good organisation skills
They say that ‘good organisation skills’ is one of the most overused phrases on today’s CVs so it’s basically redundant – but only if you’re all mouth, no trousers. Be proud to wear the neatly-pressed, laid-out-the-night-before trousers because being organised means you can work faster, smarter and happier. You can do you own thing and be organised in entirely your own way, just as long as you are.
4. Rampant curiosity
What happens when I push this button? Then see point 2.
5. Ownership of all you do
If you’ve been given a job to do then you’re the best person for that job. You don’t need to consult a million people to get on with your work, you just need to be able to explain what you did and why you did it after the fact. Make the decisions, do the work and own the outcome.