Give a little extra...
Use building blocks to become a cornerstone at work.
It's called "value added" in the marketing world but in the working world it is being the "valuable additive." What that means is no matter what job you have, do a little extra, more than what is required, grease the wheel to make it stop squeaking without being asked. Even more importantly don't be the squeaky wheel that always needs to be oiled to get you to do the basic job. Do quality work. Be friendly and amiable to everyone, which doesn't mean you have to like them or be overly nice, people see right through that. Sometimes you won't feel like it and have bad days. If you are consistently congenial, then when occasionally grumpy or not having a good day, it is the exception and not the rule. When you make a mistake, own up to it, fix it and learn from it, apologizing goes a long way.
There is nothing wrong with being helpful to your supervisor, if they want it or you see they need someone to lend a hand. Be respectful to them, even if sometimes they don't always return the favor, you might be surprised to find that one day they will in an unexpected way. It's not being a bootlicker but common decency, at the same time don't be an apple-polisher either. It's not hard to be a regular person who offers an element of value without working too hard at it. When you offer something additional to what is required you're becoming a cornerstone of the place where you work. A cornerstone is part of the foundation that makes you vital to the operation of your workplace and difficult to replace in tangible and intangible ways.
The reasons are twofold. The first is it will improve your job satisfaction, no matter how ordinary that job might seem to the larger world, work will be a challenge not a chore. The second is it will also make you more beneficial to your boss and employer in a way they may not quite fully understand until something happens you can resolve. They're likely to realize that you're offering something that others don't and that alone is enough to keep you. If the time should come when choices have to be made regarding who stays and who goes, you will be one of those that stay and the person who does the minimum required, squeaks a lot and when given an inch takes a mile, will be gone.
In this world of high unemployment, companies need people who not only can do the work but also add to that work. There are two skills involved in any type of employment: the skills of doing the actual work itself and more, plus the skills of getting along with other people. In that sense, no matter your line of work, everyone is in customer service.
"No employer ever wants to see an employee with his hands in his pockets." Mike's father.
Mike, who blogs at rock and confusion and video blogs on his YouTube 7anby channel, in this video offers a great perspective on this topic. His thoughts were inspiration for this blog.
Hassle-Free Work
Showing posts with label 7anby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 7anby. Show all posts
3/18/11
3/5/11
Writing: Fact and Fiction
On writing fiction and non-headaches...
Part Two: A Response to a Response
When I wrote yesterday my thoughts on writing fiction, it evoked a great blog response from Mike in his blog rock and confusion titled "Headache vs Non-Headache." He writes that he thinks there is some truth to my feeling "there is a line between writing fiction and non-fiction." He continues on to state that the line does get a little "fuzzy" and he points out a few things that put a new and different perspective on that line for me.
I went into writing fiction thinking there was a distinct line between the two but it was a bit of a false assumption on my part; especially since I also went into it with the underlying premise that "real life is like fiction and vice versa." How's that for a duality of simultaneous thought? I have more clarity now on those ideas because as Mike points out, five people can observe a train crash and write five different accounts of it, since each writers point of view will be from another angle. It's a factual nonfictional event, but are the five separate versions of what happened fiction? No, because they are based on fact, as each observer interprets and recalls them through the vision of their lens.
He also points out that good fiction is "as clear and honest as the best non-fiction." He's correct that most of us don't read a good piece of fiction and think the writer "made that up really well!!" A very artful observation.
I do think that how the fiction writer operates and originates their work is a result of how they operate out of that creative space in their mind. Some writers approach fiction as storytelling that has an element of truth in it or based loosely on some real events or facts they've strung together in their own way to make a story. Others operate out of a pure fantasyland in their mind that is capable of conjuring up wonderful stories that you believe. It's a vision in their head of what they would like to see happen and transport the reader to. Believability is an important factor for me, which is why science fiction has never appealed to me. Some fiction is pure fantasy and not possible but delightful to the reader nonetheless.
So to turn this whole topic on it's head, I would also add it is not only what the writer is trying to convey but also what the reader is willing to go along with in believing the writer.
Personally my nature is very grounded in fact and what could really happen. That doesn't mean it's the only way to write or read, merely where my head wants to go. I say "read and let read" whatever suits your fancy. I now know more what mine is from this experience.
Probably the most telling observation I received from my fiction in workshop is that the readers "learned a lot." That was their way of saying they didn't feel they were reading a story but a recounting of place, people and events. I need to write one more short story for this class and workshop but this time I think I'm going to go the way of a spare, minimalist style with a simple story line with two characters and their dialogue. That is because I know very little, unlike most participants in this class and writing workshop, about how to develop characters, story lines, plot, themes and so on. It's not the talent I've nurtured and developed over the years. The story I write will be what it is.
What I do know how to do is recount in vivid detail and good prose actual places, people and events. Written as nonfiction, my version is what I think happened or is happening, it may differ from the way four other people might interpret the same things. A writer writes, I write, whatever it is called is irrelevant.
Part Two: A Response to a Response
When I wrote yesterday my thoughts on writing fiction, it evoked a great blog response from Mike in his blog rock and confusion titled "Headache vs Non-Headache." He writes that he thinks there is some truth to my feeling "there is a line between writing fiction and non-fiction." He continues on to state that the line does get a little "fuzzy" and he points out a few things that put a new and different perspective on that line for me.
I went into writing fiction thinking there was a distinct line between the two but it was a bit of a false assumption on my part; especially since I also went into it with the underlying premise that "real life is like fiction and vice versa." How's that for a duality of simultaneous thought? I have more clarity now on those ideas because as Mike points out, five people can observe a train crash and write five different accounts of it, since each writers point of view will be from another angle. It's a factual nonfictional event, but are the five separate versions of what happened fiction? No, because they are based on fact, as each observer interprets and recalls them through the vision of their lens.
He also points out that good fiction is "as clear and honest as the best non-fiction." He's correct that most of us don't read a good piece of fiction and think the writer "made that up really well!!" A very artful observation.
I do think that how the fiction writer operates and originates their work is a result of how they operate out of that creative space in their mind. Some writers approach fiction as storytelling that has an element of truth in it or based loosely on some real events or facts they've strung together in their own way to make a story. Others operate out of a pure fantasyland in their mind that is capable of conjuring up wonderful stories that you believe. It's a vision in their head of what they would like to see happen and transport the reader to. Believability is an important factor for me, which is why science fiction has never appealed to me. Some fiction is pure fantasy and not possible but delightful to the reader nonetheless.
So to turn this whole topic on it's head, I would also add it is not only what the writer is trying to convey but also what the reader is willing to go along with in believing the writer.
Personally my nature is very grounded in fact and what could really happen. That doesn't mean it's the only way to write or read, merely where my head wants to go. I say "read and let read" whatever suits your fancy. I now know more what mine is from this experience.
Probably the most telling observation I received from my fiction in workshop is that the readers "learned a lot." That was their way of saying they didn't feel they were reading a story but a recounting of place, people and events. I need to write one more short story for this class and workshop but this time I think I'm going to go the way of a spare, minimalist style with a simple story line with two characters and their dialogue. That is because I know very little, unlike most participants in this class and writing workshop, about how to develop characters, story lines, plot, themes and so on. It's not the talent I've nurtured and developed over the years. The story I write will be what it is.
What I do know how to do is recount in vivid detail and good prose actual places, people and events. Written as nonfiction, my version is what I think happened or is happening, it may differ from the way four other people might interpret the same things. A writer writes, I write, whatever it is called is irrelevant.
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