The recent testing I did to assess my values also included a deck of cards to ascertain one’s needs. Like the Values deck, it asks you to split the deck into three categories: High, Higher, highest. You then take the Highest pile and sort it into three more piles and then finally take the top 8 from the first (most important) pile. As it turns out, I only had 8 total. I’m not sure if that makes me efficient or just not very needy. Here they are, in no particular order:
an environment where my thoughts and ideas are welcome. Who doesn’t like to be heard? Not me, obviously!
a culture that allows for direct communication between people. The opposite of this would be using the Cone of Silence, I imagine.
to work in a chemical/dust-free environment. Are there people who would prefer a chemical/dusty environment? Sludge monsters from space, perhaps?
to be in a helping role. I like helping people, it gives me warm fuzzies. Unless they yell at me, then they get a warm fuzzy in the face!
to work in an environment where people are treated fairly. Again, the opposite of this would be “I like to work under the boot of a dictatorship, it’s fun!”
an environment that provides time for analysis and observation. Not too much time, mind you. But enough.
freedom to make decisions independently. I hate top-down organizations. Do as I say, minion! Not for me.
to be fairly compensated financially. I wonder how many people tell a prospective employer, “Pay me as little as you want, I don’t need to eat every day!”
Frankly, these needs are kind of boring. Oh well, I guess that’s why they’re called needs and not Super Exciting Things, Wow!
Recently I went through an exercise where you take a bunch of cards with values listed on them and sort them into three piles: Never Important, Sometimes Important and Very Important. You then toss aside the two lesser piles and order everything that is Very Important. After this you finish by selecting the top 6 Very Important values but I read the 6 as a 5, so I my final result is slightly value-deficient:
Teaching
Creativity
Listening
Leadership
Cooperation
The values are, of course, constrained by the options in the deck of cards you use. If a value isn’t listed, you can’t choose it, but it seemed fairly complete. I am always aware of my tendency to game these evaluations so I picked quickly to reduce the possibility of my brain being too clever for its own good. Let’s see how these values break down:
1. Teaching. I was about halfway to a teaching certificate many years ago before shifting gears and I’ve always tested strongly for it, so this does not come as a surprise. I really enjoy teaching others how to do stuff. The positive feedback is incredibly rewarding to me.
2. Creativity. I write, I draw comics, I dream up elaborate worlds and systems, I make maps of imaginary places. I sometimes arrange my food on my plate more for the aesthetics than the practical. Yeah, this is pretty spot-on.
3. Listening. I have always thought of myself as a good listener. If the person is at least somewhat engaging, whether they are talking about things positive or negative, I find it easy to stay engaged and absorb like a human-sized sponge. I generally prefer to listen rather than talk, though the inner stand-up comic in me does sometimes want to take over.
4. Leadership. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re part of a team assigned to some task and everyone just sits around and shrugs at each other and nothing happens and you find yourself thinking, “Stupid people! Do something!” and then you suddenly realize that you have to be the one to take charge and so you do and then things happen and it turns out okay? I’m that person.
5. Cooperation. This one seems a bit weak as a top 5 value. Sure, it’s got a good beat but can you dance to it? I guess I prefer cooperation to the alternative but what rational person wouldn’t? Well, one who didn’t have to cooperate to get things done, I suppose.
I always double-up on these tests to see what, if anything, changes when I do it again. Here are the results from take 2:
Creativity
Teaching
Utilizing
Listening
Honesty
Here we see Creativity and Teaching swapping spots at the top, so no big change there. But then we have:
3. Utilizing. I’m not sure how this got in. I’m not even sure what it means. Maybe I wrote down the wrong card. Utilizing. Okay, the dictionary says “To put to use, especially to find a profitable or practical use for.” Seems very practical. I’m not sure how it’s a value. I think I picked the wrong card.
4. Listening. Swapped from #3 to #4, not much change here.
5. Honesty. Is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Like Billy Joel, I also like honesty, though I’m not as bitter and jaded about its apparent absence. Nor do I record songs about it and make millions of dollars and blow it on coke and crash cars and marry woman half my age, either. Anyway, this seems like a reasonable choice for me, as honestly is pretty fundamental. If you’re not being honest, you’re lying and there’s a good chance you’re a big ol’ poopypants because of it. I see a lot of people refusing to communicate effectively because they are afraid to be honest.
Yeah, so much for National “Write something every day on your blog” Month. Good thing I made that up because I can now say there was a typo and “month” should read “week” (darn my clumsy fingers) and I exceeded the minimum by a fair margin.
I will have more to write shortly. In the meantime I have added a very exciting “Currently” listing so you can see what stupid forms of entertainment I have chosen at the moment. Enjoy!
A year ago CBC decided it would be nifty to give the public a voice on its news website by allowing user comments. As shocking as it may seem, a lot of the comments are belligerent, ignorant and dumb. I know, I know, it is hard to believe that people with extreme (or Xtreme!!) opinions would leap at the chance to share their idiotic views with a large if anonymous audience.
The federal NDP says it’s time the Conservative government made it easier for people to get employment insurance benefits.
***
The federal NDP is asking the government to eliminate the waiting period for EI, reduce the number of work hours needed to qualify, expand eligibility to include self-employed workers and encourage retraining.
Here is the first comment:
can’t come quick enough !
Okay, a little weak on the whole capitalization thing and in his or her excitement there is an errant space before the exclamation point but this person has expressed a viewpoint in a concise and non-controversial manner. But this is the first post, so pretty much a fluke. Let’s dig a little further…
By the fifth post we have KooteneyForestryGirl saying:
Its already such an abused system, you don’t need to make it even easier.
Personally I’d rather just keep my own money and be able to invest as I see fit for tough times. I hate being “babysat,” I think the whole program should be scraped. If people don’t have the foresight to plan ahead then tough luck..
Without saying why, she claims the system is abused, but hey, no need to back up an opinion, right? She perhaps doesn’t quite understand how EI actually works, but if we just scrape the program then, I dunno, maybe scientists can gather a sample to examine and figure out how to make it work better! Now here’s the important thing — KFG has staked out a position that EI is bad and thinks it should go away. She has 43 agreeing but 146 disagreeing. No surprises there. The groundwork has been laid for a nice fight.
Bi Polar Bear uses breathless hyperbole to make his case in support:
I’ve known dozens of people who don’t like their jobs – so they quit … then expect to get EI. It doesn’t work that way folks. If you don’t like your job – get another job.
Yes, he knows dozens — that is to say, at least 24 or 36 people — who have quit their jobs specifically to collect EI. He must hang around dumb folks to make himself feel smart. I’ve never known anyone who quit their job thinking they could get EI (you can’t). Obligatory slam at the NDP:
The NDP would gladly tax us to 95% if they could.
Because all socialists want to tax people into ruin because that’s what they do, amirite?
Irrelevant potshot at current government that has nothing to do with the actual news story:
It’s time to overhaul the federal government too; that is, give Harper and his neo-clown posse the boot all the way back to Cow Town!
And on it goes. This story is actually a fairly mild one in terms of the user comments but it’s still kind of depressing. The average person who posts just seems kind of ugly and uncaring. These are not people you really feel like sharing a coffee with at Tim Horton’s.
Tonight begins Year 3 of the “even earlier daylight savings time” in which PDT stretches from March to November. This means we are on daylight savings for 3/4 of the year now, all the better to help farmers. Farmers who apparently do not have electricity and can only work under the steady glare of the sun. Yeah, I don’t get it, either.
In honor of National WSEDOYB Month, I will be writing something on my blog every day this month. Nothing shall be too trivial or inane to escape my observation!
What’s even better is having a co-worker coughing and wheezing and complaining for days about being sick just before you get sick (by amazing coincidence).
Also, it got up to 12 degrees today. No snow! Yay!
