Embracing My Boringness
Photo by Quinn Dombrowski
If you could only pick one, would you rather have a job that is fulfilling or one that is interesting?
My husband makes video games for a living. At social events and parties, people always want to know what he’s working on and what he’s worked on previously. Clearly his job is interesting to other people, even when he can’t talk about what’s he doing because the title hasn’t been announced.
I work in an office 40 hours a week and spend most of my time in meetings, writing notes to myself about what I’ve heard and observed, and having conversations with people. My evenings are filled with activities like hosting user group meetings, attending networking events, and developing my coaching skills through learning and practice. Vacation time is spent attending conferences and agile coach camps. My friends and family label all of this as “work stuff.” Yep, I am a rather boring person:
I don't like to talk about myself much because I think I am boring. A manager invited me to lunch a while back and made a rule that we couldn't talk about work stuff after I had already agreed to go--I deflated in that moment. And a coach gave me an inquiry a few weeks ago that rattled me for days:
What would it mean to have a fun, authentic life where people want to work with me?
To me, the clear answer was that this was not the life for me. Just no. I am not a fun person. Do not come to me for fun. I do not value fun. Other coaches can give you fun.
It was a visceral reaction.
Thankfully I realized that I can have a fulfilling, authentic life where people want to work with me. More importantly to me, I can have an interesting, authentic life where people want to work with me.
I work in an office 40 hours a week and spend most of my time in meetings, writing notes to myself about what I’ve heard and observed, and having conversations with people. My evenings are filled with activities like hosting user group meetings, attending networking events, and developing my coaching skills through learning and practice. Vacation time is spent attending conferences and agile coach camps. I do it all because I find it interesting.
