Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

With Darrell out again yesterday, I continued what I began last Saturday: cleaning up my office. My plan is to have the entire office completely purged, organized and cleaned by the end of November. Then, I can begin on another room, likely the bedroom – not that I will be blogging it!

Once my office is done, then I want to begin planning 2009, which will be even better than 2008 here on Do It Myself Blog. If you have any suggestions for improving or changing the blog or ideas for blog posts, I’m all ears! Monetizing the blog will definitely be part of the plan. 

For now, the first step is to get my office in order to enable great, creative ideas to flow easily! Continuing with the bookcase area, first up was to go through two 3" binders: one from the Creative Employment Options Program (a pre-employment program for people with disabilities) and one from the Self-Employment Program.

The first item I came across in the SE binder was the Personal Organization Self-Analysis Quiz. What do you mean I disorganized, not goal-oriented, have poor work habits and note-taking skills, and a touch of packrat syndrome? A packrat? Moi? Because I took the SE Programs in the Fall of 1998 and, ten years later, still had all of the stuff? Nah, I like to think that I’ve been too focused on running my business to take time to clean out old papers!

For another interesting tidbit, I re-discovered was my personality type. According to different assessments taken during both programs, I am an INFJ – Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging. (Thank goodness results from both programs were the same!)

Glancing through the related career exploration pages, suggested careers for INFJs include:

• Psychologists
• Public relations workers and publicity writers
• Lawyers and Judges
• Coordinators: Not specified
• Consultants: Type unknown

As an INFJ, career satisfaction, in part, means doing work that:

• Lets me consider and create new ideas and/or approaches to a variety of problems, mostly those that help others to grow and develop
• Lets me produce a product or service that I believe in and am proud of
• Recognizes my authorship and ownership and my unique contributions
• Lets me express myself and see the results of my vision
• Lets me implement my ideas for the good of others
• Can be done independently but with the opportunity to share frequently with others in an environmental that is friendly and free of interpersonal conflict
• Lets me organize my own time and work environment
• Is in harmony with my personal values and beliefs and lets me maintained a high degree of personal and professional integrity.

Another handout describes INFJs as authors:

Authors focus on what’s possible. They have a strong drive to contribute to the welfare and enjoy helping their peers. Authors have a great depth of personality; they are complicated and can’t understand and deal with complex issues and people. They are "perfectionists" and sometimes put more effort into a task then is needed. Generally not leaders, Authors influence behind the scenes. They are hard to get to know for they can be reserved and will share personal thoughts only with those they truth. They are hurt easily by others and can be crushed by too much criticism. Authors like to please others and usually contribute their best efforts. They enjoy agreeing with others and find conflict disagreeable and destructive.

Interestingly, INFJs make up 1% of the population. And, according to one website about the Myers-Briggs Test Indicator (MBTI), famous INFJ personalities include: Geoffrey Chaucer, Billy Crystal, Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Landon, Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa and Oprah Winfrey.

Considering my personality type, is there any wonder why blogging is such a perfect match for me, careerwise. I sure wish I had known the likes of Andy Wibbels, Liz Strauss, Lorelle VanFossen, Chris Brogan, Des Walsh, Chris Garrett, Darren Rowse and many others to explain what is blogging and the potential as a career choice to my employment counsellors. For those folks, if it isn’t listed in the National Occupational Classification, then it doesn’t exist as a career option. Sad, really. 

Looking back, I am intrigued that the result of one self-assessment, namely the personal organization self-analysis, was off the mark (Me not goal-oriented? Ha, how else I did get this far?) and that the result from the MBTI assessment was pretty close to bang on. How reliable are these tools? How much weight should really be placed on these and other tools? The employment counsellor-types didn’t seem to appreciate when I asked such questions. Without such tools, they didn’t seem to know how to assist me in finding a job. The only purpose I can see those assessments accomplished was putting me in a language they understood

After an hour or so of purging, my six-inches of paper was less than half an inch; more of which will be shredded once this post is published. See, had I not saved that information, I could not have written this revealing post. I’m not a packrat; I was well prepared for this moment! 

Following several more hours of purging and organizing, the bookcase and adjoining shelves were completely done – with space to spare!

Next Saturday: the desk area.