Author: ArtsyChowRoamer

Secrets to Better Choices

FOR A HAPPIER LIFE

I promised you a follow up to the post from last week about the Secrets of Raising your Emotional Awareness. If you haven’t read it, you might want to read that one first so this post will make more sense to you. 😀 Let’s talk about some more secrets in this post…

ENFP PERSONALITY

After taking that test and finding out I was an ENFP, I started thinking a lot about what that meant; how it might have affected the decisions I have made in my life, particularly when it comes to work.

See I’m new to this whole blogging thing but you already knew that right? I decided to take a look at how I got here. That meant thinking about previous jobs and why some worked for me and some….well…not so much!

That sent me down the rabbit hole of how many jobs I have had and the skill sets that were needed and as dirty Harry said, "A mans gotta know what his limitations are”. I have had sixteen jobs over my professional life so far not counting high school and college. Is that a lot? Sometimes it seems like a lot….

A LITTLE JOB HISTORY

To my credit the last nine were all within the last nine years….one for four years, two for one year and the rest just a number of months each. Three of those jobs were working for men, six were for women. In fact, the jobs I stayed at the least amount of time were all working for women. 😲 😱

There was the crazy one that after returning from company training, (in which she showed up with no laptop or even a notebook) laid a finger on the side of her chin and said to me “I haven’t decided whether or not to fire you!”

This because she brought up in front of the boss that I would not be getting overtime pay as an hourly employee and I rightly pointed out that it was illegal in Georgia to do that. 🤣

Then there was the pathological liar boss. I put in for vacation and the first day I was on it I got a text from her that said I was supposed to be at work since she was on vacation.

I texted back that I was sorry but she must have forgotten that I had put in for vacation and was on my way out of town. She texted back that she never told me I could take vacation. Riiiggghhhtt! It wouldn’t be because you forgot and went out of town yourself leaving the office with no front desk staff would it? 😀

How ‘bout the OCD boss (the first but not the last). The one that used to move things back to their EXACT original position when I moved them. (Hey I tested her OK?) She left me nuggets of educational suggestions on post it notes everywhere; things like “Please put the caps back on the pens so they won’t dry out”. 😱 (Thank you for learnin’ me somethin’ new!) 👏👏👏

WHAT’S THE SECRET THEN?

There’s more but you get the picture…I haven’t worked for some of the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. So if you are still with me you are probably asking yourself so what is she saying? The secret is don’t work with women if you want a happier life? Well no.…not really….I don’t know? Work with me here!

Learning that an ENFP is very social, creative and independent let me see things I hadn’t seen clearly before; patterns about where I was successful and when I missed the boat.

My earlier professional life was with men that seemed to understand me and gave me my freedom to work independently without hanging over my shoulder. (Just tell me what you want, when you need it and then leave me alone! OK?)

When the bad market forced me out of those kind of positions and into hourly jobs, I wasn’t given the same kind of independence or recognition of my capabilities. I took those jobs just to have a job and that was a mistake.

LESSONS LEARNED

So what have I learned that I can pass on to you? Even though ENFP personalities are social, I have done the best I have ever done when I worked for myself, by myself.

At the very least, when I chose to work with people who allowed me to bring my skill sets to the forefront and accepted my limitations, I did better and they did too because of it. 😀

All of this brought me to blogging and writing; a lonelier form of work by far than you would expect an ENFP to want. That longing for freedom, independence and creativity was just too much of a siren call.

CONCLUSION

The capabilities to create value and try to be helpful to your readers is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I don’t want to disappoint you. I will work hard every day to bring you what you want to read and what might help you along this path we call life.

I believe these are some of the secrets to a happier life. I think I have made the right choice this time for the first time in awhile…you can too. Be strong, be determined, listen to your heart as well as your head. You might want to read more blogs under Just Because and hey, don’t be a stranger! Let me hear from you about your struggles and lessons learned OK?. Until next time…

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

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