One nice part about life is how many do-overs you get, on everything from your love life to your hair color. Tomorrow I get my first Tallahassee Do-Over, where I start a new full-time job that sounds like a great match. But like relationships, good jobs don’t happen on their own; they take work, commitment, and intentionality.
Three years ago I set goals for myself in an MFA program, and two years later was pleasantly surprised to discover that the goals had leafed out and borne fruit. So I won’t memorize the following goals, but I’m going to plant them and see how they flower.
- Learn everything I can about my responsibilities
- Leave a good impression on as many people as possible
- Give my best on every project and endeavor
- Help my organization move forward in its goals
- Leave some room for my personal life (spouse, person of faith, writer, gardener)
- Make someone smile every day
- Add something new to the work equation
That last goal is a wildcard that stands for that extra something we all have to offer every part of our lives. In my spiritual life, my wildcard is the chocolate pecan pie I bake for special events and bake sales; as a gardener, it’s my knowledge of miniature and other special roses; as a writer, it’s… it’s… my; special; affection; for; semicolons?
I don’t know what my wildcard is for this job… but I look forward to turning it over and seeing what it tells me.
Posted on this day, other years:
- Creative Nonfiction Workshop, Leon County Library: Follow-up - 2008
- Apple's Snit Fit with RealNetworks - 2004
Starting a new job on a Friday? Wow! Good luck today.
Those are excellent, and in a lot of ways close to the ones I had mentally when I started my new one back in July. Good luck with the first day, and can I say that I think starting a new job on a Friday is a FABULOUS concept. One day of work, then a weekend to decompress all you learned/were told on the first day.
Yes, just enough time to get “orientated,” get my ID and key fob, and see my new office. Then I was sent home early because they knew I was brain-dead!
Congratulations KGS! I have many friends working at CCLA and I know they do wonderful things – what a great fit for you both. Even though it’s miserably hot at the moment, glad you are still in the region!
You are living in my dream world. Although I’ve not lived in Tallahassee, I am a North Fla native (you may be figgerin out that differs from FLORIDA in general, or the *rest* of Florida) and that part of the state is just beautiful. Hope you have a chance to pop down to the coast and see the St Mark’s Lighthouse Wildlife Refuge, the blue sinkhole, Wakulla Springs, and more. Of course you get a ringside seat for Florida politics, always entertaining. And access to real Southern food. Wonderful seafood. And the great day trips, or weekend trips from there are uncountable. Florida really does have some wonderful parks and Real Florida parts that you can still experience. I hope you will seek these out. Read some Florida essays in books by Jeff Klinkenberg, Diane Roberts, Al Burt… And all the wild and wonderful Florida fiction….
And your job at the CCLA… Isn’t the director that fellow who speaks on the future of libraries? Richard Madaus? I heard him speak and he was so dynamic! It sounds so great!
Girl, you’ve got it lined up!! Congratulations on your getting your cards so well lined up. You must be livin right… I wish you the best, and the best of Florida.