A few news items for Friday, April 7, 2023.
Sibling Coworking Camp!
My sister is getting deep into a job search and is visiting me for the week for sibling coworking (and eating yummy foods, of course). We both may have ADHD so I've been sharing my mitigation tricks with her for managing energy throughout the day and seeing if they help. We're striving to get about 3-4 hours of focused work, with breaks for lunch and "German walks" where we complain about the price of eggs and such much. The rest of the day is spent doing opportunistic things like updating social media, exploring side projects, and writing down notes for what we want to do the following day so our future selves don't have to struggle to remember what the hell we did the day before; I find it's good if I can create helpful lists that reduce the starting friction that can derail an entire morning.
A New Concrete Goals Tracker
It occurred to me today that one of my old tools might be helpful for sis if I adapted it for job searching. I originally created the Concrete Goals Tracker (CGT) for freelancing almost 20 years ago, and it remains one of my favorite pieces of design. It's sorely in need of a visual update, but for expediency I'm just going to wedge a new What Is Worth Doing? list into it.
Here's the first draft:
1 POINT TIER
- you logged a new interesting company to apply to
- you've scanned a job board for listings
- you've found a new term to help with searching
- you researched an industry term that you didn't understand
- you've added a job listing to your job search spreadsheet
2 POINT TIER
- you updated your resume or online profile
- you created a new version of your resume for a specific job
- you talked to someone about your job search
- you wrote a paragraph that describes your skills or roles
- you got in touch with colleagues/past coworkers
- you collected past work that you can show people
5 POINT TIER
- you wrote a cover letter
- you sent a job application
- you discussed strategy with trusted friends/colleagues
- you asked a friend/colleague to keep you in mind for jobs
- you added examples of work/skills to your socials
10 POINT TIER
- you applied for a job you weren't sure about the fit
- you got a response to a job application
- you got an interview
As described in the original post, the idea of the points is to have the easy and frequent supporting tasks that happen every day have lower points since you are doing them a lot. The higher points are more effortful or happen less frequently, with the highest points awarded when you did something that is what you want. Each tier of points is about DOUBLE the value of the previous tier so they feel like a distinctly bigger win; you don't get the same feeling if the point value just changes by a measely single point.
If there's interest, hit me up on my socials on Mastodon (preferred) or Twitter or my coworking Discord server!
Sri's Trans Birthday!
Today is the day that I officially told myself that I was transgender. I had spent two years journaling and seeing a nearby therapist that specialized in this issue, and given all my history I came to the conclusion that there was no escaping it as it was such a constant stream of thought. I would say about 30% of my conscious time worrying about what was wrong with me and trying to fight it. I realized that this was time and energy I could be applying to something else, and that while I could not come up with a REASON for it, it nevertheless was something that would be with me until I was dead. It's as inexplicable as my love for cats and people making things with pure passion, a kind of energy that inhabits the very center of my being.
So, today is the day I finally said OK LET'S GO WITH THIS back in 2018. Six months later, I started on a very low dose of hormones/blockers after working out what social transition would entail. I was not sure I was brave enough to face all the resistance and heartbreak I expected...but that's a story for another day. For now...
Happy Trans Birthday to Meeeee!