Goals-Revised

      I've said this before & I'm sure I'll say it again, lately I feel like I'm learning how to live life all over again.  I read this book recommended by an introvert in my book club and it has changed my view of myself.  The book is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

     While I already knew that I was an introvert and because of this there are certain things that I just can't do I didn't realize just how much of an impact being an introvert or extrovert has on a persons life.  This being said I want to revise my goals for the year.  I have realized that there are certain things that I need to be doing in my life to counteract the effects that the extroverted job I have has on my life.

1.) Be better about writing in my blog is going to be changed to do more things that are personal and uplifting to me.  This includes writing in my blog, writing in my journal (already started since I bought my new pens!), decorating the apartment, sing more, make sure I keep the house more tidy so I can be more relaxed at home after work.

2.) The reason I wanted to call people on their birthday was because I wanted people to know that they were important to me and this seemed like a good way to let them know. I want to be the type of person that remembers birthdays.  I would love to be able to send everybody a letter or birthday card on their birthday but even though postage is ridiculously cheep it doesn't fit into my budget at this point in my life.  I chose calling because calling is free since I already have a phone for other reasons but as I learned from reading the book, this is not the best option for me.  I hate talking on the phone, I don't like how spontaneous the conversation has to be & you can't use environmental help for topics of conversation.  A better option for me is to send an email to people on their birthday, I can take as much time as I want thinking of what to say & I can't be interrupted or have the subject changed on me to something I didn't plan on talking about.

3.) I want to change this one to spend more time outside on my breaks so I can de-stress.  All the way at the back of the parking lot there is a field & at one end there are trees.  Whenever I go out there I get so relaxed, being in nature has this effect on me.  Maybe if I go outside more this will help me not be so worn out from work, it will give me the opportunity to recharge in the middle of the day & will be able to focus for on Marley and my home after work.

4.) Pay more attention to personal grooming.  Probably this one will take care of itself once I'm not so constantly stressed out.
 
5.) Try something new.  This one I'm leaving as is.

Birthday Goals

Here I am, back again to review how I did on my goals for the year.


1.) Be better about writing in my blog.
     Major fail on this one, for a while I was working on personal stuff on Friday nights because Marley had game night with my brothers on Friday nights but then that petered out as they all have different lives & their own families to deal with.  We definitely need to work on having a set schedule and to work in some personal time.

2.) Relationships.
     Major fail here as well.  The only person I actually managed to call on their birthday was Earl and he didn't even answer the phone because he didn't save my new number in his phone for some reason...It didn't help that for some reason I thought I could get by without a calendar this year and by the time I realized what a silly mistake that was I couldn't find calendars anywhere except on Amazon for $10 which made me mad because usually I buy one for a dollar or two around new years.  When I finally did find one at Office Max it had no pictures on it & didn't start until July.  And on top of that, I can't find my old calendar to write down everyone's birthday on it.  I'll try again on this one this year.  I did however get up to date on Mimi's blog but that was several months ago so I'm still not current and I've only read here and there from Amy's.

3.) Be more aggressive in my professional life.  This includes getting a better job whether by promotion or a job somewhere else.
     I did succeed in this goal.  I got several raises over the last year and our whole call center actually got promoted which was very exciting and I enjoy my job a lot better with the added responsibilities.  I also got put on the projects team which means that sometimes I get to walk around the call center and help people who have questions and are on long calls with weird issues.  I also have recently begun taking sup calls which means I get to pretend to be a supervisor and talk to angry customers who think I have the ability to override company policy without being fired. Silly customers. :)  I've been trying to get into the success bay which is sort of like being a trainer.  After training new agents are put into Success Bay for 2 weeks where they take calls like they normally do but with closer supervision and help.  I wasn't able to get into that yet due to some attendance issues but now I'm thinking of trying for an actual supervisor again.  One of the guys at work I'm sort of friends with who just became a supervisor a few months ago said there's going to be a supervisor position opening up next month and he thinks I would be really good at it.  Also, the other day at work I took 5 sup calls in an hour & 15 minutes.  I was pretty proud of that.

4.) Pay more attention to personal grooming. 
     I have definitely gotten better and managing my finger & toe nails but not too much better at brushing my teeth twice a day.  On the plus side Marley & I got an electric tooth brush and I actually feel like my teeth are cleaner because it has a much smaller head and gets my small teeth really good.

5.) Try something new
     I wanted to blog about the specific things that I tried but I don't remember what they were, luckily I did actually try a few new things.


All in all I didn't do nearly as good at accomplishing my goals as I wanted to or as good as I have done in the past.  I kind of feel like I've been learning life all over again recently.  I'm going to keep all of these on my list for this year except for number 4 and I'm going to add be more active.  I never thought I cared about how skinny I  was until I stopped being skinny and now I'm just like everyone else.  Although, I secretly think I'm more upset about it because I have to buy new clothes and I don't like spending money or clothes shopping than because I don't like my body shape.  But I do want to be more fit so that when I finally can have kids I'll be healthy enough to take care of them & my arms are not what they used to be when I was in school and carrying things around all the time, I don't want to be dropping babies all over the place, they'll have enough trouble as is with the brains they'll get from Marley & me without having to deal with brain damage because of my weak arms.

Just wanted to post a reminder to myself to follow up on the job post. I got a promotion at work!

Job Stuff

     After working at my current job for 2 years I find myself bored out of my mind.  The job does not change day by day or even month by month.  Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of changes made and happening, ie: how they want us to do the job changes every couple of months, but I've found that they're really just rewording the same requirements that we've always had; the turn over rate at the center is kind of amazing, I had no idea that many people were actively looking for this type of job; also, the diversity of the customer's I speak to everyday is a fairly wide spectrum.  These three "changes" notwithstanding, I basically have found that my day is the same, I can, and sometimes do, take calls in my sleep.  It does not require a lot of brain power, it does not require a lot of physical prowess, and for a lot of people I've dealt with, does not require a lot of common sense.  This image I have of the job now is at great contrast to the image I had when I first got the job.  I don't know if it's still required now but when I was hired you had to pass a multiple choice test that had semi technical questions ranging from computer issues to tv wiring.

     The problem with looking for jobs is that it is equally as boring.  First, you have to find the job posting online because nobody does anything in person anymore. (I've done that approach and all you get when you go into places is: "fill out an application online", "I'll keep your resume on file", and other variations of the same.)  After you find the job posting, wading through several fake postings, several you are over qualified for, and a few you are probably under qualified for you find one that you can legitimately apply to.  Generally have to fill out some kind of profile, which about half the time includes your resume or application information.  Just about all places these days have a tool where you can put in your resume and then it pulls out your information but I've found that the recognition tools are usually so bad that you have to end up typing in all the information by hand anyway.  Once you get through your cover letter and resume information you then fill out the "equal opportunity" information that is for some reason both illegal for the company to know and not know about you and then some questions about your qualifications or things you are willing to do for the job.  This whole process can take up to 2 hours, more if there's a full survey asking under what scenario it would be acceptable for you to steal from the company.  (Thankfully these are not very common these days.)

     Supposing you can maximize the process and memorize your entire work history and resume you can probably find and apply for 1 job an hour.  That's about 8 applications per work day.  I take about 20-30 calls in one day at work.  Assuming I can stomach the hassle of applying for another job after coming home from work and making dinner that only gives me time for 1 or 2 a day.  Using the estimate that it takes 50 applications to get an interview and 5 interviews to get a job, I'm looking at 250 applications before I get a better job.  At 2 applications a day it will take me approximately 125 days to get that job.  If I take a day off for the weekend plus Wednesday we have Cub Scouts, it will take me approximately 25 weeks or 6.25 months to get through all those applications... *head desk

This is a test as a template.

I just figured out how to post blog entries from my phone. This is going to be awesome.