Written by Tiane Davis<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For most of my life, I have tended to give a lot of focus to my weaknesses or things I think I should enjoy, while neglecting the things I actually do enjoy. As I approach graduation, the search for a good job that I like has me thinking a lot about the experience and skills I have yet to gain. In a world where no two people are the same, it is easy for me to label a difference in strength sets or interests as undesirable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One required skill that stood out to me on a recent job listing was \u201cWillingness to undertake simple and complex tasks with equal enthusiasm and energy.\u201d I also had a friend who, after a mock interview, the interviewer told him he should try to show more excitement for the \u201cboring stuff.\u201d I don\u2019t think these requirements are an invitation to force interest in things we don\u2019t enjoy; I think they are an invitation to pursue a life of work and activity that we do enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are things that did not surprise me, but they definitely made me reflect on the things I do and why. For a long time, especially during high school and my first year of college, I was under the impression that if I did not enjoy something I was good at, that meant there was something wrong with me or that I was failing. I guess an idea that I am trying to welcome into my thought processes is \u2014 if I am spending time on something that does not interest me, I might want to question my motives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your motive might be money; your motive might be pressure from family or peers; your motive might be joy. No matter your original purpose, I think a good question to ask yourself is, \u201cAm I being honest with myself about what I truly want?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am learning that a big part of doing a job well is the level of interest involved. Someone could be really great at a sport or skill, but if they hate it, the effort they put into it won\u2019t produce a result good enough to be considered well done. If a person sticks with a job that they do not like, I would question whether they are being honest with themselves about their passions. Sometimes a person might stay with a job to provide for their family or to serve as a stepping stone for a better job, and that is okay. As long as we are being honest with ourselves about who we are and who we want to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you think of the work you do as a percentage of how interested you are in it, everything you put energy into should have close to a 100% level of interest. If you are doing something with a 0% level of interest, question your motive. If your motive aligns with your values, continue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think one thing that has always tripped me up is comparing my interests and strengths to others.\u2019 If someone is great at math and I\u2019m not, does that mean I don\u2019t have my own strengths? No. If someone is great at public speaking and I\u2019m not, does that mean I won\u2019t be able to do a job well done somewhere else? No. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working in such a collaborative environment with The Bison has taught me so much about the value of building on a person\u2019s strengths rather than their weaknesses. If someone is doing poorly with a job they are expected to do well, they probably have better strengths that just need to be recognized and utilized. Those strengths are often the ones they enjoy the most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of being a functioning member of society is knowing how to recognize when someone might be better at or more interested in a task than you are. If someone wants to delegate tasks to a person who is better at executing them, that is not a sign of laziness or poor work ethic on the delegator\u2019s part; it is a sign of a good leader and often a willingness to be vulnerable. If we lie to ourselves about our interests in an effort to prove our capabilities, the overall result is at risk of diminishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I was writing this, I wanted to reflect on everything I do with The Bison, but I can save the reflecting or final thoughts for our next issue. In this moment, although I have been through stages of questioning in the past, I am doing what I love, and I will continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Tiane Davis For most of my life, I have tended to give a lot of focus to my weaknesses or things I think I should enjoy, while neglecting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15198,"featured_media":19469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19717,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19716\/revisions\/19717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}