In a discussion about meaningful joy (it has to be easy, effortless, and energizing) it dawned on me that I really enjoy demolition. I like taking things apart with wild abandon. I don’t seem to get tired doing it and I get even more reved up.
I enjoy taking apart the Art Show pipe and boards at Loscon. In high school, I was so enthusiastic about taking apart a set piece for a play that the girl at the other end of an 8′ 2×4 was hit in the jaw. I then moved to stipping out the nails from the pile of wood and made sure nobody was near me.
I am not sure what it is about this that feeds me but something does.
I like to poke at processes and make them more efficient. Like updates to pages at work. I will take on the update job, work at it to see what all the pieces are and then find a quick and efficient way to get through the job. Or a way to do it so it takes little to no thinking at all. You push and it basically updates itself.
This one feeds my head but can get wearing.
I like to solve computer problems. I poke at it and take it apart until it makes sense. This is only good as long at there is movement or the hope for movement. If I stall out and it doesn’t look like there is anything else to try, I give up and it is no longer fun.
This is something I do automatically. I can’t not do it. There must be some feeding in this process.
I like to untangle things, like a pile of necklaces, string, Xmas lights, whatever. I just pull it apart until it comes loose. I follow lines to see where they cross and uncross them.
This is similar to demo and process.
I love line control. This can wear me out but not as much as it energizes me. And it isn’t about forcing people to go where I want them. It is about connecting with people that need to be in a line and keeping them happy/content/informated and working with them to make the line work (i.e. leave a clear hallway, not move for however long).
I think this is where community meets process. I can’t figure out any tie to demo.
These are the places I need to look to find what gives me meaningful joy.
I like to take things apart (demo).
I like to untangle things (pull them apart and understand they structure to untangle them).
I like to understand tasks and maximize the outcome and minimize the effort put into them.
Hmmmm
Demo – I create chaos
Untangle – I increase chaos to improve order
Process – I simplify order
Line – I connect and work with others to improve order
I don’t know where this might lead. It was trying to escape my head so I wanted to write it out.
At one time I really wanted to be a roadie, traveling and loading in and loading out. I love doing that sort of work. Don’t know why. By the time I finished with college, I couldn’t handle the work nor the hours. Now I really can’t handle it.
Hm.
Going to let this percolate in the back-brain for a bit.
I’m more a “once I’ve figured it out, I just have to move on to the next puzzle” nature (can’t detangle the same necklaces over and over, that’s frustrating.)
My current job is a bit of a dream job b/c it’s never the same thing twice. I have frustrations, but they’re more with people than with the job itself. What I’m doing never gets old.
You would’ve made a good roadie.
I have the same ‘once figured out move on’ nature. I like detangling the necklaces but then comes the step of figuring out the way to keep them untangled. The next tangle needs to be different necklaces and it usually means somebody else’s problem.
Oh yeah, I also love to Save The Day. Coming in at the last moment and making things work. I get such a kick out of that. I am unsure if it leaves me with more or less energy. These opportunities come up at times when I have different levels of personal energy. I get a mental kick no matter what but the I don’t know if the times I have been drained have been because I started low or not.
The good part about being a roadie is fitting the same systems into different structures at every stop. I don’t understand why I like it so much given the transient nature of it but it does feel like building to me.
Hm. I do like saving the day sometimes – but usually when it’s a “if you had called me sooner, we would’ve saved a lot of trouble now” I get cranky.
I love working with smart, passionate, creative people – but I find that usually, that sort has to work for the semi-smart, cynical, boring clods… and that always ends up with me exploding in the face of clod-dom
I’m finding this “work remotely” thing cuts down on the number of face-to-face runins :{
Demo…MMMMMM… Must smash computer.