Emotions, Strengths and getting told off

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I’m writing this blog entry from the train after having a discussion with Tracy yesterday, about my lack of blogging. She believes that I’m in a truly unique position and should be sharing my experiences with my readers, and also recording them for the future. (This was the telling off bit! I’ve been putting off blogging for a while!)

I know that she is right, but I find it so easy to make an excuse not to bother blogging, ranging from who wants to hear what I have to say, to I’ve got no time. Neither of which is a valid excuse and she is very right. I am in a unique position. And I’ve got a story to tell. So sit back, get comfy and I’ll tell you about my current adventure.

Those of you that know me in real life will know that I’m a bundle of emotions, I wear my heart on my sleeve and no one ever believes me when I say nothing is wrong – my face tells it all. But right now I’m in an amazing place that I haven’t been for a long time. I’m truly happy, I’m tired, I’m working long days and I’m missing my boy, but I’m loving almost every minute of it. And all because my work situation has changed.

I’m currently on a secondment to my company’s head office, working on a massive global campaign, I can’t tell you what it is just yet, but don’t worry, I have a blog planned for that too! And I am playing a really important role in this campaign, I’m helping to coordinate the social media part of the project. I’ve had meetings with people from facebook and google, I’ve been involved in the strategy for our campaign, and not only has my opinion been asked, it’s also been listened too.

It makes me feel validated, and damned good at my job. What makes it even better is that it doesn’t feel like work. I’m out there, doing something that I’m actually good at, and I’ve made it happen. I think that is the part that scares me the most. I’ve got to this point by being myself, doing my job well and proving myself. This is truly playing to my strengths. I wish everyone I loved had the chance to do this.

When I first got interviewed by Tracy (did I mention she was my boss for a couple of years) I had to carry out a strengths test. Everyone in the team had read the book by Marcus Buckingham and as part of the interview process they wanted to send me this book and get me to do this test that would tell me what my strength themes were. I was super excited and couldn’t wait to get started. The book really spoke to me (as an aside I’d like to reread it but don’t know where my copy is!) and the idea that we should play to our strehgths rather than focussing on our weaknesses and what we needed to improve really spoke to me. 3 years later I can still tell you what my strengths are without thinking about it:
• WOO (stands for winning others over – I don’t see strangers, just friends I haven’t met yet)
• POSITIVITY (always looking for the positive spin on any experience, I look for the good in everyone)
• EMPATHY (I find myself truly understanding how people feel, its not sympathy but the ability to really empathise)
• LEARNER (Life is all about the journey, whatever I can learn from something is important and this is actually one of my big necessities)
• INPUT (Always looking for more information, I may also be a collector)
These are just my takes on the themes, and at first I was a bit gutted, they were all such fluffy, non definable strengths, but I’ve since learnt to embrace them, and my woo, my biggest strength is also the thing that has helped me to get where I am. I don’t treat anyone any differently, I always make an effort to talk with people and put them at ease. I’m truly grateful for my woo.

I’m not really sure where to take this story next. This doesn’t feel like an end, but it also doesn’t really feel like there is a logical next step. So I’m going to press pause… But first, what do you think your strengths are? Don’t think about your weaknesses, tell me what you are good at?!

Quotes

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This blogging thing gets a bit addictive after a while doesn’t it? Well, at least until you run out of stuff to say!

I’m trying to think of some kind of theme for my blogging. I’m sure you guys don’t want to constantly read about my day to day life! I’d like to put some regular posts up about my jewellery making, and hopefully some pictures too. I might even run a giveaway at some point. Maybe after I’ve made sarah’s red sparkly necklace I’ll do a blog giveaway on the next piece I fuse.

Any suggestions of things to blog about? Being “in social media” I feel I should have a list of things to talk about, but sadly, im lacking that.

Recently at work we had to change our email signatures, to bring them on brand. But one of the things I miss is my little quotes. I used to find inspirational sayings and quotes and have them as part of my email signature. I even had a few comments about them. I think the one that got the most comment was one of the Obama ones. I think it was the one about hope. I’ll have to dig it out. I’ve also kind of become a bit of a quote collector, at one point I even started a book, just somewhere to put the ones that really inspired me. That fell by the wayside. And people share quotes with me. My boss came into work one day and said the girl behind the desk at his hotel (he spends part of the week here, but lives in another part of the country) printed out a quote for him most stays