why?

Sometimes I wonder why I do something. Often I don't. I've discovered that changing jobs is a good way of looking at why I'm taking a particular course of action. Today I went for 2 interviews. The first was with a recruitment consultant who'd seen my CV and wanted to know more about me. I quickly realised how little was actually in my CV. How much was missed out. After a while, the consultant sat back and said "now I know more about you".

And then the question "what do you want to do next?" I realised I didn't have a clear answer. I thought I did - until there was actually someone sitting there asking me. And then I realised that the kind of job I was looking for was only a small part of what I want to do. A challenging thought - especially as a couple of hours later I was due at a job interview with a potential employer. But it gave me the chance to think about it.

That meant that when I got into the second interview I was able to handle a comment from the client (possibly my future boss). He observed that I seemed to be moving from one type of training to another; in his experience he'd found that people seemed to move in the opposite direction. My answer was that I was looking for a challenge - and that I loved the buzz when students actually "get it".

But underlying it was the memory of the feelings I'd had, back a few years ago when I was doing NLP training as a main line activity. I felt it was all very well, but in some way divorced from daily reality. And I felt the need to be grounded back in practical tasks.

So maybe that's why I'm back in the realms of IT after several years. Or at least I will be if and when I get the next job...

Well, of course, I've been back for some time. The bank job was training and coaching in IT. Mostly. Or was it survival training for all those caught up in the tangles?

Maybe that's also part of the greater purpose. I'm not likely to have anything to do with the emergency services; but I can still rescue people - or teach them how to survive.

Let's see what happens next.

the time is right?

Are you an early adopter or a late adopter? Are you the first on your block to do something or the first anywhere? Or is your timing just spot on?

I don't suppose I'd ever thought about it. I started to use Google because it seemed easier to use than yahoo or the other searches around. I didn't consider whether I was setting or following a trend. I know I was using it before lots of others. But who knows how many were there before me? I know that the term googling hadn't really taken off.

The other day I joined facebook. Again, I wasn't bothered about trends. I signed up because a friend of mine wrote to me and invited me to join in. This friend then commented that I seemed to have been on for 5 minutes and had more friends than she'd had in 2 months. Well, the reason was very simple - I hadn't realised that facebook would pillage my email address book and look to see how many it could find already signed up. (The answer was between 20 and 30!) And when I looked to see who was there, the list was pretty varied. Sure, there were one or two I would regard as early adopters; one had fully got the hang of blogs and stuff long before I even bothered to look at them.

But then I step back and think - does this matter? In a sense it does. There's a saying in or around NLP that suggests we do things when the time is right for us. The suggestion is that there's some sort of force that just knows when that time is. I just wish it would let on sometimes - just what the grand plan might be!

Is there such a force? I don't know. Would I trust it if there were? Probably not at first. Would it serve me well? Maybe.

I just know that there are times when it just feels right to do something. I can't explain it. And then, a little while later, a light comes on and says "this is why you're doing it".
Usually.

funny, isn't it?

...just how much things can affect us, even when we know it's not real. How many times have you found a tear in your eye when you watch a particular movie? How many times has some novel...or even a soap opera got through to you when a character loses something or someone?
Not everyone can do a Rhett Butler..."frankly, my dear...."

I had a case of that a while ago. Second Life has the possibility for characters to rent places to live...now, just stay with me for a moment...I know it's not real, and the players go "home" at night... but if we're really recreating a life-like environment, then it ain't all discos and bars and fun palaces... Yes, I know that characters can be left to "sleep" on the beach while players are away. Or as some people do, just logoff and leave them wherever they stand. Can be fun when you logon next time and find a completely different scene taking place....

Well, anyway, one of my characters had fallen in love with a gorgeous condo overlooking the sea, a few steps away from the nicest beach I've seen in a long time. And then the black hats came by...with big black moustaches and sniggering laughter... and announced that this tropical paradise was being demolished to make way for a Japanese shopping mall...effective immediately. I found a really sad place inside that thought this was horrible...and so it was very easy for my character to be found a few minutes later, sitting on the beach in floods of tears....

This was months ago, and I'd rather forgotten about the scene. Yesterday I met one of the other characters who'd been there. And I was reminded of the scene...and as I sat thinking, the sadness came flooding back.

So, as you think of that sad movie moment...doesn't it still get to you??

funny, eh?