Nobody’s Perfect: Your Career
May 28, 2010 by Identity
Filed under Nobody's Perfect
What is your not-so-perfect way?
Done something that you're not proud of?
You're not perfect? In what way? Tell us and share with others.
"I love this topic nobody's perfect. I have met many who think they are . We all make little no no's in our life. Great web site I am enjoying it ." – Melinda
This issue you told us your not-so-perfect ways when it comes to your career. These are fantastic and I hope you walk away with a sigh of relief that you are not the only human being out there! We need to continue to share and embrace who we are!
1. I sleep in. Every day. Im rarely out of bed before 10 am. I run a celebrity gossip site thats a part of RealNetworks Film.com, and I have east-coast writers who I know are awake and doing a fantastic job working on the site. I know I should be awake, getting my workout in, cleaning the house, or responding to early-morning emails so that Ill have more time in the evening to focus on my job, but I just cant do it. I love sleeping in. I love laying on the bed with my puppy dog and my cats and just taking an extra hour or two to enjoy being lazy. I wish I could be a morning person, but Im not. Ive accepted that.
-Sasha
2. In the title of Chapter 5 of my book, Comfort Living: A Back-to-Basics Guide to a More Balanced lifestyle, the "y" in "everyday" is missing… Which means my proofer isn't perfect either! Also, my kids are 14 and 19 now – and most of our framed photographs are of them from elementary school and before – time to do some updating, but it's not the end of the world either! - Christine
3. We do try to be perfect don't we! I would say my one biggest flaw in my work is that I repeat myself. I have this feeling like I'm not always understood so I explain and explain again and I realize I am repeating myself. It's annoying when I notice I'm doing it so I can only imagine how annoying it is to the other person. -Sharmen
4. It takes me an extra week (sometimes two) to put my laundry away once it's folded._ (Shhh, don't tell too many people…LOL) Hope this helps women know that it's OK to be a little bit behind in an area or two. It's this "being behind" that's keeping me sane. Trust me. -Candi Meridith
5. My one HUGE imperfection: Getting easily distracted by personal emails when I am supposed to be doing my work! -Julie
6. Last week I was late to the kindergarten Mother's Day tea party because I was in a meeting and it ran late. The truth is, I am almost always late. In my business and throughout my professional career I have been a perfectionist (and frankly, it's paid off) but the one thing – despite a natural ability to organize – I can't do is get everywhere I need to be on time. I feel lame saying "sorry I am late" over and over again, but I continue to always be late. I think the
reason is that I talk too much. Really, I invest a lot in each meeting/conversation, so my time schedule runs amok. Also, I do think that I try to do so much. Try to be in too many places to get more things done. I am really making an effort to schedule breaks between meetings so that I can
decompress and allow for minor setbacks (or long conversations). -Jules
7. I am a single, working mom and was so proud of myself one morning. My daughter and I stayed with my sister a few miles out of town. It was winter and the next morning we woke up to snow, which didn't seem that bad, so I hurried my daughter to get ready for school, and I needed to attend an important business meeting. She was in 3rd grade at the time. So, feeling like Super Mom, I dropped my daughter off at school, watched her walk into the school, drove away and got to my meeting on time. I could do it all, I thought.
I went to the meeting and when I came out I had 6 voice mails. Well, the weather was worse than I thought and school was closed that day. I had actually left my daughter alone with the janitor who was calling me to pick up my daughter. She was the only one at school! Not a Super Mom after all. – Paula
8. I work from home and run a business as a book coach: helping doctors, coaches, therapists, other health professionals and entrepreneurs write their nonfiction/how-to books and get published. My not-so-perfect way is that sometimes I put on a video or let my oldest play a video game in order to get some work done if I have a deadline. I don't feel great about it. The other thing is that sometimes I work into the night (midnight or 12:30 is usually the latest), but I'm grouchy the next day. It's often not worth it because of the grouchiness or needing a nap to make up for it. -Lisa
9. I have a lot of newsletters that I subscribe to. To don't, however, read them very often. They collect in a folder I've created for them called "Read Me". Periodically, when that folder gets too big, I hit the "Mark All As Read" button and give myself credit for "handling" it.
I recently got audited on a series of tax years that had been the bane of my existence. After hiring five different people to do the books and having a computer virus eat the work I had done myself, I finally got them all turned in and thought I was done. Then the IRS audited me. So I had to go back and re-create the books again myself – since the last person I hired just dumped numbers in without a lot of documentation. I was overwhelmed at the thought of having to do all this work AGAIN. I couldn't think. I looked at the boxes of paperwork and my brain shut off. I couldn't even get myself to organize the boxes back into a reasonable order. I needed help. A well-placed plea for help got me through it as several friends came over and helped me get things straight again. After they gave me the push, I managed to dig through things from there. Moral of this story? Ask for help. – Kellie
10. As a reforming control freak (my daughter's description), I now work very hard to make good, solid decisions in a quick manner. This beats over analyzing and stretching the decision out for weeks on end. It is the difference between 'doing' and 'thinking about doing' something. Six months ago I opened my own real estate firm in northeast Iowa. Prior to opening, I literally spent two weeks trying to decide what type of printer/copier/fax machine to buy. A friend advised me that the brands I was considering were all good and had great warranties; that it would be best for me to 'pick one, already'. By doing so, I could be faxing, copying and scanning the next day! Or I could think about it some more – and delay having a tool which was crucial to my business. That perspective has helped me tremendously. I now make many decisions daily. I have posted on my bulletin board a quote I came across that really sums it up: I would rather regret what I did, than regret never having done anything! I truly believe that when I seem to be stuck in a holding pattern, it is best to shift and quickly make decisions that are 'good enough', so that I can take the actions which really move me and my business forward.-Barb




I recently had a career vs. best friend battle and thought it'd be great to add to this Not-So-Perfect post. I messed up big time on the dates and thought my dear friends birthday was really the 28th than the 27th. I had a big networking meeting scheduled for the 27th and I contemplated on what to do.
The following day, I saw a special on GMA that helped with my decision. There was an author on GMA that was promoting her book that she wrote about her best friend living with cancer. She had said on the show that she used to never see her friends, but they knew they loved her. Now, she says you have to show it, not just assume they know.
At that moment, I took that as a sign and chose to spend my best friends 30th birthday with her. I missed and had to cancel on going to the other meeting, but I have no regrets. Some may disagree with my actions, but who's to say on what the right decision should have been?
So, I'm not perfect! I chose my best friend over my career…..