Unexpectedly Useful Skills
I’ve always tried to be someone who appreciates as much as possible in life. Yes, I rail and whine about things that are bad (especially spammers and marketers), but I also believe that one should see the positive side of things as much as possible. Now, that’s not saying that we should blinker ourselves to the ugly, nasty side of life: just that there’s a silver lining to most clouds.
In the six months or so that I’ve been freelancing, I’ve discovered that some of my more bizarre skills or experiences are quite useful. Many of these skills have come from bad situations or crappy jobs that had no apparent redeeming qualities – unlike the good jobs, which I expect to add to my portfolio in some way, these have been unexpected bonuses.
I thought I’d list a few of the more surprising ones for you today:
Latin
I have an ‘O’ Level in Latin. I never thought it’d be much use, to be honest, but it turns out that it’s surprisingly helpful – especially since I’m currently editing a massive number of documents about animal species. I can spot the typing mistakes in the species’ names without Wikipedia.
Son Of A Preacher-Man
My father was a preacher. That continual mental hammering I received as a child has stood me in good stead for several reasons: fewer prejudices (he wasn’t Catholic), lack of aggressive competitiveness, acceptance of who I am, a solid grounding in religious stuff and an iron will. It’s probably the main reason I haven’t given up on freelancing yet: nothing, but nothing can beat me when I put my mind to it.¹
Living With A Clinical Psychologist
Apart from the obvious advantages of living with someone who’s used to dealing with lunatics, having a frighteningly intelligent partner is an real boon for a writer. She’s my muse. Whenever I’m stuck for an idea, I just have to talk to her. It also helps that I edited her two University theses (in French), as that gives me much more than a layman’s view of another, specialised subject area.
The RSPCA
Working for one of the biggest animal charities in the world is an eye-opener. Not only does it correct some misconceptions of charities as a whole, but it means working with some incredibly passionate, talented people. Being exposed to some of the more horrific things in life also puts a new perspective on day-to-day events.
Bar And Restaurant Work
I was an assistant manager in a pub once, for about six months. Quite apart from the social skills learned in that situation, I can now carry two glasses (without handles) and three or four plates at the same time. I can also do the washing up and vacuum a room quicker and better than anyone I know. That’s incredibly useful when your home is your office.
Those are just a few examples of past experiences that have been much more useful than I would have imagined. There are a lot of others, which I won’t bore you with right now.
¹ With the exception of our pet cat, who almost always gets her way.
Do you have a skill that you didn’t expect to be useful, but has turned out to be a real blessing?
Spike,
I was a paramedic for the Los Angeles Fire Department for a while. The street sense I learned there comes in handy now and then – even while blogging. Dealing with such a diverse community also taught me the importance of tolerance and this allows me to write from a broader perspective than most of my American brethren.
Cheers!
George
George: Wow, that must have been amazing (and, I suspect, quite harrowing at times). The things I never knew about you, eh?
Great site Spike; thought I’d drop by and say hi.
Many of my UUS’ were crafted during my formative and school years, principally around the art of trying to look engaged while gazing into the middle distance out of any available window. I should clarify that I regard unexepectly useful attitudes (UUA) as equally relevant to my navigation through my wyrd perception of reality.
Shove over a sec, that’s better, need to squeeze my soap box in here. Cheers. The school system was designed and remains controlled by big business, ever since the Industrial Revolution. The concept is to brainwash people into getting good exam results and embed the expectation that the State and their employer will take care of them. The one thing they don’t want is big business being taken away from them; no vested interest in supporting small business competition. In other words, those who value security will feel happier working for others, which neatly fits the creationist labour force movement. Speaking as one who originated social enterprise, economic wellbeing and enterprise learning programmes for schools and for the last fifteen years has licenced them out for delivery across the UK, I can vouchsafe the mini-laboratory observation that those kids with dyslexia, bi-polar condition, dyspraxia, ADHD or who are just plain vanilla distruptive end up making the best owner-managers. They value independence, fiercely, more than security. They also come with some baggage which doesn’t necessarily make them the world’s best employers and so need to learn to work with those who think completely differently. The latter observations derived from my being a qualified business advisor and management consultant with over 8000 1:1 client sessions under his belt. Laboured point being that we first have to experience what we are not, in order to discover and express who we are. A process to be sure, hence the need for compassion and abstinence of judgement.
I venture people buy attitude more than skill. Certainly it’s a skill to mask a perceived deficiency and to gather others willingly to one’s cause accordingly. But UU atttitudes are the clincher for me.
For instance, I can only teach economic wellbeing by virtue of having miserably abdicated responsibility for my fiscal choices in the past, failing to educate myself about how money really works until the building society forceably reminded me who actually owned the property when they came to collect it. I was well on the way to making a career out of bitching about it but instead, opted for reclaiming my power. I’ve been rehabilitated for some time, though ‘teacher teach thyself’ always keeps one humble; as does teaching the lesson one has just learned. Moreover my pursuasive argument for social enterprise could only have been made, for me anyway, on the stength of being a former paid-up devout capitalist.
Could never figure out why I was a square peg in the proverbial round but as you eruditely surmised, no matter how vigilant or intellectually capable, seems we’re all falling into open manholes (personholes?) in order to find the gold in the crap at the bottom before climbing up and showing those who care to learn from the wisdom.
Thanks for leading by example Spike; been a frustrated author waiting to happen for too many years and only now just coming out to play. Appreciate the inspiration and apologies for the ramble.
Umm, I can’t think of any useful skills I have. If I had useful skills I’d be working in a real job, not playing on the computer for so many hours.
I’m good with dogs, can write publishable haiku, have raised a caring son, am kind to people almost all of the time.
Does any of that count for anything? I think I’m having another crisis of confidence. Oh, I can tell people where they are going wrong in their quest for a healthier body, regarding weight issues.
I’m a good dater (well, there’s been some debate about that lately). But when I was looking for some new meaty topic to write about I decided to focus on dating. Something I was good at and, arguably, knew a bit about.
The rest is history. (imagine me smirking right now)
Michael: Not a ramble at all, just a detailed look at something a lot of us suspect. Academics tend to look down on NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications, for the non-UK folks – job-centred diplomas) and vice-versa. I remember working with a girl in Wales who had a degree in Music & Welsh: most employers looked at her askance, wondering what use it was, but to me it made as much sense as studying business or management. Every experience is valuable.
Carolyn: Gardening, girl! You forgot the gardening skills, a very valuable skill – especially with more and more folks wanting to grow their own veggies. Hmm, now there’s an idea for a blog.
Simone: Brilliant example. Something completely unexpected that turns into (what we hope will be) a celebrity-style career! I often wondered what it’d be like to date someone who’s good at it, since I suck horribly