Got Skills?

The world is divided into two types of people. There are people who have really cool skills, and they develop those skills over time and become progressively better at them until they become masters. These are the “got skills” people.

Then there are people who have really excellent, really boring skills. And maybe they major in something that utilizes those really boring, un-useful skills, and suddenly find that using those boring skills in order to receive slightly-over-minimum-wage compensation makes for a really boring life. So they end up trying many other things, things they are not skilled at, in order to enjoy being mediocre at something cool and interesting.

You can guess which category I am.

I am a writer. I enjoy writing. I also enjoy reading books and killing monsters on World of Warcraft. Oh, I like wildlife too. And I really like bossing around teenagers and other small persons who might be frightened or intimidated by me. My job list:

• Teacher
• Office clerk
• Office administrator
• The person who paints the little numbers on the seats in a baseball stadium
• Wildlife Tech
• Daycare worker
• Program Instructor
• Assistant Librarian
• Nanny
• Landlord

Some of these vary in the coolness factor.  For example, daycare worker, office clerk and the person who paints the little numbers on a baseball stadium — near the bottom.  Program Instructor, Wildlife Tech and Teacher — nearer the top.

I recently took a personality assessment test and was categorized exactly the same way I was categorized when I was 22 and graduating college.  I am, according to Meyers-Briggs, the rare, exotic type of INFP.  Around 3-5% of the total US population is like me, which is a really good excuse for why I never like anyone and rarely make friends.  It doesn’t go on to explain why I have a hard time being nice — today I made a 19-year-old college kid lean over and pick up the trash he’d thrown on the ground in front of a horrified crowd that included his perky blond girlfriend — or why it is so satisfying to humiliate said frat-boy types.  I’m sure my problem being nice has absolutely nothing to do with why I don’t make a lot of friends.  The two are completely unrelated.

Somewhat ironically, my personality type is focused on “making the world a better place.”  Hmmmm.  Enforcing littering laws falls under that, right?

Anyway, I started this post to discuss my extremely poor business skills.  This year I started renting out the guesthouse; currently it is rented monthly, but I rented it weekly and sometimes daily over the spring.  Being an absolute novice at business, this is what I learned:

1. The nicer the person is on the phone, the less likely they are to pay you.
2. Get the money first.  Then give them the keys.
3. The most respectable people are the dirtiest.
4. Leaving a check on a cinder block wall on a windy day in order to pull that noxious weed right in front of you is not a good idea.
5. Before you agree to absorb the fees for a credit card transaction, check what the fees actually are.

For those who I talk to on a daily business, you may know of my obsession with owning my own business.  I have wanted to own a business for a long time and I’ve met a lot of different people who’ve had strong opinions on it, the main (ok, the only) prevailing opinion being “why are you so crazy?”  I think this is partly due to the fact that people are generally averse to risk and owning a business is a big risk.  I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that I consistently go over my household budget every month, frequently lose my keys and majored in English and not business.  It’s all about the risk factor.

I am considering business school.  I’m not considering it to the point of filling out the extensive application, but I still have 27 days, 10 hours and 52 minutes until the application is due.  Plenty of time!

Anyway, a lot of interesting people have been INFPs, including Homer, Laura Ingalls Wilder, William Shakespeare and John Mildew Smithertonian, who would have been a lot more famous than those other guys if he hadn’t spent all his time searching for his keys.  Anne in Anne of Green Gables was also an INFP with a really bad temper, which heartens me.  Secretly I always wanted red hair — what better excuse for yelling at people?

Here’s an interesting collection of INFP characteristics.  Some apply, some don’t, but it’s rather interesting to be categorized…

creative, smart, idealist, loner, attracted to sad things, disorganized, avoidant, can be overwhelmed by unpleasant feelings, prone to quitting, prone to feelings of loneliness, ambivalent of the rules, solitary, daydreams about people to maintain a sense of closeness, focus on fantasies, acts without planning, low self confidence, emotionally moody, can feel defective, prone to lateness, likes esoteric things, wounded at the core, feels shame, frequently losing things, prone to sadness, prone to dreaming about a rescuer, disorderly, observer, easily distracted, does not like crowds, can act without thinking, private, can feel uncomfortable around others, familiar with the darkside, hermit, more likely to support marijuana legalization, can sabotage self, likes the rain, sometimes can’t control fearful thoughts, prone to crying, prone to regret, attracted to the counter culture, can be submissive, prone to feeling discouraged, frequently second guesses self, not punctual, not always prepared, can feel victimized, prone to confusion, prone to irresponsibility, can be pessimistic

Tags: career, INFP, job, personality type, skills