GenPink

As I sit here on a Thursday afternoon, using my break time from working to "work" on my blog I find the subject of this guest post ironically laughable.

This guest post was written by David Giesberg, a fellow Brazen Careerist, who is currently an engineering student. David blogs about technology, productivity, and personal finance.

People spend a lot of time worrying about getting things done and maximizing productivity, but more important than just maximizing productivity is what your goals are when you start off on down that road. Don’t use all of the time that you free up to load yourself down with more things to do, that’s a recipe for burnout. I’m not sure if it is an engineering student thing to do, or what, but I have a tendency to let homework (and a lot of other work) expand into whatever space and time I have. Make sure to factor in free time into your schedule (whether that schedule is written down or just your game plan for the day), you need to use that time to eat, sleep, watch TV, spend time with loved ones, whatever it is that you need to make time for, the stuff that really matters.

I am not quite there yet, but I am trying to retrain myself to not let schoolwork take over my life and time, too much other stuff in my life suffers when I do that - my health and my relationships, for example, not to mention that the quality of your work suffers if you are tired, overloaded, and not focused. Getting things done should not be about optimizing your existing workload so you can add more stuff; GTD should be about freeing yourself up to pursue the things that you need to do and to improve the things that you already do. Doing less stuff better has got to be a more valuable pursuit than trying to do a million things poorly.

Let’s explore this, using students as an example: A lot of people will say that your GPA doesn’t really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. All a 4.0 says is that you do schoolwork very well, it doesn’t say much else about you. Alternatively, if you can show off a collection of valuable experience, like internships, or a great blog or involvement in a community project or build deeper, more valuable relationships with those around you, that will matter a lot more in the long run.

Use the progress you make in maximizing productivity to do something meaningful, concentrate your energy on the stuff and people that matter.

I will tell you a little secret David, this idea of filling up whatever space you have with "stuff" is not mutually exclusive with engineering students. In fact, it’s a pretty common issue with I will take a stretch here and say everyone. I am not really a schedule based person but I do make time for non-work things by scheduling dinners with my friends, reading, and creating self imposed no computer times. It’s amazing how much you can get done, or not, by giving yourself even 30 minutes of freedom.

It’s important to know what motivates you to get things done. My "get things done for the right reason" is so that I can have fun and spend time with all the wonderful people in my life. I like to say that I work hard so that I can play hard, even though my "play" lately tends to be being lazy by the pool.

So, my question for you dear freeders, what’s your reason for getting things done?

i·den·ti·ty
–noun
1. The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known.
2. The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality.

The struggle of finding who you are is very common in your twenties. Trying to fit into the career world is a big part of figuring out who we are. For many twentysomethings their career becomes their identity. This is why choosing a career, or making a career change, can be so stressful. Your twenties are the time that you decide who you want to be and who you want to become.

Penelope Trunk frequently writes about finding yourself and how that can affect your success in career. I am honored to have Penelope share her wisdom with us GenPinkers.

This guest post was written by Penelope Trunk, a career columnist at the Boston Globe, who provides advice at the intersection of work and life on her blog Brazen Careerist.

I learn the most about identity when I’m lost and I have to make a tough career decisions. Here’s the first time it happened:

When I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to play professional beach volleyball, but I was actually in Chicago, being a bike messenger in the snow, and I had no idea how I was going to get enough money to get to Los Angeles.

So I answered an ad someone ran for posing nude. I thought I could do it and get enough cash to get to LA. I went to the guy’s apartment. Insane, right? You are thinking this was not a safe move. I know. But I was young and sheltered, and I had never been faced with the problem of not having money.

I knocked.

The guy opened his door, and while I was still standing in his hallway he said, "Nice legs. But I can look at you and see this isn’t going to work."

I said, "Huh?"

"Well. What can you do? You can’t just stand there. That won’t work."

"What should I do?"

"See. I told you this won’t work."

He told me to stand on my toes and toss my hair.

I couldn’t do it.

He told me to practice and then come back.

On my way home, I thought. "That guy sucks. And I should be in Playboy. In the centerfold. I could do a great job at the written interview."

But by the time I got home, I was thinking how stupid it would be to spend my time figuring out how to get into nude modeling. That is only a stop-gap measure. Not a long-term way to make a living.

And I asked myself why I was doing that? Why wasn’t I doing something I’d be more proud of? I realized that the ways I choose to make money reflect who I am and how I see myself, and I need to start seeing myself as smart and clever. I always knew I was smart, but I didn’t present myself that way in the world.

That’s the moment I decided to switch. It seems obvious in hindsight, right? Of course getting paid to be smart is better than getting paid to be naked because it’s getting paid to be who I really am inside.

But we each struggle with this constantly, throughout our careers. How to figure out who we are inside and what career will be right for how we see ourselves now. It’s a constantly shifting alliance — what is our identity and what is the career that will reflect that.

Don’t be so arrogant as to think you do not consider such mismatched career moves for yourself as my nude modeling was for me. It’s very hard to find what career honors our identity. Identity changes as life changes And it’s hard to know what’s true to us at any given point. It takes a lot of vigilance and honesty and a willingness to shift when we’re totally off base.

I am currently in the state of making a career decision that has definitely made me question how my career defines my identity. My biggest take away from Penelope’s words of wisdom are remembering to have a willingness to shift.

When I was first contacted a while back about joining a new network (I’ll tell you about it in a second) that would be launching soon, I was beyond excited. I have always loved to be part of a community. I like feeling like I am a part of something bigger. This is one of the reasons that I have loved being so active with the Twenty Something Bloggers network (we have almost 800 members now!).

The timing of the launch of this new network coincided with my pending blogiversary. The anniversary of when I started GenPink will be in April so I knew I wanted to do something big for the last month of my first year. So which do you want to know about? The new network or my big idea? Oh, you want to know both, you guys are just spoiled aren’t you.

The Network - Brazen Careerist

I could give you the official bio of what Brazen Careerist is about, but I figure you can go read that on BrazenCareerist.com. I actually love the words that Penelope Trunk (remember I wrote about her before) sent out in her email welcoming all of us to the network.

In her email, Penelope said "it’s an enormous treat to be able to launch a site that is actually a group of people working together to make their voices heard in a way that shows collective respect in the face of individual interests." My response to that is, it’s an enormous treat and honor to be a part of these voices.

It is such an ego booster to be listed with such a great list of contributing bloggers. I will tell you a little secret, I had the hardest time writing my bio. I don’t know why I was having such a block about writing who I am.

I am looking forward to seeing what develops from Brazen Careerist.

My Big Idea - The ABCs of Being a Twenty Something

Ok so some of you loyal readers may be thinking, this isn’t a new idea, you tried this already. My answer to that is, yes I did have this idea a few months back but it never actually got started. And it was still my idea and it’s new and improved.

Starting tomorrow every day will be a post of the ABCs of life in your twenties. In the spirit of being part of something bigger I have enrolled several great bloggers to be part of my project. Some of these bloggers are twenty somethings and others are big name bloggers who have some advice for us. I am very excited for how this project is coming together. And even more excited that I have such a great group of contributing authors/bloggers coming together.