I’ve been playing with the idea of writing letters to various things since your post… here’s the one that finally emerged to my Ideal Job:

Dear Ideal Job

I know that this is an unconventional way to go about finding you. I have faith that you exist, but I’m pretty sure that I won’t find you by looking in all the usual places that traditional jobs hang out. You just don’t fit in there. Neither do I.

But just because we’re a bit different, doesn’t mean that we’re rebellious reprobates. On the contrary, you give me lots of responsibility and expect me to deliver high quality work on time. And boy, do I step up to the plate to deliver. Competence, efficiency, effectiveness, integrity and reliability are not just hollow buzzwords, but what I genuinely bring to our relationship.

Although you do provide support when I need it, you know that I flourish in environments where I am trusted and given freedom – to learn, grow and expand; to organise and manage my own time, what I do and how I do it; and to be myself… absolutely sane, possessing plenty of common sense, but a bit quirky and with a sense of humour that owes much to those lovely lads from Monty Python.

It is not only me who benefits from this freedom – valuing my opinions and my ideas allows me to make a real contribution to the organisation’s performance and continued success. This may sound cheesy, but together we can make a difference in the world through work that is sustainable, meaningful and fun.

Our daily adventures together span a variety of tasks and projects, and are a beautiful balance of logic and creativity. If anyone is a perfect 50-50 split between the left and right brain, it’s me. I absolutely love getting all analytical – strategising, planning, organising, and all the attendant administration that goes with these kinds of tasks. And I also absolutely love the innovation and inventiveness of the creative process. I am a largely visual person – when I’m not decorating rooms, painting pictures, or capturing moments by camera, I’m weaving a tapestry of words.

Far from being mutually exclusive, these two aspects combine in the most glorious ways – it comes naturally to me to see the order in seeming chaos, to find structures and frameworks to make sense of details, to synthesise information from disparate sources, and to explain complex concepts succinctly and clearly.

I am open to working with you in Edinburgh or East Lothian, or to having an online working relationship. Either way, I know that our working environment will be a friendly and respectful one, peopled with colleagues and clients who are positive and mature, and focused on developing genuine connections with others. In addition, you appreciate that I require a balance between work and other aspects of my life, and you are flexible enough to accommodate this, knowing that I will never let you down and will always give you my all during working hours.

I have a vast amount of previous experience to draw on, from being a professional to running my own successful business. At the same time, I would like to make a change and try some new things that aren’t reflected in my CV. While others may only judge my suitability for a particular role based on what I have done before, you are able to see past this, and recognise that I have much to offer you. You are willing to give me a chance, knowing that you won’t regret it. You reward me very well financially, and in turn, you receive a high rate of return on your investment in me.

Magss last blog post..That’s What It’s All About

Sooo… I write obnoxiously long. But I also don’t have an alternative online place to stick this (except private places), so forgive me for abusing your comment box, Havi :)
—

Dear new business,

I know you feel like you’re having a rough time these past couple months. Things seem really swell, and you’re up up up, until suddenly a needle appears, and bursts your little bubble, and crash! Back down to earth again.

Or lower.

Because after the impact–smack!–you realize that while things were feeling so wonderfully amazing and fresh and new, that was probably because you were selectively forgetting about less happy-fun things that “have” to get done.

It’s like hitting the ground all over again. Smack! Smack! Ow!

I know that when this happens–and it’s happened several times–you feel guilty as well as deluded. You end up wondering if the happy stuff can only ever come out of denial.

I know it feels sucky. But that’s ok.

New Business, I want to tell you something important: Change can be really hard.

I know you’ve experienced a couple of overnight life-changing epiphanies, which seemed effortless at the time, and were just totally awesome.

But that’s not usually how things work. And those lucky, beautiful, awesome breaks have made it unfairly difficult for all the ordinary, long-term slugging-it-out change that has to happen most of the time.

With ordinary, long-term, slugging-it-out change, sometimes there are “casualties.” Sometimes things don’t get done. Sometimes people don’t like you any more. That sucks, but not changing sucks more.

And I think that sometimes you forget that those beautiful overnight changes came from years of not changing *at all*. They were unacted-upon but desperately needed change, bottled up for years. The champagne cork just finally exploded, and thank god for that.

Speaking of champagne, don’t forget to celebrate the victories you’ve already won… just because you find yourself looking around and what you see is a lot of stuff you’ve still got to do before you’re really free.

Think about it… you’re already ahead of schedule. You wanted to be in place by January 2010, and yet you’ll be in nearly full force by April 2009, instead.

That’s pretty awesome! And yet you are all angsty and morose that it’s not *now*, dammit.

I don’t want to say you SHOULD still be high on that, but it’s worth thinking about when you’re feeling in the dumps because not everything is done and perfect yet, and leftover bits of Old Business are still hanging about in in the corners, glaring at you and making you feel tremendously guilty.

I know you feel stressed out, and harried, and overcommitted, and totally overwhelmed right now and pissed at everyone.

But remember: you’re still in transition. You’re fucking up. You’re also kicking ass. At the same time. That is possible, and yes it’s awkward, but that’s where the value lies, doesn’t it? If it were too easy, that’d make you mopey too. I know it would–I know you.

Butterflies look great a couple days after they come out of their cocoon. They really look neat inside the cocoon, too. It’s the bit in the middle, with the squeezing, and the wrenching, and tearing, and wrinkled wings, all damp with cocoon goo, that we don’t tend to think about. It’s amazing and miraculous, but also tough and uncomfortable and really quite gross.

But you can’t have the before & after without the in-between.

As long as you can survive my redonkulous butterfly metaphors, you’ll be all right.

Love and admiration,

Me

Amy H.s last blog post..Why we need interaction designers, not Photoshop jockeys

I cannot believe how many sweet, brilliant letters… or how many sweets, brilliant insights you guys have been having. And not just you guys, but people who have been doing these exercises on their blogs or in their journals or whatever. Genius!

@Kelly — I’m so impressed with how deep you are going with this. Rock on with your intuitive brain. I love it.

@Jen — your letter! So beautiful! Your relationship is one lucky relationship if it has you around. Wow.

@Sari — hooray! Love the insighting. And where you’re going with this.

*shivers*

I’ve been writing letters to myself all month in the form of my Shiva Nata-tramp journal, having all kinds of little epiphanies that feel true, and not forced.

Also just finished reading a marvelous book called Growing a Business, by Paul Hawken, which Mark Silver recommended. Somehow even though it was written in 1987, it reads like it was written exactly now.

This book + writing letters to self + your post on Monday = Recipe for Business Perfection for Anybody.

The thing I’ve learned from actually being aware and writing about Stuff for a month is that it’s okay to revisit the same issue over and over and over again. Each time I tackle one angle of it, a new angle reveals itself. So, just being okay with that, and being okay with the process taking as long as the process takes, has been liberating. It seems fuzzy and so very unorganized, but I also feel like I’m making real progress and not going back and forth making and unmaking my mind about the same old questions.

I never realized how many decisions my intuitive brain could make without the spreadsheet-loving side taking over and running the numbers. It’s kind of reassuring to know that somebody wise is actually in there, and I don’t have to do a bunch of calculations and statistical analysis to call her forth, or to trust in a decision.

Yay for letters!

I am ecstatic that you’re here.

While you are blooming, I would like you to know peace, patience, presence, and love.

Peace that the direction we’re going is the right one and that we’re doing it together—-you, Budding Relationship, and me. It might be scary at times, and I sometimes feel a little nervous and anxious not knowing what is coming or how you’re progressing. But I’d like to check in with each other and ourselves and remember to give ourselves what we need.

Patience that we’re going in this direction at exactly the right pace. There is no need to rush things, nor is there any reason to fear that things are going to fail because the pace is slower than our shoulds and expectations dictate.

Presence that we’re going to be in the moment, loving ourselves in the moment, perhaps, at times, losing ourselves in the moment, but we’re going to be here. We don’t need to live in the future because we might miss the right now, and that’s where all the fun is.

Love for us—-you and me, Budding Relationship—-will allow us to fully experience all of those things I just talked about.

It makes me feel happy when I think of all of these things for you because I feel a real connection with you. And I would like to say that, just as importantly, I want you to let me know when you need something, and I promise we will work together to help you fill your need.

Again, I’m so happy you’re here. I can’t wait to play with you lots and lots.

Love,
Me

And then I read this.

And then I got to the part about intention.

And then *ding…*
…I was all “oh honey, it doesn’t matter that you didn’t get it the first or the fifteenth time, as long as you got it now!” That’s how stupid I felt. :)

So now I’ve written a personal ad that’ll invite my dream job to my life. All that’s left now is to convince myself that yes, I do deserve to have something like this.

Thank you for gently nudging me onwards again. :)

Sari O.s last blog post..An open letter to my dream job

Wow! These letters are absolutely gorgeous. And I’m blown away by all the neat things you thought of.

@Terry – I LOVE the idea of a letter to your bed. I want to do that. And that’s beautiful that even just thinking about writing a letter lead to other stuff.

@christy – sure … it’s kind of a big, complicated thing so I will do some thinking on it and write a post about that. Thanks for reminding me that it’s important!

@Laurel, Lynne, Tiara, Fabeku – these letters are outstanding. This is so, so cool.

And everyone else … I adore you all. It’s so reassuring to have someone to talk about this stuff with. Hooray.

But what is really important is these letters make me figure out how I really feel about things. I didn’t write a letter to my mom but I did call her and set up a time to go to the thrift store on Tuesday (she likes going there, isn’t getting out enough, and doesn’t drive. she’s 83). I’m procrastinating a little about writing the letter to the real estate office where I work, but it really isn’t working for me there and it’s time to move on, so that’s coming up.

Thanks for an AMAZING TOOL!

Terry Heaths last blog post..Stream-of-Consciousness Shamrocks