The MicroTrain Blog

I'm re-reading "The Art of Possibility" this spring and remembering why I recommended to everyone I know the first go-round.

Some people see this as a fluffy "feel good" book with no content. Two that end I will say 1) What's wrong with feeling good? and 2) If you don't see real-world help in this book, you're not really reading it.

I'd explain that the married authors, one a therapist, the other a well-known conductor, do a great job balencing each other and keeping the book from becoming yet another "Chicken Soup for the Whatever Soul" derivation, but you should just read it and see.

Let me give you two ideas that I think would help everyone looking for a job in this economy.

First, there's the idea that everything is invented. Everything. Is. Invented. It's such a tough concept to get your head around that I've considered having it tattooed on my arm. Think of it this way, job hunter: A long time ago, some HR person was trying to figure out how sort applicants into piles of "Likely successful candidates" and "Unlikely successful candidates." So that person asked everyone to submit their work experience in a format we now love to hate called the "resume." The idea of a resume wasn't handed down by god, it was created by one of us. Thus, we can uncreate it. We can "game" it. We can subvert the system for our own ends. Since it is all invented, why not stop sending resumes and... well, I don't know. But someone invented the resume, you can invent something better, right?

It's all invented. The grades you got were invented by the school system (read: messy bueacracy) and implemented by teachers (read: fallible people) and now you carry those mediocre grades around your neck like a millstone. They were invented, so invent yourself as someone who is actually smart (because you are), hard-warking (you are if you found something you loved to do), and motivated, not the picture of yourself you carry in your head (you know what else was invented? that picture of yourself you carry around in your head. You invented it, so if you don't like it, UN-invent it).

So if it's all invented, why are you playing a game by someone eles's invented rules? The second idea I wnat to pass along is to give yourself an "A."

Remember, grades were invented by us, why are we reraching towards them so hard? What if you stopped trying to please someone else who you hope will give you an "A" (in whatever format that may take) and give it to yourself? You would then be free to acheive for you instead of for someone else.

I want to please me boss, because I presume that if my boss is happy with my work, I will get raises and job security. But what if instead of waiting for his approval, I gave myself an "A" and worked to get approval from myself? Instead of trying to read his mind, I used my own instincts to guide me? I might be wrong, but I might have been just as wrong before.

By giving myself an "A" I give myself the freedom to make mistakes that lead to giant leaps instead of follow in someone else's footsteps.

Someone once said that school was only good at doing on thing: making college professors. Think about it: the kind of thinking and training it delivers is only useful for people who will stay in academia forever. Does school teach you how to plan a project? Or how to find a job? No, it only gives an "A" to people who behave like future college professors. Since most of us never will (or want to) be professors, those acolades are meaningless. So give yourself an "A" and stop moving under the weight of other people's expectations. Work for yourself. Find your own path.

There may be times in programs like PowerPoint, Word and Excel where you have added a graphic or drawn a shape where you want to be able to duplicate the object. Instead of the usual copy and paste method, a little known method to duplicate objects in Microsoft Office programs is to use Ctrl Dragging.

Using this technique is simple. Simply select whatever shape or picture you wish to duplicate and then hold down the Ctrl key. While holding down the Ctrl key, grab the object with your mouse and then drag in any direction you wish as if you are moving the object. However, instead of moving the object, the object should be duplicated. Be sure to let go of the mouse button before letting go of Ctrl.

For those of you that use Adobe programs, a similar shortcut works the same way. Except that instead of holding Ctrl, you use the Alt key.