Top 10 Things I like about My Job

In my efforts to combat the negative tone of "this blasted economy" I probably shouldn't even contribute to the noise that is already out there. But, it's topical, I am feeling grateful, and actually, my job is pretty good. So here are the top 10 reasons I like my job:

1. Got one

2. It allows me tremendous freedom and I am not bound to a desk. Today was a "desk work" day at the freeschool, which means that I am free in the mornings to network, build business, research or surf the web for hours on end. Today, for example I ended up visiting the non-profit support center, dropped by the "movie cafe" to get advice on a movie screening we are hoping to set up, visited with an old I CAN member who dropped by, call a donor, go to the bank, etc, etc.

3. Good psychic rewards. Helping troubled kids is my job. Sounds so much better than "raping the rain forest" or "moving money around" or the ever-popular, "something with computers."

4. Actually, my job is to play around with kids! On its best days, I CAN, our freeschool, is like my own personal cafe, or Cheers. I brew a pot of coffee, kids I like come over to hang out, we play chess, go outside for soccer, play cards, laugh, write, read, hang out, clean up and go home. Cool.

5. My job as an English teacher supports my job at I CAN. That kind of sounds like I'm working so I can go to work, but I prefer to look at it like this: I help out at the English school, and
in exchange, I have the freedom to experiment, take chances, try new business ideas at I CAN. Without the fear of "having everything riding on it," I know that there is a minimum amount of financial support coming in every month from the English School.

6. I also get to work with cool adults. The members of our board are mostly successful businessmen, with a college professor and a prefectural representative as our top man. I have a mastermind at my beck and call, all willing to help I CAN (and me) succeed

7. I like where I live. Joetsu, in Niigata Japan, is very community oriented, and very supportive of non-profit groups. I visit regularly (see #1, above) the NPO support center often, just 5 minutes from my desk (and upstairs from the English school where I work). Whenever you want to start a project, Joetsu is just the right size of town to be not intimidating, yet you can get supporters interested in your vision easily.

8. I learn something everyday. Finances? Balance Sheets? Blogging? Membership Campaigning? Trust Games? Recreation Activities? Cooking Recipes? Communication Skills? Networking? Japanese Language? It's amazing when you count up the things I've learned since I've been here

9. I like my co-workers. Right now there is only me. It gives me peace and solitude and time to think, as well as freedom. I think I work best alone....However, I am under no illusions that we need to be staffed to be effective. I need to like MORE co-workers, too.

10. We get great support. From old friends and new, even from strangers. This job has taught me a lot about gratitude, because we rely on donations for about one-seventh of our income. I know the services we provide are needed and valuable, but because we are supported by our community, we can continue to serve.

Yup. Not a bad place at all. Swing on by?

April 22 2009 Best 10

Sometimes the best work in Powering up your Tens is had just by reviewing the best parts of your day. There are probably 10 reasons for doing so, but for me it helps me feel gratitude, it helps me reflect and review the day, and it is a nice closing bookend of one unit of living.

As I have written before, the real work comes towards the end, but the Power of Tens is in the work at the end. What little successes did I enjoy today? What little things were good? A lot of littles make a big big.

Today's List of Ten came easily:



(in chronological order)
1. Morning call from Kota’s mom. Could he start coming back to I CAN? Seems his grandmother is stressing him out again these days, and everyone agrees he needs to get out of the house! Great to have Kota back with us!
2. New Zealand buddy Simon stops by I CAN with his McLunch for a visit. He helps us set up our youtube inspired “Mentos in Pepsi” experiement. Result? not as impressive as online.
3. Playing “the Game of Life” (literally, you know, the board game) with these guys. Funny how the “winner” is decided by how much money you have at the end.
4. Neighborhood 5th graders stop by I CAN after school to play. This reminds me that I have a(n unimplemented) plan to open up for after school visitors! We played a charades-inspired guessing game using red, yellow, green and blue Play-doh.
5. After kids go home, I run to the cable TV station to try to borrow a projector for our homestay slideshow, and also try to get some local, cable news coverage. I got 2 yeses.
6. Then I got on the phone to try to confirm attendees for the homestay success party itself, and to round up more photos for the slide show I will try to put on DVD for them by Sunday. Still, the sixth (newly 7th) graders are not quite on the ball with deadlines.
7. As almost an afterthought I called our chairman and asked him to attend. He was delighted with stories of the trip and will attend.
8. I took the rest of the night off to attend what I thought would be a koto (Japanese harp) concert. In fact it was one of the strangest meetings I have ever attended. While I used to get myself into these situations a lot when I first arrived in Japan, it had been a while. I walked into the 300 year old restaurant, expecting a room full of classical music fans. Instead, 15 chairs around a table, mostly filled with company presidents, cultural leaders, and other town “elites.” Each place was set with a meeting agenda, other official looking documents.
Turns out that the meeting I was asked by a Rotary acquaintance to attend was in order to commission a “support group” (fan club?) for a local, distinguished koto artist. Unfortunately, the man who invited me hadn’t done his homework. There was a near revolt when it became known that the woman for whom the group was being commisioned hadn’t asked for support, and that furthermore, she was not in attendance, though she said she might stop by later that night.
I received a lesson in Japanese politics, as each member politely declined being an officer, and then had their name written in anyway when the room’s ranking leader cajoled them into (forced) volunteer service. I resigned myself to eating and drinking as much as my $80 addendance fee would allow.
Strange.
9. Best part of the surreal meeting was introducing myself to a doctor Kawamuro, a woman director of two hospitals which specialize in mental health. We talked a bit about school -outs and society -outs, and she and I seemed to be on the same page regarding how best to support such members/patients/citizens. Will drop her a thank you tomorrow.
10. Got back home in time for reading in bed with Emiko, Yuto and Eli. Did my son just say “I love you, Dad.” before nodding off?

The First Ten

What follows will be 10 lists of 10, for you to work on, post here if you like, or keep in a journal. I will be posting my personal “Lists of 10” for each of these categories, in coming days. It’s like President Obama’s first 100 days. (10 x 10 days).

Let’s see how much we can get done in the next 3 1/3 months.

So here’s your homework, to be taken on one list a day. DO THIS, and you will be surprised at the new you whom you meet next summer!Let’s get started:

List 10 things you are grateful for.

List 10 people you remember from high school. Can you reach them? Will you try?

List your 10 favorite songs. Burn them onto a disc.

List your 10 favorite colors. Find them right now and smile.

List your 10 favorite books. Will you read them this year?

List 10 things you wish your friend would say to you. Ask them to say them!

List 10 memories from high school.

List your 10 favorite animals. Go see them at the zoo, or get a DVD and watch them!

List 10 difficult things to do. Break them down into 10 steps each. Take one first step.

List the 10 Best Things of today.