Reminding Yourself of What You are Good at

2:45 AM Posted by GloryBug

Sometimes in the process of trying to make a living, you forget what it is that you are good at.

I'm a good example of that. I get so easily distracted reading up on the newest this or that that I forget what my real goal is.

Today I broke through that. I came across a recommended website that was very good. Problem was, it was written very poorly and unprofessionally. For a long time I've been ignoring things like that. For some reason today it occurred to me to write to them and offer to edit their website for them.

It seems kind of silly as a stand-alone.

But the truth is, that one of the first writing jobs I ever got was exactly that way. I'd been reading a small local mag for a while, always annoyed at how bad the writing was- errors, typos, syntax- when finally I took one of their issues, circled every error and sent it to them. They responded by offering me an interview. I'm not saying it paid a lot, but I ended up learning computer advertising graphics and writing columns, and it was a stepping stool to writing bigger things later.

So that is definitely one of the things I am going to start doing. Every time I see a poorly written website, I'm going to offer my services as an editor or writer.
Does that mean I'm going to stop doing my own writing, or stop with the goals I have in mind for myself longterm? No. But it would be stupid of me not to do what I am good at, have experience with, and that will no doubt be helpful to me in the long run- while I continue working on my current projects.

Now that I think of it, I hate this website template. It's possible I could find someone willing to customize it for me in exchange for editing their websites. Win/win, eh?

What is it that you are good at that you have forgotten about?

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