A Grade 3 moment

My fairy goddaughter just started Grade 3!  So here's the story of a seminal moment from when I was in Grade 3:

Mornings in our Grade 3 classroom followed a routine: spelling, then math, then journal, then silent reading. The teacher started each morning by writing the day's spelling exercises, math questions and journal topic on the board, so we could see as soon as we walked in what the morning would bring.

I was one of the better students in the class, so I was always among the first to finish my spelling exercises. Then, one day, I had an idea: I'm done my spelling, so rather than sitting around waiting bored, I'll do my math next!

So I took out my math book, worked through the questions written on the board, and finished them all while the class was still working on spelling.

So then I took out my journal, and wrote a journal entry on the topic written on the board.  The class was still working on spelling.

So I took out my silent reading book - it was a good book and I was looking forward to it! - and settled in to spend the rest of my morning reading.

My teacher noticed I was reading instead of working, so he came over to see what's up.  I showed him I'd already finished the morning's work and was now diligently doing my silent reading.  He praised me to the class for my initiative (which was awkward) and then let me read.

***

What's interesting about this moment is how representative it is of my strengths and temperament.

I find task-oriented work far more satisfying than project-oriented work.

I find it disproportionately satisfying to work through a list and check everything off and then have free time afterwards (and, in fact, that's what my system that I'm currently trying to redesign is intended to do).

When I worked in fast food, I loved working closing shift because it basically consisted of going through a checklist. (I would have felt the same about opening shift, except it took place at an obscenely early hour.)

When I worked in tech support, much of my job was going through a queue of requests and responding to or escalating them. And, since part of the job was simply staffing the helpdesk, once all the requests were complete I was at liberty to do homework or internet once I finished everything on my list.

Even now as a translator, my work is task-oriented and I have a list of texts and deadlines to work my way through. And, because I work from home, I have some flexibility once I finish the day's deadlines and word count, as long as I stay within earshot of my phone and email during office hours so I can respond to anything new that comes in.

I never knew that that moment in Grade 3 was so important. None of my parents or teachers or guidance counsellors identified this as an area of strength that could be used to point me towards jobs that I would find satisfying. I don't think anyone even knew where to look.

Simply based on the number of people who respond to the fact that I work from home with "But how does your boss know you're working???" I suspect a lot of white-collar work isn't like this. I think much of it is more project-oriented, working towards broader goals, without a checklist to follow and without a clear endpoint.

So I'm very lucky I did stumble into jobs that scratch this itch!