10 Things I'm Already Good At

Back at the beginning of January, the always-insightful Sarah wrote this great post about looking at your resolutions in a different light. Instead of simply listing all the things you need to do better (i.e. lose weight, be healthier, eat better, etc, etc) and by default making yourself think you’re no good at anything, she suggested looking at all the things you already do well and putting a more positive spin on it.

The only relevance the pic has to any of the following is that I found the dress in a charity shop...

 

So shamelessly stealing from Sarah's idea, here’s 10 things I'm already good at...

 

 

Following instructions

This was the first one I thought of and it doesn't matter what it is, I can follow a recipe, pattern, dance routine, route or anything else pretty darn well. I've been told I have a fairly logical mind so following a set of instructions seems natural to me. The only downside to this skill is that I don't class myself as particularly creative; if I had to make something from scratch, be it a story, drawing or cake, I have to think quite a lot to even know where to start.

 

Fertility treatment

Okay so I know neither of our attempts have been successful but the doctors have said that apparently I'm quite good at it. I don't get massive amounts of side effects, I respond well to the medication and I recover pretty well afterwards. The positive result is just the final part of the jigsaw – the one bit I'm not good at!

 

Map reading, directions and finding my way around

This fascinated Andrew when I first met him, he (like a lot of men) thought I wouldn't know how to read a map. If someone asks me for directions I can usually tell them quite well using all the right A and B roads to describe the way. If you combine the memory skills with directions and map reading, it means I can remember routes and roads we visited years ago and even recall what the places looked like along the way.

 

Organising stuff and project planning

I like lists, I like planning and I like nothing more than organising something, whether that's a holiday, party or whatever. Our annual trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is planned out using spreadsheets and GANTT charts and between me, Andrew and my sister in law, we've managed to pull off two large surprise parties for the in-laws over the last five years. I use Google calendar for everything and I'm the sort of person who meal plans, although I do build a bit of flexibility into our schedules.

 

Sorting stuff out and tidying

This was Andrew's first contribution. I thought he'd dug himself into a hole saying I was good at tidying but nope, what he meant was that I was good at running a home, having a full time job and solving problems. We do divide the housework up fairly equally (we each do the bits the other one doesn't like) and I think we work as a pretty good team but he reckons it's more down to my organising and tidying skills than anything he does.

 

Putting things in A-Z

Yup, I can do this fairly quickly. Mainly because of all the years spent working in libraries.

 

Finding gems in charity shops

Another one of Andrew's contributions but I think this one is more down to chance than any particular skill of mine. Although I do seem to own quite a lot of thrifted stuff and people are quite often surprised when I say whatever I'm wearing is from a charity shop.

 

Tuning things out and not listening

I am good at this although I'm not really sure how useful it is. What it means in practice is that Andrew gets frustrated with me on long car journeys because he's heard something on the radio and wants to talk to me whereas I've not heard a single word. It does come in quite useful at parties and in my office sometimes although I suppose it would more accurately be described as being good at daydreaming.

 

Remembering random stuff

Want to know where the best chip shop is on the Isle of Harris? The dialling code for Weymouth? Who the artistic director was of the West Yorkshire Playhouse in the 1990s? I’m your gal. (answers below)

 

Research

I've been told a couple of times (once by a Careers Advisor) that I should be a private detective. I like learning stuff and this translates into liking finding stuff out. What this also translates into though is spending far too much time researching an assignment for my degree and far too little time actually writing!

 

 

What things are you already good at?

 

 

 

 (Isle of Harris Chip Shop - the best one (possibly the only one) is in Tarbert, called Ad's Takeaway run by (surprisingly enough) a man called Ad, it's all tasty but I'd recommend the Smoked Sausage Supper – just for the comic value of watching Ad chop the sausage in half. Weymouth's dialling code is 01305 and Jude Kelly is your director, she left the theatre in 2002.)