JobSeekersAZ Meeting June 15th
Contributing Blogger, Geoff Rowe
Another great meeting and intro from Jessica; we have to note the Monday meetings are suspended over the summer and I did sense that there were fewer people at this meeting than before but I guess this is due to summer OR it’s due to more people finding work!
The main guest speaker was Dr. Dennis Deaton, a former (?) dentist which was something of a surprise! I think that the main themes of the talk were that we are very vulnerable to our own thought processes. Without being in careful control of our mental state we are prone to negative thinking. That is a self-feeding process that will eventually come through in your general demeanor and will show up in an interview. The last thing your interviewers want to see is negative thinking (or even the merest hint of it) so you’ll be black-balled before you start.
The story he told was of Renee Riddle. She was a high school girl, who excelled in sports and, well everything. One day, out of the clear blue, she was involved in a single car accident; a rollover and in a heartbeat her spine was broken.
She had dreamed of becoming a doctor, specializing in pediatrics and teaching deaf children. She also dreamed of getting married and having a family. Now she was in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. So, what would you do?
What she did was make a choice. She could be miserable and demand pity for what “life” had done to her or she could chose life. She could ignore what had happened and decide that actually she could achieve all her goals. If just might take a little more effort and a little more time.
I am sure you worked out that she chose life. She achieved all her goals, all of them. It’s an interesting case study. It speaks to the challenges we all face. When we look at things in perspective our trials are not as dramatic however they are important and life changing for us, just not so far reaching! I am not so sure I would go along with the idea that we should be grateful for the ‘opportunity’ this period in our lives affords. I do understand the sentiment though; however I think we are all far too worried about the bill-paying aspects to be “enjoying” the opportunities on offer. Again though, I am taking hold of those opportunities (just as you are, you’re reading this right?) and trying to make the best of the situation and gain new skills and new experiences.
The other thing that was interesting to me from Dennis’s talk was the relationship between our mental wellbeing and our physical. Recent experiments in brain chemistry have shown that we produce different chemical messengers when we’re happy verses when we’re sad. So we need less Serotonin and Irritonin and a whole lot more Melatonin!
Dennis suggested some additional ‘research’ into Edie Eger. Google her name and you’ll find www.dree.com. It’s worth a read! She is one of the very few to survive WWII Auschwitz. I find that fact completely incomprehensible! The ‘accidental’ discovery of her, still alive, after the camp was liberated was one of those ‘monumental’ moments! Her family did not survive. She has dedicated her life to the human psychological health and in particular that question of why some people will rise to a challenge and some will fall, trying to tip the balance in the direction of rising to challenges. I liked her comment that “She is a stretch, not a shrink”!
I have to declare some additional personal interest in the content of this talk. I also want to be very careful how I phrase this but basically a few hours before the talk begun I heard that someone I met once, a while ago and back in the UK, and who was important to someone I knew had committed suicide at the weekend. Can’t go into details but it’s always devastating to hear news such as this.
Finally a HUGE thank you to Jessica for my ‘big-up’ and introduction in the meeting, she’s asked me to give a few details about me, which is something I’m not that used to doing actually. So here goes!
I am from the UK, born in London but brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon (yes we’re picky about the capitalization!). The literary people out there will know that this is the birthplace of William Shakespeare and boy, if you come from Stratford you sure know that! Force-fed “Shakey” from an early age.
Immediately after leaving school I wasn’t so interested but after a while developed a desire to go see the plays and, as you’d expect, the theatre in Stratford is one of, if not the best, outside of London. It’s been renovated for the first time is around 70 years I think and due to re-open towards the end of this year after about 2 years of re-build! Anyway, if you want to know my favorites are the comedies such as Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Taming of the Shrew.
I have spent over 20 years working in the semiconductor, silicon chip, business as either a process engineer or in the computer systems that run chip factories; that last being an interesting position regarding pressure – performing a system upgrade which I have done many, many times – means shutting the system down briefly and ‘changing’ the database. At this point things could go wrong and you’re keenly aware that the downtime can run into millions of $$$ per hour! The idea of making a mistake doesn’t enter into the equation believe me!
During all this time I worked on my photography as an outlet for the techie work I did and eventually in 2006 and after much persuasion and cajoling from a few friends in the biz, I went for my “pro” qualification and became a Licentiate of the British Institute of Professional Photography which entitles me to use the letters LBIPP after my name! I can deliver most types of photography, but my special loves are portrait and commercial/fashion photography. Anyone wanting to see my work check out http://www.bipp.com/members/GeoffreyRowe/ or http://creativemuse.aperito.net and that is the plug over!
I arrive here about a year and a half ago and I’m now looking to move into business analysis, business process re-engineering – kind of like analysis but added in the suggestions about how to do things better – not necessarily with software, and project management. If you want to see more, http://www.aperito.net and that is the final plug!
