Feedback

I’m at work, sitting at my desk with my headphones on. I wear my headphones to drown out the background noise in the office. “The office” is filled with cubicles. With so many people doing their everyday things and having their normal conversations, sometimes it can get loud and distracting. Then again, sometimes I just like to listen to the music.

At any rate, I am jamming (more like JAMMIN’) to contemporary Christian music and being quite productive. The day is flying by. I completely expect to complete everything I planned to accomplish today…and that’s really saying something. I’m working on a pretty big project right now…big for me anyway. And I find myself overwhelmed by what is still left to do. Our deadline is the end of March, which is still nine weeks away. So, I’m hopeful that by just being acutely aware of that looming target, we’ll stay on course and be able to present the completed project to the customer on time. But none of that is why I had to stop and type up this little rant.

While the music is playing in my ears, I hear nothing besides music and the tapping of my keystrokes. But between songs, I was hearing this strange squawking sound. At first, I thought it was just the CD that I was listening to. But eventually I realized that it was feedback between a couple of the electronic devices I have on my desk. I’m still not sure which two. But now my personal cell phone is in my jeans pocket. My work BlackBerry is on the left side of my PC, while my desk phone is on the right side of my PC. And the PDA/Scanner that I’m working with is stretched as far away from my PC as possible.

I’m not sure why I didn’t have this strange feedback issue before. And I’m not sure why these devices chose today to not play nicely with each other. But I’ve adequately separated them to various corners of my cubicle. I think I can get back to being productive again.

Provider

Today at work, we were asked to take the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. I always find those things pretty interesting. I learned that my personality type is ESFJ.

Ten out of ten questions indicate that I'm an (E)xtrovert as opposed to an (I)ntrovert. No surprise there. I don't think I could even FAKE being introverted. Maybe while I'm sleeping.

Nineteen out of twenty questions indicate that I act and react more by (F)eeling than (T)hinking. Again, no surprise there. I used to refer to myself as the most emotional person I knew and probably the most emotional person you know. I've relaxed that some, but not completely. It's difficult to deny who you are and I'm an emotional person.

My scores were much closer on the other two indicators: (S)ensory vs. (I)ntuitive and (J)udging vs. (P)erceiving. At any rate, an ESFJ is referred to as the Provider or Caregiver.

(from http://www.personalitypage.com/ESFJ.html)
As an ESFJ, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit in with your personal value system. Your secondary mode is internal, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion.

ESFJs are people persons - they love people. They are warmly interested in others. They use their Sensing and Judging characteristics to gather specific, detailed information about others, and turn this information into supportive judgments. They want to like people, and have a special skill at bringing out the best in others. They are extremely good at reading others, and understanding their point of view. The ESFJ's strong desire to be liked and for everything to be pleasant makes them highly supportive of others. People like to be around ESFJs, because the ESFJ has a special gift of invariably making people feel good about themselves.

The ESFJ takes their responsibilities very seriously, and is very dependable. They value security and stability, and have a strong focus on the details of life. They see before others do what needs to be done, and do whatever it takes to make sure that it gets done. They enjoy these types of tasks, and are extremely good at them

ESFJs are warm and energetic. They need approval from others to feel good about themselves. They are hurt by indifference and don't understand unkindness. They are very giving people, who get a lot of their personal satisfaction from the happiness of others. They want to be appreciated for who they are, and what they give. They're very sensitive to others, and freely give practical care. ESFJs are such caring individuals, that they sometimes have a hard time seeing or accepting a difficult truth about someone they care about.

With Extraverted Feeling dominating their personality, ESFJs are focused on reading other people. They have a strong need to be liked, and to be in control. They are extremely good at reading others, and often change their own manner to be more pleasing to whomever they're with at the moment.

All ESFJs have a natural tendency to want to control their environment. Their dominant function demands structure and organization, and seeks closure. ESFJs are most comfortable with structured environments. They're not likely to enjoy having to do things which involve abstract, theoretical concepts, or impersonal analysis. They do enjoy creating order and structure, and are very good at tasks which require these kinds of skills. ESFJs should be careful about controlling people in their lives who do not wish to be controlled.

ESFJs at their best are warm, sympathetic, helpful, cooperative, tactful, down-to-earth, practical, thorough, consistent, organized, enthusiastic, and energetic. They enjoy tradition and security, and will seek stable lives that are rich in contact with friends and family.

Happy New Year!

Well, we're a week into '08. I figure it's about time that I ring it in. It's been a pretty good year thus far, I suppose. Not all that eventful. But mostly, that's a good thing. I've had eventful years. Boy, have I had eventful years! And I'll take uneventful any day of the week.

I'm supposed to be making a Sympathy card for one of the guys at work. His father passed away over the weekend. I don't know if he was sick or not; I think it was somewhat unexpected. But no matter, I always make these book type cards that we pass around the office and sign. Unfortunately, I can't find a couple of my tools. I'm wondering if I left them at work the last time I made cards there. I know I could try to make this card without the right tools. But that would be quite a challenge.

I guess I could try to come up with a different kind of card that doesn't require a sharp edge and an eyelet setter that can cut through framer's mat board. But it's already 11pm. I definitely should have done this earlier in the evening.

Overall, those are as bad as my challenges have been this year. So far, so good. I sure hope the rest of the year continues on this path.