Resume of Awesome

This month, for the first time in 15 years, I applied for a job.*

It’s a strange thing, filling out an application, creating a resume. It’s your turn to tell your potential employer everything they need to know about you to make an informed hiring decision. They want to see what you can do.

Kathryn Thompson – Seattle-ish, Washington
Work Experience
-Not really much. I’ve worked less than I should have.
-Just kind of grunt work at various companies but not even that for several years
-Spotty freelance writing but I’ve been too lazy to make it a full time job
-Too busy volunteering to do any real work
-“Just” a mom
-Too fat to be a fitness model
-Too weak to build houses
-Too boring to host my own TV talk show
-Too lazy to finish editing my Great American Novel

Um… no. That is not how I wrote my resume. But, it’s easy to have a resume like this going on in your head. You focus on what you’re not doing, ways you’re not living up to your potential. But listing what you aren’t does not present an accurate picture of who you are. And besides, it’s lame with a great lameness.

If someone asked your name, would you say, “Not Ermengarde?” Would that be helpful?

No. It tells you practically nothing.

I am Kathryn. I’m a Canadian. I care deeply about people and I love old cheese. I am getting better and stronger all of the some of the time. I want to get better and stronger all of the all of the time. I look good in purple even though I’ve never liked that color. Yesterday I washed half of the dinner dishes even though I had other things I’d rather be doing. I go to bed on time every night… since Monday.

See? That’s a much better introduction, don’t you think?

When you’re writing a resume, you focus on the good because you want people to like you, to have confidence in your abilities, and to hire you to work and complete important tasks. You’re not lying by leaving out your missteps. You’re trying to give them an accurate picture of what you’re capable of.

Well, you need to continually give yourself an accurate picture of what you’re capable of. Do you want to like yourself, have confidence in your own abilities, engage yourself to work, complete tasks, and achieve goals? Then give yourself a Resume of Awesome.

Talk to yourself about who you really are, not who you think you’re not.

You may not be an expert fisherman but it doesn’t mean you can’t grill a mean salmon.

You may not be a perfect mom, but it doesn’t mean you can’t help your children feel loved when you next see them.

Be the best of who you are. Focus on the best of who you are. Who you aren’t… is not a thing.

*I’m not planning to go back to work full-time but I applied to be a substitute teacher because there’s a shortage right now. I’m having too much fun writing to do real work everyday.