Two types of people in the world

Discussion Open Forum
1

Among many. I’m not binary. Or am I? No. Well, okay, yes. No, wait a minute…no.

In any case, to wit:

  1. People who take pride in mastering a profession, skill or ability. They continue to dedicate themselves to honing their craft even after the thrill of the initial learning curve has passed. They have passion, commitment and integrity.

  2. People who get bored, unspeakably bored, with a profession, skill or ability just as they phase into the stage where they are getting good at it. The thrill is gone once the initial learning curve has passed, and the work (or hobby) becomes a drudgery. They lack passion and commitment, though not necessarily integrity.

I’m sad to say that I’m type 2. By my second year of teaching ESL in Taiwan I was achieving a semblance of competency, but I soon cared not, and spent the next four years as a classroom clock-watcher consumed by other interests. I didn’t shortchange my students, mind; I was “good enough,” but I could have been much better.

I’ve now been a freelance Chinese-English translator for ten years, and over the last two years I’ve recognized the same pattern. As an “all-rounder” I do everything under the sun, from autopsies to questionnaire responses in the semi-conductor industry, from patents for new hair brushes to the latest cutting edge medical studies being done in China. If you’d asked me fifteen years ago as a neophyte ESL teacher and passionate language-learner in Taiwan whether I would have been excited by the prospect of doing this stuff in the future, I would have said “hell, yeah!” So now that I’m truly gaining a full mastery of my profession, and am one of the main go-to guys for translation agencies in lower Manhattan, Chicago and Los Angeles and various points in between and beyond, including Berkshire (apologies for the subtle note of self-aggrandizement there), I’m finding myself…blasé about it.

The work is turning into torture. There is no longer any excitement when a big job comes down the pipe, it’s all just schedule-juggling now. “Oh, I can fit this one in for next Tuesday; Sorry, booked until the end of the week, can’t take this one on, thanks, anyway.” Ho hum.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those thrill-seeking bungee-jumping skydiving types, not by a long shot. I think I’m just preternaturally lazy and prone to procrastination. Or maybe it’s ADHD. Actually, I was given a screening test for ADHD and told I had a greater than 50% chance of having it. Which is kind of interesting.

In any case, I see myself continuing with the translation, and always having it as a back-up plan, while I branch out into other areas for which any sort of financial compensation would be long in coming. So right now I need to do the “work” work in order to put food on the table before I can sit back for a day or two and do the “interesting” work which may or may not ever contribute to feeding my pie-hole.

So I guess the question I’ve been leading up to is: what do “type 2s” do about this conundrum?

2

Hey dude, you just need the next challenge. Grade 8 was pretty cool for a while, but we all have to move on. Either we’re movin’ up or we’re movin’ down. Dat’s it dude.

3

Keep moving or die. Like sharks.

I like that idea. My chest swells with bravado as I contemplate it, and I wish to gawd I could jump into something different, but I got a house and a mortgage now. No kids, but still, I’m not 25 anymore.

Why can’t I concentrate on this one thing in my life that I do well?

4

Don’t know about the World but there are Three Kinds of Foreigner in Taiwan; newbies, old hands, and Satellite TV. :laughing:

I think that you’re putting a bit too much spin on this. Quickly becoming bored with ESL (especially the crap way it works in Taiwan) is very much par for the course. What you describe would be the same for the vast majority of teachers.

As for your freelance Chinese-English translating, ten years is quite a chunk of one’s life. Hardly surprising that you would start getting bored with it. Although being an “all-rounder” might suggest an interesting variety of work, most of your projects sound rather dull. Would translating interesting books / documentaries etc. (covering an area that you are personally interested in) not be enough of a change for you?

You are lucky to have to worry about schedule-juggling; it means you have enough work, no? And that you’re able to turn down the crappier jobs.

Perhaps a bit more old-fashioned stoicism and a little less navel gazing angst. Life is not a beer commercial my forumosan friend.

5

I agree with AJ. Just from the brief summary of yourself it is obvious you are not a type two. How on earth did you master Chinese otherwise? You didn’t just get good at it, you obviously stuck with your studies for a 6 years or more to get to a highly proficient level of reading.

You then spent 10 years at translating. True type 2 people - and I know a few - would have gone through a dozen careers by your age.

Again, to follow AJ, you sound more introspective than attention deficient. All jobs get dull and its only freelance work, such as I do too, that allows for this kind of reflection because we get to choose each time whether we will do it or not.

But you are concentrating on it. You just aren’t devoted to it, and why would you be? It’s translation. Hardly the stuff of dreams.

6

I’m seeing votes for stoicism. Which, to be honest, I wish I had more of. Then again, if I were a contented pipe-and-slippers kind of gent I wouldn’t be on this anonymous message board asking strangers for advice.

Too much introspection is a bitch. I mean that in a very serious, medical way. I’ve heard meditation is a good way to empty your mind and stop obsessing over yourself. I should probably try it.

Thing is, languages come easy to me. Really easy, infuriatingly-to-other-people easy. So it didn’t involve much in the way of dedication or study at all, I just soaked it up like a sponge.

Part of me wishes I had the balls to flit about here and there, trying different things and careers. But I have a deeply conservative and anxious temperament, so I don’t. I’m the worst kind of type 2 person–bored with what I’m doing, but afraid to move on to the next thing.

Problem is, I’m not concentrating on it. I can’t sit here and do it for more than twenty minutes before surfing the net or going outside, etc. Then I come back two hours later and try to work for another twenty-minute stretch. Not a very efficient use of time. It bothers me. I envy people who can devote hours at a time to a given project, whether it be for work or if it’s a hobby.

I can see I’m whining on this thread, and that pragmatic types would find this sort of introspection a turn-off. But I’m sincere when I say that the reason I threw this out to the Forumosan community is that I would like to hear practical ideas from people who have dealt with this before.

  1. How do you concentrate, and avoid procrastination and laziness, when your natural inclination is to let your mind wander all the phucking time?
  2. How do you avoid excessive introspection when your work involves long periods of time alone?
7

I hear you. I am having the same problems of late with concentration. A lot of people are and many suspect it has to do with our Internet usage. Concentration probelms are rife. I sometimes feel I have a bit of ADHD as well, as this is not something I would ever have considered 15 years ago.

One very odd thing I just discovered is that I work much better using a small screen laptop. Maybe it focuses my eyes better on a few paragraphs of text as opposed to a large screen that also brings in a lot of the room around me when I look at it. I know this is a bit odd to say, but I’ve been amazed how much better I work on a netbook.

Meditation also helps with focus. I suggest for you to try visual meditation: don’t close your eyes and introspect. Instead look at something on a wall or poster, a holy face for example, or a complex pattern, and focus on that. And remember that meditation isn’t about clearing your mind so much as letting the things in your mind come and go without introspection or “comment” or anxiety. One simple way to get rid of stray thoughts in your head and even songs is to simply listen to them. Really stop and listen to them and they usually disappear.

Anyway, Tibetan masters have written that they find opened eyed meditation works much better than closed for most westerners because of our visual bias. I agree. I find myself losing focus if I close my eyes.

Try it.

8

[quote=“Mucha Man”]
Meditation also helps with focus. I suggest for you to try visual meditation: don’t close your eyes and introspect. Instead look at something on a wall or poster, a holy face for example, or a complex pattern, and focus on that. And remember that meditation isn’t about clearing your mind so much as letting the things in your mind come and go without introspection or “comment” or anxiety. One simple way to get rid of stray thoughts in your head and even songs is to simply listen to them. Really stop and listen to them and they usually disappear.

Anyway, Tibetan masters have written that they find opened eyed meditation works much better than closed for most westerners because of our visual bias. I agree. I find myself losing focus if I close my eyes.

Try it.[/quote]

I’ve never had success with the open-eyed method. I find more focus with the closed-eyes. Can’t seem to overcome the aural stimuli as well. How do you do it?

9

[quote]1. How do you concentrate, and avoid procrastination and laziness, when your natural inclination is to let your mind wander all the phucking time?
2. How do you avoid excessive introspection when your work involves long periods of time alone?[/quote]

Get away from the computer screen. Print your work and read it/make notes on paper. Hell, you got enough trees up your way you don’t even need to feel guilty about it. Working with paper rather than a screen really helps me focus and do more and better quality work.

For things that don’t require too much brain power, listen to the news, documentaries and dramas on the radio while you work (the BBC is a life saver for me).

Anyway, just printed up a batch of work, and i need to go and shear off the excess wool and spank it into shape.

10

Nothing focuses the mind like digging a hole. When you’re done, fill it in and dig a new hole next to the old one. Repeat as needed. Far better than meditation.

HG

11

Yeah, I’ve heard people say that the internet age has shrunk attention spans. And I have a netbook, too, though I don’t actually use it for work. Maybe I should try that.

About the printing: no, not feasible. For one thing, I could never write all the words I do daily with a pen, and re-keying them back into the computer would be twice the work, anyway.

Music and work don’t mix for me, because it’s too distracting. Translation requires maximum brain usage, all the time.

Got any meditation links?

12

Me (I) … and the others … :smiley:

13

[quote=“rousseau”]Yeah, I’ve heard people say that the internet age has shrunk attention spans. And I have a netbook, too, though I don’t actually use it for work. Maybe I should try that.

About the printing: no, not feasible. For one thing, I could never write all the words I do daily with a pen, and re-keying them back into the computer would be twice the work, anyway.

Music and work don’t mix for me, because it’s too distracting. Translation requires maximum brain usage, all the time.

Got any meditation links?[/quote]

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying has a good section on meditation.

14

[quote=“rousseau”}Got any meditation links?[/quote]

Actually, I’ve done a couple of these and they really are well worth doing.

http://www.dhamma.org/

HG

15

[quote=“rousseau”]2. People who get bored, unspeakably bored, with a profession, skill or ability just as they phase into the stage where they are getting good at it. The thrill is gone once the initial learning curve has passed, and the work (or hobby) becomes a drudgery. They lack passion and commitment, though not necessarily integrity.

I’m sad to say that I’m type 2. By my second year of teaching ESL in Taiwan I was achieving a semblance of competency, but I soon cared not, and spent the next four years as a classroom clock-watcher consumed by other interests. I didn’t shortchange my students, mind; I was “good enough,” but I could have been much better.

I’ve now been a freelance Chinese-English translator for ten years, and over the last two years I’ve recognized the same pattern…

…So I guess the question I’ve been leading up to is: what do “type 2s” do about this conundrum?[/quote]
I’m exactly the same. The first year or two of varsity was great. Then it got boring and I kept thinking, “But we don’t contribute anything! I want to go work and do something.”
Joined the Navy. First year it was all interesting and new. Second year I mastered my job. From the third year I was just coasting.
Came to Taiwan. First year or two it was wonderful (the teaching, the kids, everything). Then it got dull. Quick. Now I just get frustrated with it.
Looking for the next challenge…

Currently I’m just studying Chinese and thinking about post grad studies. But the same question keeps popping up. What can I do that isn’t going to get stale after a year or two? I haven’t found the answer yet. :idunno:

16

[quote]1. How do you concentrate, and avoid procrastination and laziness, when your natural inclination is to let your mind wander all the phucking time?
2. How do you avoid excessive introspection when your work involves long periods of time alone?[/quote]
Good q’s.
For the most part, I work solo. Have for untold years it seems. Honestly, some days I have a terrible time focusing on work and some days its not a problem. I have just learned to accept that that is the way it is.

I’ve gradually learned to incorporate getting up from the desk and doing something physical every hour and a half or so. Stretch a lot. Use a dumb bell. Go for a short walk…anything. Just get up and move about. I’ve even used a timer with a bell to make it happen.

I have a problem with speaking to clients sometimes. Maybe they just want to rattle on or maybe they just can’t/won’t give me the info I need. Patience only goes so far. That gets frustrating and when this happens I have to divert the mind and re-group.

You do the bicycling thing I think, so you are probably getting regular exercise - doing that on a regular schedule helps. Beginning and ending the session with a few minutes of quiet contemplation/meditation can help still the ‘monkey mind’ thing. Just practice and don’t worry or expect results.

Also, I make it a habit to get some kind of people inter-action each day. Maybe just going for a short neighborhood walk or the 7-Eleven. Just something to see other people. Fortunately, for me, I walk my son to school and back home from school each day. That gets me out of the house.
Also, I sometimes get on the box and work at 0335 in the morning…like today…blech@!

0547 - Time for a morning walk.

17

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]I’ve gradually learned to incorporate getting up from the desk and doing something physical every hour and a half or so. Stretch a lot. Use a dumb bell. Go for a short walk…anything. Just get up and move about. I’ve even used a timer with a bell to make it happen.
[/quote]
These are good ideas. I’ll have to do this.

More good ideas.

And still more good ideas. I am trying to be more sociable, now. It does help. It’s easy when you have a home office to get holed up inside, and that only leads to cabin fever. Especially when you’re in North America like I am, which, outside of New York and Toronto, isn’t exactly buzzing with activity and pedestrian street life outside your door.

18

The timer is a very good idea.

19

I have similar issues with concentration and focus, also spend large amounts of time working solo interspersed with busy social periods. I think it’s the internet and information overload, the problem with my job is I need to stay connected for e-mail and I need to use a lot of electronic documents so working with paper is not efficient. I also have days when I do a tonne of work and other days when I do basically nothing. All jobs become tedious after a while…we weren’t born to work!
Exercise is very important for mind, body and soul, just need to get into a routine and push oneself.

20

I have an idea that I haven’t been successful with yet: I’m going to spend a morning of work without any internet browsers open save for one instance of Google Chrome with several tabs pointed to the various search engines I regularly use for work purposes.

In other words, no web surfing. I’ve tried this before, but failed. This time I’m going to have force myself to do it. It could be an excellent exercise in self-discipline.

Whatever did we do before the advent of the intarwebs?