Solid-Blocking (Fashion Blog Post)

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Miss HR was a cool girl. 

I met her at a previous work place, a tiny consulting firm that no longer exists, and we immediately hit it off. Whenever I was in between projects, she proposed to my manager that I attend college job fairs with her.

I wasn't qualified to hire anyone, of course, but Miss HR liked my company, and Mr. Manager liked the exposure his department was going to receive. So I went, and had a good time with Miss HR.

During one of the job fairs...

...a young man, all dressed up and looking important, came to talk to us. According to him, he was THE-MAN: master psychologist, astute manager, genius engineer, communications expert...I don't remember everything, because it was a looooooooooong list.

"Check out this guy!" I exclaimed, "he's so smart!"

Miss HR, who was much savvier than I was, looked rather unimpressed. She leaned over and whispered, "Jack of all trades, master of none."

 

 

Ouch! (For him.)

 

But Miss HR was on-point!

Okay, okay. Let me clarify: yes, most jobs require us to play many roles and acquire various skills, just like how fashion bloggers occasionally write about beauty, food and other lifestyle subjects. (You've gotta change it up to keep being an asset.) Claiming that you're an expert in completely different and extremely time-consuming jobs, though, certainly sounds...funny.

Was Einstein a Mr. Universe Winner?

I think you understand my point: no matter your level of brilliance, you have x-amount of time per day, just like us dumb folks.

If you like feeling important, go ahead and be a Jack of All Trades; just don't expect people to believe that you've mastered everything.

Speaking of being a Jack of all trades...

Motherhood has, unfortunately, turned me into one :O( At home, I am nanny, cook, accountant, teacher, housekeeper, dog walker, poop scooper...I have many jobs, and SUCK AT EVERY SINGLE ONE! (Except for poop-scooping. I've always excelled at that.)

"I can't get anything done!"

I griped to my husband one day.

"Gee I wonder why," he said, "look at you! You're cooking dinner, watching the kids, washing dishes, and going back-and-forth to your lap top all at the same time. If I were you, I'd go nuts!"

He forgot two things: I was also doing back lunges while picking a fight.

But he was on-point. So, we stroke up a deal: every other night and on the weekends, after he comes home and have rested from the day, he takes over family duties, and I leave the house for a SOLID BLOCK of time of three hours minimum. It doesn't matter what I do during that time, leaving is MANDATORY!

We're on Week 3 of this SOLID-BLOCK practice, and here are the findings:

Because I can now focus on whatever I do on the laptop, have decent time to work out, and have moments to relax in utter solitude, I no longer crave any of these at home. When I'm home, I focus more on my family, complete meals on time, and am running the house like a well-oiled machine.

From frazzled and frustrated to effective and efficient, a good, sturdy solid block was all it took to keep a stay-at-home mom sane.

By the way...

I'm on the lap top because, after over three years of research, I've decided to enter Internet Marketing, and start with content-rich informational web sites that follow good SEO practices. It's the only "job" that suits my experience, doesn't have costly overhead, and allows me to "work" my own hours and still have enough time with the girls.

I've only one website right now, and it needs work. But check this out: since solid-blocking, traffic went up ... not 50 ... not 75 ... but a whopping 92 percent!!!!!!!! (Currently using Google Tools for analysis, which excludes most bots.)

I will forever solid-block!

 And not just in time-management but in fashion too. 

When in doubt, I pick solid, earthy colors, like today's shirt-dress, that never fail to present well.

I'm gonna shut up now.

 

Hope you're having a FABULOUS day!