Well, are you?
As I was editing Michaelangelo Matos's excellent collection of testimonials to the life of the late First Avenue stage manager Conrad Sverkerson, one sentiment kept reemerging: Conrad was damn good at his job.
That's not a compliment you read much anymore in the "work won't love you back" era, where we're justifiably more focused on how defining ourselves by our jobs makes us easily exploitable. Still, I imagine most of us, even in a utopian world, would want to regularly excel at some task. After all, who'd want to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, and criticize after dinner if they totally sucked at doing all those things?
So, how about you? Are you good at what you do? Do you, to use a phrase that's fallen out of fashion, take pride in your work? And *extremely therapist voice* how does that make you feel?
I won't be falsely modest here. You probably wouldn't be reading this if you thought I wasn't good at my job. I've worked hard at writing and editing for decades. I will admit, however, there are administrative aspects to my job where I'm not exactly the ideal employee.
And let's open this up a little wider. By "job," I don't necessarily mean the thing you do all week to get money to keep you alive. Is there any sort of craft or hobby that you rock at because you put in the work?
As always, feel free to ignore this prompt and write about whatever you want. This is your Open Thread after all.
Take us out, Monk.
