Analysis.

One of the many great advantages of periodically losing your job is that it forces you to analyze yourself.

You need to examine where you fucked up, what you're doing wrong, why you piss people off.

More important, and worth, perhaps, dwelling on, you need to examine what you do well.

You can try to ameliorate your flaws, I think. You can Oprah-ize your darker self into palatability.

But I think if you're bent on finding new work, your time is way better spent trying to emphasize your unique strengths.

One of the things I realized about myself is that I am a Now-Ist.

That is, I like to do things...Now.

I suppose that's how I've written over 4,000 posts.

By and large, I don't labor over them.

I prize immediacy over perfection.

There's a lot of crap in life--in agencies--that no one wants to do. The excruciating detail work where there's no pay out in the rise over run. Jobs that are long on labor and short on reward.

Sometimes it's taking something incoherent and making it clear.

Sometimes it's helping a planner write a powerpoint.

Sometimes it's writing three print ads for a pitch starting at ten at night.

When I was in college, I had a night job as the night watchman in the student center at Barnard. Most nights there wasn't much to do. I sat at a table from 6-10PM and did my reading. And watched.

About three times a month, they had a live band. They would stop playing at 2 or 3. I remember they couldn't give a rat's ass about breaking down their equipment and getting the fuck off campus. But I did. I wanted to get back to my apartment.

So, while they lollygagged, I did their work. I loaded their truck.

This kind of thing is thankless, I think. But that's ok.

It won't get me to Cannes.

But it pays the bills.