The Art of Non-Conformity: Unconventional Strategies for Life, Work, and Travel

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Today’s (short) update comes to you live from DFW, also known as the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. Last night I slept on the floor here after flying in from Seattle prior to a 6am connection this morning.

There’s not a whole lot to say about sleeping on the airport floor, at least in Dallas. Anyway, it’s over, and now I’m flying to Miami and beyond. At the moment I’m posting this, it’s 5:12 a.m. local time, and we’re boarding in 10 minutes. Eventually I’ll get to Cairo and tell you all about that.

But first, I have an important question for you.

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As a self-employed writer and entrepreneur, I don’t normally have much to do with resumés. I do maintain one of my own, but it’s more of an academic CV that gets used only for academic applications. Otherwise, I’ve never really applied for a job or had a use for my own job-applying materials.

I don’t do much hiring either, but every once in a while I get the chance to sort through applications for non-profit jobs. I got that chance last week, and I learned a lot through the experience.

More than anything else, I learned a few things not to do if I ever apply for a job. And if you’re in that position, pay attention to this essay – I can’t guarantee that everyone will process resumés the way I do, but I’d expect that a lot of these principles will be universal.

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I read an interesting article about Applebee’s last week. Personally, I don’t like Applebee’s or its numerous imitators – not eating burgers, chicken tenders, or something they call “riblets” kind of limits the menu of the average Americana-themed restaurant for me – but I enjoyed the analysis of how these kinds of places are trying to survive in an economically challenging environment.

My favorite part was when the CEO was asked why Applebee’s and IHOP (also owned by the company) don’t have healthier choices on their menu. People are more health-conscious than ever, right?

“What people want and what they say they want are different,” she said, and as much as I wanted to disagree, I couldn’t.

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I have survived as an entrepreneur for 10 years not because I am inherently good at most aspects of running a business. I am a terrible salesperson, I get bored easily, I don’t like busy-work or higher math, and I have the classic ADD personality.

None of this is tremendously helpful in business, and in a lot of ways, it’s made things more difficult than they are for other, more balanced people.

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