Outsourced introspection

Let me take advantage of this brief, 20-minute respite in the Crazy Summer of Sport (Roland Garros final rained out and in the break between two football matches) to pop in and say hello to my blog.

Hello blog.

I've been feeling a bit rain delayed myself, lately. The drops keep falling on this, my last "summer" in Switzerland, and I'm in the locker room, waiting. Have I done enough to set myself up to succeed? Will this be a relatively painless three-setter or will I have to slog through 5 sets, not knowing if it will all end in the sweet embrace of victory or in pieces, broken and covered in clay and pretending like I don't want to shatter that silver platter over someone's head.

Clearly, I've been watching too much tennis.

Anyhoo... as I wait to see if the "interviews" work out (and yes, they have as much chance of being interviews than the summer in Zurich has chances of actually being a summer, hence the ironic written air-quotes), I've continued on the path to self-enlightenment by letting my nearest and dearest have a go at enlightening me, for a change. (If there's one thing this management malarkey has taught me, it's how to delegate).

And oh! the responses! They came from the four corners of the world, from friends who have known me since I was fresh out of diapers, from family who knew me before then, from professors who fielded my angst-ridden questions and from all the wonderful people I've met in between (almost all of them women - which says something about something but let's not get into that). I am now surrounded by dozens of shining mirrors, and basking in their soft reflective glow, flaws and all.

Each of the mirrors were asked to answer four questions, identifying in turn my skills, what motivates me, my long-term goals and the myriad of ways in which I'm likely to get in my own way and screw things up (and really, only the people who have known you since before you learned how to lie your way into adulthood have the ability to oh-so-accurately pinpoint exactly what makes you such a mess).

The results were at once flattering, thought-provoking, embarrassing and entertaining. Almost everyone agreed on my skills (I guess I don't have that many). Most commentators had similar things to say regarding my motivations and goals (and those two categories overlapped to a large extent). But everyone had a unique perspective on my flaws - and of course I think they're all spot on.

So there we are then: a few skills, some relatively clear (albeit contradictory) motivations and goals, and a host of really bad habits it's high time I did something about (because who would want to hire - much less date - an impatient, emotionally fragile, intolerant perfectionist?; that chick sounds like a total drag).

But being the analytical, creative, action-oriented kind of gal I am, who is moreover unfazed by complexity, I have turned my mirrors' answers into the nifty graphic below so we can all have a good chuckle and I can feel better about the whole thing.

There it is. You are now blessed with the collective intelligence of everyone I've ever met, in one slide. Lucky you.

Enlightenment: check.

Up next: getting on with it.