A Fish Tail

or

Carpe Diem:

Six Life-lessons from Our Fishy Friends

Tale

It was a pretty good day…

Lesson 1: Take a leap of faith.

Believe that TC will be here.

Believe enough to invest in the future.

conferences, certificates, additional degrees, courses, seminars, workshops, trade journals, e-zines,user groups, forums…

Stay in school.

$80–100K per fish$15 million per movie

$10.79 at PETCO

Lesson 2: Invest in better PR.

=

=common carp

ornamental koi

Names matter.

Tech Writer

Technical CommunicatorDocumentation SpecialistUser Experience FacilitatorInformation ArchitectContent Specialist…

DITA, XML, Web 2.0,usability, Help authoring,personas, wikis, v-blogs,Controlled English, instructional design…

Lesson 3: Adapt or die.

“What does not destroy me, makes me strong.”

– Friedrich Neitzche

Yeah, right…

Lesson 4: Find the right stress.

If you are unhappy with your job…

Get out of your comfort zone…

Volunteer for something you’ve never done. Tackle a fear. Push yourself.

…make it harder. (a la Gretchen Rubin)

Like carp, we grow to fit our world.

Lesson 5: Actively swim in a bigger pond.

It is the opposite of “big fish, little pond.”

You may be more special or valuable in a larger pond.

work

immediate TC community

national TC community (ISTC)

Professional growth via “large pond” identification

global TC community (STC, Tekom, IEEE…)

Lesson 6: Enjoy the process.

The Six Life-Lessons

1. Take a leap of faith (stay in school).

2. Invest in better PR (names matter).

3. Adapt or die.

4. Find the right stress.

5. Actively swim in a bigger pond.

6. Enjoy the process.

Leah Gurentechnical communication training & consulting

www.cowtc.comleah@cowtc.com