Trusting Your Gut

Well, I've got two weeks left of undergrad, and I keep having to reassure myself that I know what I'm doing.  There comes a point in your life where you don't rely on anyone else to make decisions about your life except yourself.  For me, that's right now--when my parents no longer finance my life.  So how do I know what's right for me when my parents have been influencing my decisions for the past 22 years?

The answer is, of course, that there's no way to tell for sure.  You just have to trust your gut and know that no one else had their life figured out at this age either.

I'm someone that's always striving for more and pushing harder and never settling, and it's hard to grasp the concept that I've settled...for now.  I've dreamt of New York City for a long time, and to have closed that door for now wears on me every once in awhile.  I'll make it there someday.  I know it in my gut.  I also know that if I'm going to get a job in my field, I need to be in Nashville.  I need to work my way up in Music City, pay cheaper rent, pay off loans, and my path to New York will carve itself out somewhere down the road.

I love Nashville to death, but my soul will always wander to New York until I can be there.  Wait for me, please.

The Job Hunt: 10 Tips For College Grads

Well, it's that time of the school year: Senioritis is in full swing, and you need to apply for jobs until you get one.  This means applying to any job you might be qualified for in your field, but you certainly don't want to waste your time.  So, what do you look for when you're picking which jobs to apply for?  Here are some tips to maximize your time when job hunting

1. Spotting Scams
Some posts out there are really just too good to be true.  There are many scams out there for entry level positions at fake companies.  If it sounds like a cookie-cutter posting, or if it just sounds too good to be true, do a web search with the word 'scam' and the company name to see if anything comes up.  There are more out there than you'd think.  For more tips on identifying scams, go here.

2. Basic Qualifications
Before applying to something, look at the basic qualifications.  If they say that a college degree is not necessary, it may be below your level, and you may not get great pay.  Try to apply to jobs that require a college degree.

3. Administrative Assistants
Beware of Administrative Assistant jobs.  Yes, they sound like great entry-level jobs.  The problem with many of them is that there isn't any room for promotion.  Pay attention to the list of assigned duties for the job.  If it is strictly clerical, stay away.  You'll be stuck in that job for a long time.

4. Do Your Research
When you apply for a job, make sure you research the company.  If you don't know anything about it, you may not know if you would even like the job.  The company will most likely hire the candidate that knows the most about what they do.  If you can't name some basic facts, don't bother applying.

5. Cover Letters
ALWAYS do a cover letter.  Unless explicitly stated, always send one.  If you don't send a cover letter, you may as well not apply.  Your application will get thrown out simply because you didn't take the extra effort that everyone else did in your application.  Make sure that you talk about your skill set and how they can help the company in each letter.

6. Aim High, Then Low
Start by applying to jobs that are slightly out of your reach.  If you only have a few months of experience, apply to jobs that ask for 1-2 years.  Find jobs that you know you could do if they gave you the chance and make a case for yourself.  Even though it's unlikely that you get the job, you never know.  If that isn't working, THEN apply to the hourly jobs that are below yoru skill level.  Don't be afraid to apply for some internships either.

7. Location, Location, Location
Always think about the pay rate versus the cost of living.  If you apply to a job in New York City, make sure that you would be getting paid enough to live in New York.  Don't apply to hourly jobs in those locations.

8. Follow Ups
Only follow up on jobs that say calling is okay.  Many job postings ask that people don't call.  If it doesn't say anything, it's always better to follow up with a phone call, if possible.

9. Interviews
In your interviews, be sure to come in with questions.  In addition, you should research the location and job to have a salary range in mind.  If they plan to hire you, they will ask, and they will expect you to have an answer.  It's hard to know how much you should make, but if you don't have any idea, chances are that you'll get screwed over.

10. Stay Calm
The most important tip is to stay calm.  A lot of things in your life are about to change, and most everything is uncertain.  Try to focus on what you can control, and don't worry about the rest until you can fix it.

Good luck out there.

Senioritis at its finest

Well, here we are again, Fairly Straight University.  My fourth and final year in a town with 3 main roads, four bars, too many Amish people for my taste, and 45 minutes away from any civilization (shopping malls, casinos, and Targets, oh my!).  Needless to say, these next 7 months can't fly by fast enough.  Yeah, yeah, savor the college years, best time of your life, blah blah blah.  I really just want to go to the mall without spending $20 on gas.

I can definitely say that my "Senioritis," as it's called, is in full effect.  What are the symptoms, you ask?

• irritability
• procrastination
• watching television
• skipping class at least once a week
• new-found levels of procrastination
• not doing homework, even if the subject interests you
• watching several hours of television in a row
• beer
• Tumblr
• Facebook is suddenly interesting
• New low levels of disapproving of Freshmen behavior
• Wondering how you could somehow not take those last 5 classes
• sweatpants all day every day
• beer

I think that about sums it up.  

"Command authority by doing your job well, not by telling me how to do mine."

I don't know if I originally came up with this phrase yesterday, or if it's completely unoriginal, but it does completely and accurately describe my situation.

Anyone that I have ever looked up to professionally has had the following things in common:

1. They love their job.

2. They care about other people, especially those below them.

3. They work really hard to do an excellent job.

If you don't have these things, then I have a hard time respecting you as a professional, especially if I have to answer to you.  So, let's talk about these things.

1. You love your job.

I understand if you work at a job you don't like to get by for awhile, but I then assume that you are working hard to find a job that you like or are figuring out what it is that you want to do.  If you love your job, your quality of work is better and your attitude is better.  Nobody wants to hear you complain about your job, and nobody can respect you if you're not trying to get yourself out of this job that you hate.

2. You care about other people, especially those who work below you.

Everyone cares about the opinions and feelings of their boss, but it takes a really good person to care about somebody that works underneath you.  Without those people working for shit money doing shit tasks, you would have to work and extra 40 hours a week doing those shit tasks for no extra money.  Paying attention to them and letting them know that they're appreciated will help them remember that they're important to the company.  They will respect you so much more if they know that you respect them.

3. You work really hard to do an excellent job. 

I don't understand the people that are more obsessed with other people doing their jobs correctly than doing their own job correctly.  If you aren't doing your job, no one else is going to do it.  Trust in your co-workers and make sure to converse with them appropriately if you feel like they may not be doing their job.

What does that entail, you ask?  For instance, if you feel like they didn't do something they were supposed to do, ask them if they did it.  Then, ask them if they knew that they were supposed to do it.  Then, if they answer the questions accordingly, go ahead and tell them off.  90% of the time, it was a misunderstanding.

Meanwhile, make sure that everything you are asked to do is done efficiently and excellently.  Making sure other people do their jobs well still doesn't reflect well on you if you aren't doing your own job well.



The main reason I love working at Taillight so much is that I can genuinely respect almost every person that I work with.  I wish more offices ran the way that this one does.  Have I run into a few people that I don't respect as professionals?  Yes.  However, you would think that it would be more than the two I can think of, especially being in the entertainment industry.

I've never met so many humble, hard-working people that love their jobs and love everyone they work with.  Even though I'm an intern that does those shit jobs as described earlier, I love coming in to work every day.

I just hope I can work in a office like that when I need to find a grown up job.

"Troubles are inevitable, but misery is optional." -Joel Osteen

Ever have one of those days?  It's National You're Going To Fail At Life Day, and you were not forewarned.  You woke up late, didn't eat breakfast, dressed for the wrong weather, and as soon as you get to work, it gets worse.


I had a similar day this week.  The copy machine, stapler, printer, desktop computer, DVD burner, etc. did not like me.  Lunch took a half hour longer than I had time for.  Then, I got sent on a 4 stop run.  How can I screw that up?  Don't worry, I'll find a way.  It is, after all, National Amanda Fails at Life Day.


I had to go outside of town to pick up a hard drive.  I waited about 20-25 minutes for the guy to finish up when I got to the studio.  I took the hard drives across town (in some nasty traffic), took those discs back downtown to CMT, almost got a parking ticket, moved my car to where I could park for free (because why would I have change the one day I need to pay for a meter?), walked 3 or 4 blocks to the post office, and saw that two hours after I had left to go on this run, I still wasn't done, had 3 missed calls from my supervisors asking where I was, and ended up an hour late for my second job after driving back to my internship and across town again in rush hour traffic.


Needless to say, they weren't happy that I took so long.  Nothing that day was my fault, it just happened to fall on me.  After about 5 and a half hours at Bar Louie (which was insanely busy because of the NBA game), it slowed down enough for me to actually think about what all had happened that day.


My day started off terribly at 8:30am, and it took me until about 10pm to actually get mad about what a failure the day was.  I've always been a person who dwells on my mistakes.  I still remember getting detention in 6th grade for passing a note with Amanda Do about how we hate Language Arts.  


I can, however, be proud of how I handled those mistakes.  You can only give your best, and if the universe sees fit to screw you up, it will, regardless of your attitude.  So why not just smile through the day anyway?  


Nothing stresses me out more than other stressed out people, so why spread that around? 


Basically, after trying so hard to do everything right, my motto for the day became, "Bucket.  I am doing the best I can."  Well, not 'bucket.'  It rhymes with bucket though...

Time Management: 4 Rules to Go By

I'm not saying I'm great at time management or that I follow this all the time, but here's what I've found to be important:

1. You can never do anything perfectly.

No matter how hard you try, someone will always be able to do the work better.  Don't waste too much time trying to make it perfect.  Settle for excellent.

2. Prioritize:  What is the most important for your future?

When you're juggling so many tasks and projects, you have to figure out what is most beneficial for you to do well.  Work on those first, and then move on to the less important things.  Right now, I'm on internship, working part-time, and I'm in an online class.  First comes my internship. That is the most beneficial thing to my future.  Next comes my part-time job because, well, I like eating as opposed to starving.  Last comes my online class.  All I need to do is pass that thing.  My GPA is high enough to take a hit from one class.

3. Set goals for yourself.

If you write down your goals, you are statistically more likely to actually achieve them.  If I had written down that I wanted to get an A in my summer class, perhaps I would've been trying harder.  Writing it down serves as a constant reminder as opposed to just a mental note.

4. Always do quality work.

There's no point in doing anything if it isn't quality.  Don't ever rush through something to get through everything.  Work with your priorities.  That's why you have them.  I wouldn't rush through a project at my internship to get to my part-time job on time.  They understand that I'm here to intern, not to work for them.

Ambition vs. Motivation

I just saw this on Tumblr, and I thought that it didn't really ring true for me.  I always seem to have motivation to make something happen for myself.  I think these two things go hand in hand.  You can't have motivation if you don't have ambition.  You can't have ambition without motivation either.

If you truly have ambition without motivation, I don't think your ambition is aimed correctly.  Maybe it would be better placed somewhere else.

I thought I wanted to play music for a short period of time.  It turns out, I never had the motivation to practice.  I just want to be able to magically play my favorite songs.  So, I changed my ambition.  Music Business.  Now I have motivation.