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CHAPTER 9
that yet.” A friend who worked in tertiary education said, “I’ve just had a librar- ian resign. Would you come and fill in for him for 3 months. I told her, “I haven’t worked in a library for 20 years. Are you sure this is what you want me to do?” She said, “Yes, I do.” Another door of opportunity had opened.
I spent nearly 8 years there, eventually taking on the role of faculty librarian for the School of Education, before moving into staff professional devel- opment and training. This is where I finished my career. I only finished be- cause I developed a chronic autoimmune disorder, which made the long hours sitting in front of the computer just not viable for me anymore.
I’m a lifelong learner. Stopping paid work has not slowed me down. I’m still learning stuff today and trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
I have never really fitted in. People I’ve worked with would say that I’m a per- son with interesting ideas and approaches to work. My brain operates at speed and excels in pattern recognition. That comes with a downside, I have made many people in more senior roles uncomfortable because I’ve never been afraid to speak out and say what I think is happening.
Only when I understood the 10-quick starts in Kolbe, did I realize what was going on. I actually have believed for most of my adult life I had ADHD, and I honestly think that might still be going on, but that’s exacerbated by being a quick start 10.
I would come home from work and say, “I don’t understand how people can’t see what’s happening here.” I could see stuff others seemed oblivious to and didn’t like it being pointed out to them. There was some sense of only partially fitting into the square peg. Workplaces expect you to fit in. I got away with it because I could do an excellent job pretending I did.
I excelled when I was given freedom to run things the way I wanted. Experi- menting and innovating to create outcomes that worked. I did have to build a support team behind me who did the follow-through because I didn’t. It’s not like I can’t follow through, but in most cases, I choose not to. I’ve always
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