My career plan Be an armadillo
“I do not care what other people say and it’s not because I do not respect it, I actually respect it. I get feedback all the time; I respect it. I listen to it but at the end of the day I’m just not built to have it dictate my life based on the opinion of others ”
Gary is a unique man, son of Belarus emigrants has been a man made himself ( Who's GayVhere )
His YouTube channel is one of the channels that I usually watch while having breakfast and I look for my motivation to start the day. I also like his podcast (HERE)
I listen to it quite often, when I 'm training in the gym or waiting for my flight. His motivation style it is very peculiar, very intense, sometimes exhausting, little by little I learned to digest his style and he always leaves me food for thoughts.
Recently I saw this interview where he talked about the importance we give to the opinions of others. It is true that as human beings we are programmed to look for the social fit. And it's hard to be rejected by your ideas. For this reason it is also important to develop a thick skin for the criticisms, or opinions that differ from ours.
What connection does this have with the localization industry?
The work of the translator and to some extent the work of different professionals of our industry goes in the best of the cases unnoticed. As of today, there is no Oscar to the best-translated application, or the Golden Boot to the best translator, or the Michelin star to the best LSP (by the way, maybe we should create this award!). when we refer to a translation is quite common to find comments like (this translation sounds strange or we do not have time to LQA the /app/video- game software (insert your product name here ) , we have to ship now!, or preferential changes "I would use these other words to explain the tutorial "...
Gabriel Fairman of Bureau Works wrote a very accurate comment this week "Localization is a tough practice. The effort given by Translators and Project Managers is often underappreciated and unrecognized "AMEN to that Gabriel, well-said. This phrase combined with the GaryV video I referred earlier made me ask myself the following question.
What is the most powerful skill we can improve to be an effective professional in the localization industry? I go even a step further, what is the most powerful skill that we should improve if we want to be a good leader? And I came to the following conclusion ...
To succeed in the localization industry, or even to simply succeed in the sometimes difficult task of being HAPPY in our lives we must learn to have a thick skin
Why?
Because in our industry everyone judges the quality of our work, sometimes objectively, and sometimes not so much.
Because in many companies the work of a Globalization team does not have the same recognition as other functions and is over-simplified, " It's just translation "
Because our industry is hyper-fragmented, hundreds of TMS, hundreds of LSPs, innumerable workflow ... everyone has an opinion, and as Gary says, if we live our life based on the opinions of others, then finding happiness it will not be easy.
What does it mean to have thick skin?
What does that look like?
In one sentence: Don't take it personally. "
As humans beings, we tend to make everything about ourselves. Ego is the enemy ! Learning how to be " emotionless " in the Localization industry is a gift that we have to give ourselves. The thicker our skin, the less stress we will have.
Below I summarize 4 tactics that I use to thick my skin. Please leave below in the comments section tactics you use to make your skin thicker
Do not take it personally
Those disagreeing with our view or our work have their own context. Their disagreement is best understood when we know what they value, fear, and want. This helps us remember that it's not always about us. Localization tip here: Align expectations define how quality looks like
Leading with emotions is a dangerous road
Being a volcano of emotions is not compatible with thickening our skin. Inner peace and thick skin arrive when we learn to stay grounded in facts, core beliefs, and we work to get the right data to share. It's fundamental to be open to change. Localization tip: Adaptability is important. Be water, my friend. Learn to dance with changes
Reality check
Having someone you can trust to look for another point of view reminds us that we are not alone. Localization tip. Work on building your trustable network way before you need it, engage with Localization community (LocLunch, meetup, GALA ...)
Do not fall into the trap of the popularity contest
The sooner we understand that the decisions we make will not please everyone the better. Being a people pleaser is a path that leads to mediocrity. I personally struggle with this one, being a pleaser. I have a hard time saying that NO; but I know that there's no possible way to be liked by everybody all the time, and although my skin in this area is not the thickening at the speed I would like to, graduallymy skill is also being thickening . Localization tip: Boost your self- confidence. Evan Carmichel on his YouTube channel has a series of videos that if we take the habit of watching a video every day our self-confidence will rise like foam
If you have found my post blog interesting, I encourage you to read and reflect on this other post by Amy Morin posted on the Success website. Com, where she talks about 13 Things Mentally Strong People, Do not Do
Next time someone tells you that this translation seems to be made with Google Translate, the next time someone from your team or your stakeholders are clashing with your ideas and your opinions... What are you going to do?
Have a great week!
@yolocalizo
Just like the flywheel on a spinning bike, it’s hard to get going at first , there’s resistance. But once you build speed, it gets easier to keep the momentum.
In Globalization, it works the same way. You can enter at any point quality, user feedback, tooling, content…. and that push will start turning the wheel.
Each action builds on the next, and little by little, it helps the company move faster toward market expansion.