A serious worker, a dedicated thinker

A serious worker in any area, in my opinion, should be someone that is passionate about what they do, creative in making progress, diligent in documenting the steps of improvement. All these stem from being a dedicated thinker in their particular area.

A serious worker does not have to have a long face all day long, does not have to work in a serious and depressing manner, nor does he have to be working in a field that is saving the world. A passionate, creative and diligent worker is a serious worker, who can make the most trivial, seemingly unimportant role fun - some people will appreciate seeing a worker like this, and some won't, which is irrelevant to the worker himself.

I happen to have experience in the architecture and urban planning field. I can depict how a passionate, creative and diligent designer looks like:

He thinks about his new project all the time, almost to a obsessive point. He extracts design concepts from what he sees and feels, a tree branch, a breeze, a peaceful morning, a science documentary, the way people talk on the street - anything that enters his eyes and mind, is inspiring to him. He carries a pen and sketchbook wherever he goes, or even a piece of napkin will do the job, when an idea shows up in his head at any point of time. He's patient, open-minded, making mistakes, and then he flips a page and draw something new. That is the image of a serious designer, a dedicated thinker.

I have the honor and privilege to read David Twiggs's manuscript on tourism community development. Twiggs did not strike me as a writer, in a professional sense. As the Chief Operating Officer of America's biggest gated community, he is very diligent in his own way of documenting his thoughts, progress and eagerness to contribute the professional community. Some of his articles may be shorter than others, some do not seem quite complete in a typical sense (as he says, he writes when he wakes up in the middle of the night, and stops when the thought is gone) - I can see that his thoughts, throughout over tens of essay-like articles, are cohesive and evolving over time, filled with the wisdom from experience. Although certain amount of editing and polishing is needed for publication, it is precious to read Twiggs' notes through his writing, which well presents him as a serious worker and dedicated thinker.

Two volumes of Twiggs' manuscript on community development
(photo by author)

Many people are intimidated by writing. I was that person, especially to write in a foreign language. But writing is just one method to document one's progress and thoughts, and there are so many other ways to achieve the same goal. Some people feel weird about being called a thinker; but if they can find something that they truly enjoy doing, they will be naturally thinking about it all the time and trying to do better. It doesn't matter how we label a worker, but I think it would be helpful to explore the potential in oneself and cultivate an encouraging atmosphere at a workplace in order to support creativity and documentation for the worker's own value and self-realization.

Many people think being a good worker is to get all tangled up with meetings, phone calls, paperwork and travelings - just to stay busy. In my opinion, that is a sad perception, and is short-sighted. A true good worker is someone who feels fulfilled from the inside, when he makes time to pause, to learn, to think, and to grow.