"Succinctly"

I've been thinking about this whole "succinctly" business from a couple posts ago for the last few days now.  For one thing, I've been thinking about how true it is: I'm a lot of things, but I'm not exactly short and to-the-point.  My "style" (for lack of a better word) is something of a meandering sucker-punch: it kinda wanders all over the place but, in the end, I weave it all together to make a powerful close.  Or, at least, that's what I try to do. 

In light of that, I've also been thinking about how I don't really know how to define the word in any practical sense.  I mean, I know what the dictionary would say about how to use it in a sentence, but I don't know what kind of words to use to describe what it looks like except to say "boring," "vague" and "unimaginative."  My personal feeling is that when you cut away the so-called "extraneous" parts of my writing, you lose what ultimately makes the impact.  I know it's not for everybody and, on a certain level, I don't really want it to be.  I like pulling things from different directions and finding ways to connect them all together.  It's one of the main reasons I prefer Facebook to Twitter - I can't/don't wanna have to restrict that process to 140 characters.

But at the same time, I haven't applied for the job yet precisely because I think I need to work on the "succinctly" part before I do.  In some ways, I feel like it's just another excuse to accommodate my insecurities, but I don't want to submit a résumé just to say I did it.  Like I said before, I think it would be good for me to apply for this job in order to engage the process and maybe get a chance to talk to some people about a career in writing, but I also think it would be a good job.  I think that I could learn a lot from it and get some valuable experience in a field that I'm really interested in.  And I can't bring some half-baked effort to the table and expect them to take me seriously. 

I would never apply for a job that I didn't believe was a match with who I am and how I'm wired, nor would I think that anybody else should, either.  Some people aren't cut-out to do certain types of work, and I'm no exception to that.  I admit that sometimes you have to take a less-than-ideal job to pay the bills, but I wasn't made to be a computer programmer or a banker or a home improvement retail employee for the rest of my life.  I need to have work that is challenging and project-oriented, has a specific goal in mind, and requires me to utilize my creativity in order to come up with a solution, as well as adding style.

I guess my challenge is to cut the crap and get to work.  I really wish I were a no-nonsense and focused and driven kind of person; a person for whom "succinctly" functions as a second nature.  I wish I were Greg House.  I wish I could just walk into a room and give an immediate diagnosis based solely on how smart and awesome I am.  But I can't, because I'm not Greg House.  Greg House is a TV character and I'm just a real-life dude that "efficiency" and "finesse" don't describe.  College taught me that. 

But what it also taught me is that I'm the dude who grabs the biggest axe he can find and starts swinging until the thing falls over.  I'm the one to call when you have to make a choice between making the thing pretty and getting it done on time.  In my spare time, I may dawdle and think and relax and mull stuff over, but when the little hand says it's time to rock 'n roll, you either need to keep up or get out of my way. 

So, at the end of it all, can I do "succinctly?"  I don't really know.  "Succinct" is an adjective that doesn't currently (and may never) describe who I am and how I operate.  I don't think I'll ever be able to organize my thoughts in such a way that they come out in a nice, neat, clean, and to-the-point fashion.  What I know I can do is take the garbled mess that does come out and cut it down and shape it into something more palatable and useful.  I can weed things out that don't really fit with what I'm trying to accomplish and find ways to streamline my thoughts and ideas.  And if that doesn't qualify as "succinctly," well then, brother... I ain't got it.