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I love the TED videos! Various different themes, long speeches, short speeches; whatever your taste, there is something there for you.

The other day, as suggested by a friend, I watched the video “Try something new for 30 days” by Matt Cutts and I felt that a whole new world was opening up before my eyes.

Here is the idea: Do something new (or stop doing something) for 30 days. I have never liked New Year’s resolutions. At least for me, who tends to not be a very dedicated person, doing something new for a whole year can turn out to be rather difficult. I usually give up and end up feeling weak. But by following this concept, it would only be for 30 days. Not too long, but long enough to create a habit. If it works, great! I can add a new habit to my daily routine. If it doesn’t, at least I completed my goal. I can move on and try something else.

And like Cutts suggested, we can do this with simple as well as complex stuff. Some ideas I had include exercising daily (you have no idea how difficult this is for me), cut out sugar, try new things, and read about different subjects. To start up the process, I am going to watch a different TED video every day; each day a different topic.

In 30 days I will be back to tell you all about this first experience. By the end of the year I hope to have plenty of new activities to share with you!

Care to join me?

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Soldier’s Day, Engineer’s Day… Gee! They say these dates are just a formality, that we should value people and celebrate every day. I could not agree more, but the daily rush makes us forget many things: a hug, a kiss, a complimentary “Good job!”

This is why I love these commemorative dates. I love when I log on to Facebook, Twitter, open my email inbox and see my colleagues celebrating, several messages congratulating us and reflections on the work of the translator. Just another day suddenly becomes special, and we can work happier and prouder of who we are.

Yet this is a formality. What really matters is the daily work, the exchange of information and experiences with our colleagues, the challenge of working in a completely different project, of learning to mater a new tool.

This is why I would like to seize this opportunity on this special day, our day, and thank all my Ccaps colleagues, dear translators who work with us and my translator friends with whom I have never worked but hope to work with some day.

Here is my hug, my kiss and my complimentary “Fantastic job!”

Happy Translator’s Day!

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