Tagged by Mihaela and then by Dio. The meme created and described here.

So, these are the rules: "Compose a new blog post listing the top 5 to 10 things that you do almost every day that help you to be successful. They can be anything at all, but they have to be things that you do at least 4 or 5 times every week. Anything less than that may be a hobby that helps you out, but we are after the real day in and day out habits that help you to be successful."

I wouldn't call myself successful, not just yet, but oh well, here goes nothing:

1. First and foremost, I should mention the little things behind my doing everything that I do every day (work, school sometimes, blogging and other projects): coffee, tea of many different flavors and countries of origin, 20-25 minute walks before and after work, email/YIM jokes.

2. Communication: with everyone in the office (development, testing, tech support, sales, they all have some useful piece of information to share), with people I know working in the same field or in different areas of expertise.

3. Reading a lot: books, articles, news (online mostly), blog posts and forums. The sites focusing on Linux or Linux software, IT&C news etc are a must for me.

4. I am my harshest critic. I am hard to please and impress when I am the one who's trying to please and impress. I set demanding standards for myself and try my best not to disappoint myself. It sometimes turns into hard core perfectionism, but I can keep it in normal limits most of the times.

5. I always enjoy the company of those that I work with. As we spend so much time together, we become quite close, so the actual working process becomes extremely pleasant. It makes little mishaps easier to handle. If I am not really compatible with those I work with, I doubt I could do my best. It has not been the case up to know. All the companies I worked for were a perfect fit at the time. And I am still friends with most of my ex-colleagues.

6. I am quite competitive. Which works in my advantage most of the times. For example, if someone uses a condescending tone when speaking of my needing to learn a bit more about Linux, that will make me try hard enough to learn all I can in the shortest possible period.

7. I've never been afraid of new and blurry things. That's how I managed to get into IT, technical support even. And then moved on to be a technical writer for a Linux/Unix/BSD- based software. It also has something to do with my seeing these two jobs as challenges (see above).