I am sad to report that the work week has started over again, but at least I can leave you with some cool math and perhaps a theory to test out during the week.
And yes, as friction approaches Zero, your productivity does dip into the negative, as you lure coworkers into chair-spinning competitions.
Gotta love XKCD.
“Don’t let your ideas stew for too long before moving into action.”—Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter
Last week we rolled out a project at work that had been the major focus of my professional life for the last few months, and had been needed for the last decade that I worked there. Being able to create a new product that solved the problems everyone had been having for 20+ years was fantastic and draining.
Admittedly, if I’ve been snarky about the concepts of democratic processes and meetings and committees lately, it’s because I was fighting battles to see this project through.
Now that it’s done, though, I look back and think “Did we REALLY wait all these years because of petty in-fighting and lack of leadership?”.
Having been on-board with this project ever since I gave a presentation about our future business a year ago, I know pretty much everything that went into it, and am baffled by:
“The purpose of a strategy is not to come up with the right answers. It’s to enable you to act.”—Frans Johannson, CEO of the Medici group
At the same time, my brain doesn’t naturally turn off it’s project analysis just because this project is completed, so I’ve been in a bit of an “over-drive” lately.
One of the things that has driven absolutely bananas is seeing my colleagues in the same place, the Pit of Nothing Will Ever Change, spending time having meetings and lamenting over minutia.
“We have a strategic plan; it’s called doing things.”—Frans Johannson
In work, just as in life, you need to treat the disease, not the symptoms. But the first part is just getting up and treating something. Doing…Anything!
Today is Monday. You have a choice.
I like the second choice, but I can’t make the decisions for you.
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Ghandi
(This is Day 26 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge, be sure to check out the other participants at #30DayBC)
Below is a picture of a Mighty Mugg figure I saw on Agent M’s blog.
Aside from the fact that Agent M might have the coolest job in the world, and therefore everything he mentions takes on a nerdy-Bondsian cool-factor, this dude pictured looks like something I’d want to have on my desk.
Oh wait. I do have him on my desk
(just not the same one)
I remember when I bought this dude, Anie looked at me very puzzled, and asked why I was buying it. The simple fact was I wanted to own a Wolverine figure, and the price of $10 was no deterrence.
Then I realized that what she was talking about was really, “why would you buy a random thing like that to put on your desk at work”.
I still haven’t worked out a good answer, but everyone who’s seen it seems to like it, too.
It does puzzle me why, for a pseudo-minimalist, I like to have random thing around. Perhaps my dark-side is a secret horder.
Nah, that can’t be it.
Maybe it’s because I couldn’t get this stuff when I was a kid, so now I buy it for myself?
That’s probably closer to home, but in truth, I had all the ninja turtles I wanted as a kid, just far less than the kids down the block.
Maybe it’s something totemic, like the Wolverine on my desk is a modern version of the idols we learned about in Art History class. Instead of fertility, I’m seeking to channel virility and latent aggression?
How about you? Do you have anything on your desk (at home or at work) that really doesn’t belong there but you always want to keep it around?
(This is Day 6 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge)
Someone’s been spying on my day.
