Category Archives: Reality checks

April 22, 2015 · 11:25 am

More Attention, Fewer Things

I’ve been away – did you miss me? My absence was, as I posted the other day, the annual golf trip during which I assess my tolerance for pain and suffering both on the golf course and off. I try very hard not to check email nor to dip my toe into the river of digital content from which I drink daily. Fortunately, I have a bunch of distractions provided by my buddies.  

Today I fully plugged in, having returned to work. Zipping through email was relatively easy – I had already answered the critical ones during the trip and now it was just a matter of newsletters and such. My RSS stream is another matter entirely. There are thousands of articles here and there is no way I can skim them all much less read them. In the process of doing so, however, I thought of something that might be useful to you all as well.

Not everything is critical.  Not everything is important.  Most of it can be ignored safely.  I’ve found that the really important information out there shows up in multiple places and it’s pretty easy to tell that you might want to  check something out when you see it on a second or third stream.    The word itself – “stream” is important.  We’re land animals – we don’t live in a stream.  Lots of experts are beginning to tell us only to check email a few times a day – times when we can afford to task switch and be fully present.

I like this from Oliver Burkeman:

The bigger point here isn’t really about email in particular; it’s about the ever greater “boundarylessness” of work. When anyone can be contacted at any time of day, in any location; when the costs in time and effort of sending a message to a colleague, client or underling dwindle to nothing; when we’re confronted by an effectively infinite amount of information we could consume, or tasks we could perform, if only time were infinite too …

I just deleted a thousand articles in a couple of my stream topics without even looking.  It was the equivalent of recycling unread, old magazines I know I’ll never read nor care if I miss.  All of us need to give more attention to fewer things and stop making ourselves crazy with nits.  Who’s with me?

 

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April 13, 2015 · 9:42 am

Do More

This was not at all how I planned to start this week of blogging but sometimes reality rears its ugly head and our plans need to change.

Over the weekend I learned that a friend passed away.  He was relatively young – in his early forties – and while I’m at an age where death pays a visit in my world a lot more often than it used to, this one has shaken me up.  You see, this is a guy whose life was seemingly very much on track up until about 2 years ago.  He had some physical challenges – very bad arthritis – which made his job in golf difficult.  Things started downhill.  He tried to start a business but it never quite got off the ground.  His marriage broke up.  His social media activity became less frequent as did his general communication.  I even heard he was homeless at one point.  While none of the obituaries mention a cause of death, it may have been as simple as a broken heart, deep depression, or as complex as a suicide.  I don’t know that it matters.

I wrote something on this topic a year and a half ago:

We all know a person who displays symptoms of things not being right in their lives. Those symptoms could come in the form of substance abuse or a big weight gain. Maybe their personality has changed – gone from light to dark. If you care about that person, you probably think about a way to say something that asks about what’s going on. It’s hard – people have feelings, after all and they are probably just as aware as you are of what they’re doing. Probably more so.  The ensuing discussion can be hard for both of you.  Sometimes it can derail a friendship.  More often, it begins a healing process, but only if you care enough to say something.

I tried to follow that advice with this friend.  I tried to help with the business start-up, doing the digital work and marketing.  I invited him to come cook with me (he had professional training and loved a kitchen).  Other invitations to meet up went unanswered.  In short, I tried.  And yet I feel as if I could have done more. I didn’t really “say something.”

It’s easy to say that his family should have been helping – he has a lot of family in the area.  Who knows – maybe they were estranged.  Maybe he wasn’t keeping them informed.  How many of us tell our loved ones all is well when the reality is that our world has fallen apart?

I’m sorry to start the week on a down note but PLEASE.  If you have people in your lives who seem to be lost, helping them find their way is really about helping you too.  Be that selfish.  Do more. Don’t wait and don’t be afraid.  They might be gone before you overcome your fears.

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March 18, 2015 · 11:59 am

I Suck At Art

What, you are wondering, compelled me to announce to the world I lack proficiency in art? Why am I telling you that I can’t draw? The self-portrait I painted in college (yes, I took an art class) looks like something a 5-year-old did while taking acid and flinging paint. I haven’t improved much over the years. But why am I telling you?

I’m telling you because you need to do the same thing. You need to think about your weaknesses. No, I don’t mean your inability to step away from the candy bowl. I mean the areas in business which are not your strengths. It’s a critical step to becoming a better business person and probably to being a better human being too.

Bad managers think they know it all.  They can read the data better than the person breaking it out.  They can write better than the chief copywriter and design better than an art director.  Their marketing campaigns are brilliant and they know everything there is to know about social media.  You might have worked for that guy.  The problem is that inevitably they miss something because they refuse to admit they have a blind spot in their skill set.  They don’t ask questions – they just give you answers.

Great managers know their weaknesses and hire accordingly.  Even those of us who are on our own need to do that.  Sure, I can build you a website but it will take me a long time and it won’t be as good as when I bring in someone who excels at it.  While I know what works from a user experience perspective in digital you don’t want me doing artwork to bring it to life.  This is why you hire someone like me (OK, hopefully me!)  in the first place – to work with you in areas where I’m more expert than you and to bring in resources that will compensate for the weaknesses in your business.

So I suck at art.  You may be Michelangelo but you probably suck at something else that’s important to your business.  What are you doing to patch that hole?

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