Happy Thanksgiving 2012! In accordance with years past, here is my list of things that I am thankful for:
- My Family, both here in New Home and Away
- The Ravishing Mrs. TB, who continues to demonstrate that I really did marry up.
- That I am employed
- For our health (A large one this year, as many I know have not been so fortunate).
- For the completion of two books (not only a thankful, but a lifelong goal realized).
- For our church.
- For the fact we are able to send our children to the school we are able to.
- For mo naigheanan: Nighean Bhan, Nighean Gheal, and Nighean Dhonn. I am incredibly proud of my children.
- For iaido, which continues to teach me.
- That I was able to compete in two Highland Games this year without complete embarrassment.
- For our trip this year to the Happiest Place on Earth.
- And for my Lord, who continues to demonstrate patience to a man who surely never deserved it.
There is always a sense in my writing, I suppose, that things are always a little worse than they are. And surely they could always be a little better. But it is always good, from time to time, to take a step back and be grateful for all that really is going well in one's life.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Too Much The Same
One issue that vacations seem to bring up is the simple fact that you have time - time to think, time to ponder, time to consider. Sometimes such times can be as dangerous as having no such time.
In this time to think and ponder, what I am coming up with is the sense of the sameness of my life and the fact that there seems to be no greater plan.
My weeks start to run together, the same work filling them. Looking ahead to next year I only see this year repeated, except perhaps with even less ability to do what needs to be done. My personal life doesn't seem to hold any more chance of moving forward on any front: next year's activities will be the same as this year's activities, with perhaps one or two changes only in form but not in substance.
And that thing I was looking for when I was younger, that great sense of purpose, the great plan? That seems long gone, buried beneath layers of necessities and responsibilities and things I must do.
So here is the question: how do I change all this?
I really wish I knew. I realize that such things as a geographic relocation or even exchanging one career for another are merely another change in font to the novel of my life. I need something more deeply changing than these, a change of plot and chapter.
But beyond that deep change, I need something even deeper: I need a change to a sense of hope, a sense that my actions are actually moving my life forward instead of merely keeping it in stasis. For the present changes and future rushes towards me; unfortunately I seem to remain only the same.
In this time to think and ponder, what I am coming up with is the sense of the sameness of my life and the fact that there seems to be no greater plan.
My weeks start to run together, the same work filling them. Looking ahead to next year I only see this year repeated, except perhaps with even less ability to do what needs to be done. My personal life doesn't seem to hold any more chance of moving forward on any front: next year's activities will be the same as this year's activities, with perhaps one or two changes only in form but not in substance.
And that thing I was looking for when I was younger, that great sense of purpose, the great plan? That seems long gone, buried beneath layers of necessities and responsibilities and things I must do.
So here is the question: how do I change all this?
I really wish I knew. I realize that such things as a geographic relocation or even exchanging one career for another are merely another change in font to the novel of my life. I need something more deeply changing than these, a change of plot and chapter.
But beyond that deep change, I need something even deeper: I need a change to a sense of hope, a sense that my actions are actually moving my life forward instead of merely keeping it in stasis. For the present changes and future rushes towards me; unfortunately I seem to remain only the same.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Trapped by Vacation?
Being on vacation is an odd thing.
This is my second official "vacation" of the year. The first, as you may recall, was a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. This one is quite different in that we are staying close to home, doing some day trips, spending time with family.
10 days away from work. You would think that I would be far more excited than I find myself to be.
Why is this? Why can't I simply rejoice in the fact that I am blessed with paid time off and that I am using it spend time not doing my work and with my family?
Because I find myself nagged. In the back of my mind I find myself nagged.
Work has started following me around like a bad emotion or a grudge. I find it creeping into my thoughts when I least want, arguing with it when I least expect it, turning around and find it stalking me in my wanderings during the day.
I can't imagine this is especially healthy.
Has it been so long of not being on vacation that I have lost the ability to do so? Have I allowed myself to become so consumed with what work is that I have lost the ability to unplug? And if so, how do I break the cord (more like a steel trap, it seems) that binds me even when I have no reason to be bound?
This is my second official "vacation" of the year. The first, as you may recall, was a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth. This one is quite different in that we are staying close to home, doing some day trips, spending time with family.
10 days away from work. You would think that I would be far more excited than I find myself to be.
Why is this? Why can't I simply rejoice in the fact that I am blessed with paid time off and that I am using it spend time not doing my work and with my family?
Because I find myself nagged. In the back of my mind I find myself nagged.
Work has started following me around like a bad emotion or a grudge. I find it creeping into my thoughts when I least want, arguing with it when I least expect it, turning around and find it stalking me in my wanderings during the day.
I can't imagine this is especially healthy.
Has it been so long of not being on vacation that I have lost the ability to do so? Have I allowed myself to become so consumed with what work is that I have lost the ability to unplug? And if so, how do I break the cord (more like a steel trap, it seems) that binds me even when I have no reason to be bound?
Friday, November 16, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Spammers Redux
Ah, my friends the spammers. They're still hard at work even though I've made comments subject to review. Every day I get up and scan my list of posts that have been read. Inevitably, one old seems to have received a high degree of attention, some post that has been pegged as an address one can get to and proliferated throughout the Internet. Somewhere, in the Russian Federations, I have a spam following.
The thing that struck me about it this morning as I review my list was the one that it was: Easter Communion Meditation from March 21, 2008. It has a total of 1812 hits, almost 11% of my total viewing.
What an odd post, I thought. Of all the the posts that could be spread around the Internet as a link to try and post at, a post about the Easter Resurrection and communion.
Does anyone read them, I wonder? Are they total dominated by faceless e-mail lists that go out in the dark of my night, seeking to sell me stocks or Cialis or cheap computer parts without at all looking at what they are doing? Or is the case that someone occasionally checks out that which they are mailing to?
I'd like to believe that at least once, someone actually looked at the random sites they were posting to. Someone that at least took the message and considered it, rather than just rolling to the next page to try and post a comment.
Sometimes God moves in mysterious ways. Maybe even in spam.
The thing that struck me about it this morning as I review my list was the one that it was: Easter Communion Meditation from March 21, 2008. It has a total of 1812 hits, almost 11% of my total viewing.
What an odd post, I thought. Of all the the posts that could be spread around the Internet as a link to try and post at, a post about the Easter Resurrection and communion.
Does anyone read them, I wonder? Are they total dominated by faceless e-mail lists that go out in the dark of my night, seeking to sell me stocks or Cialis or cheap computer parts without at all looking at what they are doing? Or is the case that someone occasionally checks out that which they are mailing to?
I'd like to believe that at least once, someone actually looked at the random sites they were posting to. Someone that at least took the message and considered it, rather than just rolling to the next page to try and post a comment.
Sometimes God moves in mysterious ways. Maybe even in spam.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Halfway There
So today I passed the halfway point in the 30 day novel writing challenge. I'm currently standing at 25,139 words.
This is fascinating to me. My first manuscript was in the range of 15,000 words and took me almost a year to write. My second manuscript was in the range of 6500 words and took me 3 months to write. I have now not only exceeded each individual word count but the combined word count in..I'm not that good at math, but a whole lot less time than it took the first two times.
The important question is why.
Was the story more fully developed? I'm not sure. Yes, I had wrestled with the current concept and had even started writing something - in fact, I ended up scrapping everything I wrote and started over. The characters were theoretically in place (although not, as it turns out, in the final form) and the concept was there. But I'd be hesitant to say that I fully knew where I was going this time.
Is it the exercise? Well, it's probably helping with the word count. Getting the habit of having a target and having to produce a certain amount of words a day certainly makes progress add up quickly. But it's not enough to just type words into a computer: without some sense of structure, I can see where one would get very depressed as the word count would be there but the story would not.
The key, upon thinking about it, seems to be the commitment to do it. Commitment is not just to doing the exercise, it's to doing the exercise in such a way as to complete it. I am committed to a certain word count. I am also committed to having that word count become a book of some sort or fashion, something that hangs together and makes a modicum of sense.
The output is interesting, the progress inspiring. The question for myself is this: how do I translate this into other parts of my life?
This is fascinating to me. My first manuscript was in the range of 15,000 words and took me almost a year to write. My second manuscript was in the range of 6500 words and took me 3 months to write. I have now not only exceeded each individual word count but the combined word count in..I'm not that good at math, but a whole lot less time than it took the first two times.
The important question is why.
Was the story more fully developed? I'm not sure. Yes, I had wrestled with the current concept and had even started writing something - in fact, I ended up scrapping everything I wrote and started over. The characters were theoretically in place (although not, as it turns out, in the final form) and the concept was there. But I'd be hesitant to say that I fully knew where I was going this time.
Is it the exercise? Well, it's probably helping with the word count. Getting the habit of having a target and having to produce a certain amount of words a day certainly makes progress add up quickly. But it's not enough to just type words into a computer: without some sense of structure, I can see where one would get very depressed as the word count would be there but the story would not.
The key, upon thinking about it, seems to be the commitment to do it. Commitment is not just to doing the exercise, it's to doing the exercise in such a way as to complete it. I am committed to a certain word count. I am also committed to having that word count become a book of some sort or fashion, something that hangs together and makes a modicum of sense.
The output is interesting, the progress inspiring. The question for myself is this: how do I translate this into other parts of my life?
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Sidestepping
"Appear at places to which he (the enemy) must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you. That you may march a thousand li without wearying yourself is because you travel where there is no enemy (Go into emptiness, strike voids, bypass what he defends, hit him where he does not expect you.)" - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
How does one deal with the obstacles in one's life? I'm thinking particularly here of ones which seem completely unmovable, the ones that we can't seem to change by dint of effort or pleading. The sorts of things that make you feel ineffective and pointless in your life.
I've tried, trust me. I've tried to directly go through them. I've tried to maneuver my way around them. I've tried to under or over them. And yet I constantly seem to be rebuffed, thrown back, unable to make any forward progress at all. Is it because I'm going about it the wrong way?
Observe Sun Tzu above. He doesn't speak of going directly to where the enemy is waiting; instead, he says go to where the enemy is not; work around him, make him hurry to come to you instead of the other way around. One who strikes at voids is always sure to be able to punch straight through.
Great for a man dead 2500 years. How does this apply to my life?
The reality is that anyone - or anything - can only defend a certain number of approaches. No-one can be everywhere defending everything. And everyone and everything had gaps, holes, things that can be moved through.
So find the gaps. Find the holes. If someone is defensive on one place - very defensive - it is sometimes better to stop there and look around rather than continue. There is always another path, another way past the obstacle. Go to a second place, somewhere that there is less passion or concern, and begin there. The flank will either be turned - or by defending two positions, the overall resistance becomes weaker.
True of things as well. Can't get through the wall of conceptually writing a novel? Do a certain number of words a day until you reach the same place you would reach if you just tried to write all at once. Can't attack the idea of debt or savings? Instead of hitting the center, nibble at the edges or find another place to start.
There are times that things are simply difficult and we must go through them, that challenges cannot be met except by facing them head on. But just as armies cannot constantly fight major battles repeatedly, so we will exhaust ourselves continually attacking the center. Look for the holes, the empty spaces; be where they do not expect you.
Progress is always possible. It just may not be quite where we originally thought it would be.
How does one deal with the obstacles in one's life? I'm thinking particularly here of ones which seem completely unmovable, the ones that we can't seem to change by dint of effort or pleading. The sorts of things that make you feel ineffective and pointless in your life.
I've tried, trust me. I've tried to directly go through them. I've tried to maneuver my way around them. I've tried to under or over them. And yet I constantly seem to be rebuffed, thrown back, unable to make any forward progress at all. Is it because I'm going about it the wrong way?
Observe Sun Tzu above. He doesn't speak of going directly to where the enemy is waiting; instead, he says go to where the enemy is not; work around him, make him hurry to come to you instead of the other way around. One who strikes at voids is always sure to be able to punch straight through.
Great for a man dead 2500 years. How does this apply to my life?
The reality is that anyone - or anything - can only defend a certain number of approaches. No-one can be everywhere defending everything. And everyone and everything had gaps, holes, things that can be moved through.
So find the gaps. Find the holes. If someone is defensive on one place - very defensive - it is sometimes better to stop there and look around rather than continue. There is always another path, another way past the obstacle. Go to a second place, somewhere that there is less passion or concern, and begin there. The flank will either be turned - or by defending two positions, the overall resistance becomes weaker.
True of things as well. Can't get through the wall of conceptually writing a novel? Do a certain number of words a day until you reach the same place you would reach if you just tried to write all at once. Can't attack the idea of debt or savings? Instead of hitting the center, nibble at the edges or find another place to start.
There are times that things are simply difficult and we must go through them, that challenges cannot be met except by facing them head on. But just as armies cannot constantly fight major battles repeatedly, so we will exhaust ourselves continually attacking the center. Look for the holes, the empty spaces; be where they do not expect you.
Progress is always possible. It just may not be quite where we originally thought it would be.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Friday, November 09, 2012
Outputs and Outcomes
I have been oscillating between two extremes this week: on one hand a complete feeling of powerlessness and on the other hand a feeling of control.
The feeling of powerlessness engulfed me on Wednesday when, faced with an ever rising sea of tasks and expectations, my will broke. There is nothing so demoralizing as the sense that no matter how much one does and where one focuses, the end result will essentially be nil. Whatever improvements made are transient, what tasks accomplished are buried under a wave of new items to be addressed tomorrow.
The feeling of control has periodically engulfed me throughout the week. It seems to have appeared as a result of participating in Nanowrimo. The thing that seemed so difficult last year - writing 1667 words a day - has not only become an activity that I have found I can do but that I can enjoy - and make progress in (17,213 words on day 9).
The fact that these two stand in contrast is somewhat remarkable to me. The sorts of activities I stake my life and livelihood on are beyond my control. The thing which is at this point no more than a personal hobby is well within my control. Here's the question that I need to consider: how do I expand this control to the other parts of my life?
We work (and live) best when we have a sense that what we are doing has an impact, both for ourselves and others. Impact, of course, is a matter of cause and effect, of input and output. The effects and outputs that are the best are the ones of which we can control the causes and inputs. There's a spectrum, I imagine, running from things that are 100% under our control to things that are 0% under out control - and certainly those things out of our control will always be a part of our lives. The question is, can these things be minimized?
I'll make a second argument as well: those that have greater control over those things are generally those who are able to achieve better results and are quite possible happier. Why? Because they are able to take actions which directly result in a better and greater set of outcomes. They are greater able to direct the course of the actions towards those outcomes that they are attempting to achieve, rather than simply trying to manage inputs not of their choosing in a direction that they cannot control.
It's a convoluted thing. My actions are the results of inputs on me and I am limited by the inputs to what I can then do for outputs. Thinking simply, give a chef garbage and no matter how well he tries, he's probably not going to be able to do much with it.
Which is maybe why the sense of control from writing rings so true. I 100% control the input (my time, my energy) - and thus, I 100% control the outputs.
How do I then gain greater control over the inputs? Perhaps that's the question that needs to be addressed. I leave today's meditation with this thought: To the extent that I remained mired in the outcomes of others or being dependent on them, that is the extent to which I can improve the outcomes.
The feeling of powerlessness engulfed me on Wednesday when, faced with an ever rising sea of tasks and expectations, my will broke. There is nothing so demoralizing as the sense that no matter how much one does and where one focuses, the end result will essentially be nil. Whatever improvements made are transient, what tasks accomplished are buried under a wave of new items to be addressed tomorrow.
The feeling of control has periodically engulfed me throughout the week. It seems to have appeared as a result of participating in Nanowrimo. The thing that seemed so difficult last year - writing 1667 words a day - has not only become an activity that I have found I can do but that I can enjoy - and make progress in (17,213 words on day 9).
The fact that these two stand in contrast is somewhat remarkable to me. The sorts of activities I stake my life and livelihood on are beyond my control. The thing which is at this point no more than a personal hobby is well within my control. Here's the question that I need to consider: how do I expand this control to the other parts of my life?
We work (and live) best when we have a sense that what we are doing has an impact, both for ourselves and others. Impact, of course, is a matter of cause and effect, of input and output. The effects and outputs that are the best are the ones of which we can control the causes and inputs. There's a spectrum, I imagine, running from things that are 100% under our control to things that are 0% under out control - and certainly those things out of our control will always be a part of our lives. The question is, can these things be minimized?
I'll make a second argument as well: those that have greater control over those things are generally those who are able to achieve better results and are quite possible happier. Why? Because they are able to take actions which directly result in a better and greater set of outcomes. They are greater able to direct the course of the actions towards those outcomes that they are attempting to achieve, rather than simply trying to manage inputs not of their choosing in a direction that they cannot control.
It's a convoluted thing. My actions are the results of inputs on me and I am limited by the inputs to what I can then do for outputs. Thinking simply, give a chef garbage and no matter how well he tries, he's probably not going to be able to do much with it.
Which is maybe why the sense of control from writing rings so true. I 100% control the input (my time, my energy) - and thus, I 100% control the outputs.
How do I then gain greater control over the inputs? Perhaps that's the question that needs to be addressed. I leave today's meditation with this thought: To the extent that I remained mired in the outcomes of others or being dependent on them, that is the extent to which I can improve the outcomes.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Failure to Launch
What do you do with a product that seems to be unsaleable?
What do you do with a product that seems to be unsaleable when that product is you?
I've had the experience now of having investors reject this product four times in the last 7 months or so. Like any good sales person, the point of offering something is to be able to sell it. The fact that I have been encountering difficulties in doing this would give any product development person pause - as it should me.
One important aspect of this is customer feedback. What do the customers say? Customers are rational in that they purchase that which meets their real or perceived needs. Is the product not meeting their needs, and if so why?
Obviously it's not meeting their needs. No-one is buying it. Why not?
Feedback seems to vary. In one case the product did not have sufficient field testing among a larger group. In another, the product simply did not meet the required customer inputs. A third was that the product had elements of what the customer wanted, but not the whole. The fourth customer simply found a product that was better suited for their purposes.
Unfortunately these reasons seem to tell me nothing I can seem to redesign. The wide field testing and depth of features is something that cannot be forced by the designer, only offered and hoped to be adopted. The customer inputs are nothing of my design but only those of the customer - if the product doesn't meet them, there's little chance a redesign will improve things. And a product better suited for the purpose? One can specialize the product but that again sends it back to redesign and takes it off the market longer.
How about the design of the product? Is there something inherent to what it is that make it unsaleable?
Possibly, but if that's the case how does one do a redesign? One can go back to the design documents - in this case, a not well documented process - and attempt to change the inputs. But as with above, changing inputs takes time and energy - without any real greater sense that the product will be accepted by the consumer.
So what do I do with this product then? Newer models are launching as we speak, and I suspect the nostalgia market for this kind of thing only decreases with time.
If the purposes for which the product was designed have moved on and the product cannot be effectively redesigned and it cannot be sold, most would say this product has become obsolete and should be retired or scrapped.
That is easy enough to say with a product. It's more difficult to say with a life.
What do you do with a product that seems to be unsaleable when that product is you?
I've had the experience now of having investors reject this product four times in the last 7 months or so. Like any good sales person, the point of offering something is to be able to sell it. The fact that I have been encountering difficulties in doing this would give any product development person pause - as it should me.
One important aspect of this is customer feedback. What do the customers say? Customers are rational in that they purchase that which meets their real or perceived needs. Is the product not meeting their needs, and if so why?
Obviously it's not meeting their needs. No-one is buying it. Why not?
Feedback seems to vary. In one case the product did not have sufficient field testing among a larger group. In another, the product simply did not meet the required customer inputs. A third was that the product had elements of what the customer wanted, but not the whole. The fourth customer simply found a product that was better suited for their purposes.
Unfortunately these reasons seem to tell me nothing I can seem to redesign. The wide field testing and depth of features is something that cannot be forced by the designer, only offered and hoped to be adopted. The customer inputs are nothing of my design but only those of the customer - if the product doesn't meet them, there's little chance a redesign will improve things. And a product better suited for the purpose? One can specialize the product but that again sends it back to redesign and takes it off the market longer.
How about the design of the product? Is there something inherent to what it is that make it unsaleable?
Possibly, but if that's the case how does one do a redesign? One can go back to the design documents - in this case, a not well documented process - and attempt to change the inputs. But as with above, changing inputs takes time and energy - without any real greater sense that the product will be accepted by the consumer.
So what do I do with this product then? Newer models are launching as we speak, and I suspect the nostalgia market for this kind of thing only decreases with time.
If the purposes for which the product was designed have moved on and the product cannot be effectively redesigned and it cannot be sold, most would say this product has become obsolete and should be retired or scrapped.
That is easy enough to say with a product. It's more difficult to say with a life.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Highland Games Again
This past weekend I participated in my third Highland Games.
I suppose a reasonable question to ask is why I like the Highland Games. After all, I'm generally the smallest and lightest guy out in the field. It's almost guaranteed that I'll have a lock on last place. I'm "competing" (if you want to dignify my participation that way) with men who in some cases outweigh me by 120 pounds and tower over me by at least 6 inches and women who are in much better shape than I can ever hope to be. In height, weight, girth and strength, I'm over matched.
So why do I go?
Because I love it. Because every time I get out there (as someone said at a practice) I am participating in something which millions have heard of but of which < 1% of the population will do. And it's fun.
Because it's history. When I hurl a stone or pick a caber, I am participating with thousands who, over 1500 years, have done the same thing. I am a living part of the history I love so much.
Because it's challenging. To hurl something that is heavy is more than just brute strength. It's technique. It's learning to do something better and better. It ultimately engages not just the body but the mind. It trains me to learn to set goals - and keep going when I've achieved them.
Because it's enjoyable. And it's not just enjoyable because I'm participating. It's enjoyable because every game I have participated in is not an exercise in competition, it's an exercise in being with other people who are there for the same reason you are and are encouraging you to do as well as you can. Yes, it's the ultimate in an individual achievement sport - but it's balanced by a group of like minded individuals who are there to support as well as compete. While subtle, the difference between being on the outside of the participation line and inside the ring is present. The cheers of your fellow competitors - who know - is more meaningful than those who are just passing by to watch.
But probably the reason I do it the most is to prove something to myself. To prove that even at my middle age, it's not too late to learn to do something new that's physically hard and mentally challenging.
The season is almost to its end here. But that's okay. 2013 is around the corner.
And I'll be there, a bush among the taller trees, trying to hurl 25% of body weight down the field.
And loving it.
(More reasons to love the Highland Games: What they teach about life here and here.
I suppose a reasonable question to ask is why I like the Highland Games. After all, I'm generally the smallest and lightest guy out in the field. It's almost guaranteed that I'll have a lock on last place. I'm "competing" (if you want to dignify my participation that way) with men who in some cases outweigh me by 120 pounds and tower over me by at least 6 inches and women who are in much better shape than I can ever hope to be. In height, weight, girth and strength, I'm over matched.
So why do I go?
Because I love it. Because every time I get out there (as someone said at a practice) I am participating in something which millions have heard of but of which < 1% of the population will do. And it's fun.
Because it's history. When I hurl a stone or pick a caber, I am participating with thousands who, over 1500 years, have done the same thing. I am a living part of the history I love so much.
Because it's challenging. To hurl something that is heavy is more than just brute strength. It's technique. It's learning to do something better and better. It ultimately engages not just the body but the mind. It trains me to learn to set goals - and keep going when I've achieved them.
Because it's enjoyable. And it's not just enjoyable because I'm participating. It's enjoyable because every game I have participated in is not an exercise in competition, it's an exercise in being with other people who are there for the same reason you are and are encouraging you to do as well as you can. Yes, it's the ultimate in an individual achievement sport - but it's balanced by a group of like minded individuals who are there to support as well as compete. While subtle, the difference between being on the outside of the participation line and inside the ring is present. The cheers of your fellow competitors - who know - is more meaningful than those who are just passing by to watch.
But probably the reason I do it the most is to prove something to myself. To prove that even at my middle age, it's not too late to learn to do something new that's physically hard and mentally challenging.
The season is almost to its end here. But that's okay. 2013 is around the corner.
And I'll be there, a bush among the taller trees, trying to hurl 25% of body weight down the field.
And loving it.
(More reasons to love the Highland Games: What they teach about life here and here.
Monday, November 05, 2012
More All I Needed To Know I Learned from the Highland Games
1) Competing is as much about showing up as it is about being good.
2) Get a heavy enough implement that requires some technique and the old and young are on a level playing field.
3) Be prepared for change on short notice. Just because you've always thrown with a lighter stone doesn't mean that a heavier stone won't suddenly be used.
4) If people say a caber may be coming your way and may hit you, best to listen and be prepared.
5) Be ready. The Ready and Willing need only the slightest of instruction to throw far.
6) Momentum is key. The right momentum allows a weight to sail with ease. The wrong momentum just makes for an embarassing throw.
7) Many people are willing to throw. Few people are willing to go behind and make sure everything is out of the way.
8) Don't try and catch a rolling stone with your ankle.
9) World records can be set anywhere. You just need to be ready and looking for it.
10) There's always someone who will be the smallest competitor on the field throwing the most of the his body weight. Be that person if you have to.
2) Get a heavy enough implement that requires some technique and the old and young are on a level playing field.
3) Be prepared for change on short notice. Just because you've always thrown with a lighter stone doesn't mean that a heavier stone won't suddenly be used.
4) If people say a caber may be coming your way and may hit you, best to listen and be prepared.
5) Be ready. The Ready and Willing need only the slightest of instruction to throw far.
6) Momentum is key. The right momentum allows a weight to sail with ease. The wrong momentum just makes for an embarassing throw.
7) Many people are willing to throw. Few people are willing to go behind and make sure everything is out of the way.
8) Don't try and catch a rolling stone with your ankle.
9) World records can be set anywhere. You just need to be ready and looking for it.
10) There's always someone who will be the smallest competitor on the field throwing the most of the his body weight. Be that person if you have to.
Friday, November 02, 2012
Focus and Mire
It's amazing how the mire of activity can kill focus.
One can come into a situation with the intent to become a machine of efficiency, a raging force of nature moving through tasks. Within 15 minutes, one can find one's stuck looking at the blinking cursor of a screen waiting to complete the first of many things which are exactly the same - and not at all related to anything one had intended.
It's a schedule slayer, these unintended things. They're the kobolds of the task world, small creatures which in and of themselves are not harmful at all but, when gathering together in large groups, can bring down the heartiest adventurer in a sea of short sharp swords and flailing bodies.
How does one fight against this sort of thing? How can one ensure the small tasks remain small and handled and the big tasks - the ones which require significant attention - are dealt with in a timely fashion? I would love to say that the answer is readily apparent, but it's not. It almost seems to be a combination of a couple of factors:
1) Managing the smaller tasks: Smaller tasks have to be managed - maybe even more than larger tasks. They must be managed because if not, they become infinitely complex and frustrating. A 10 minute task can take 4 hours if five of the same thing suddenly appear, all requiring the same things to be done. They need to be put in a line, corralled and brought to order.
2) Remember the big tasks: Back to the review I have discussed so often before. One always needs to know what one planned to be doing. Even if the sidetracking comes - and it will - there should still be a sense of what one originally intended to work on. Not only for a sense of proportion - like comparing a seedling to a redwood - but from the sense of keeping one's eyes on the larger picture.
3) Prioritize - And when I write prioritize I mean not only doing first things first but doing anything at all. As I mentioned yesterday, we will never have enough time to accomplish anything. If too many of the small tasks are piling up, have they become a large task? Are the resources not available currently to manage it? If so, what would it take? Can it be done - or is it something that simply needs to fade into the background?
The small things can destroy one's ability to do the big things - but only if left unchecked and roaming about. Bring the small things into line or they will bring you to your knees.
One can come into a situation with the intent to become a machine of efficiency, a raging force of nature moving through tasks. Within 15 minutes, one can find one's stuck looking at the blinking cursor of a screen waiting to complete the first of many things which are exactly the same - and not at all related to anything one had intended.
It's a schedule slayer, these unintended things. They're the kobolds of the task world, small creatures which in and of themselves are not harmful at all but, when gathering together in large groups, can bring down the heartiest adventurer in a sea of short sharp swords and flailing bodies.
How does one fight against this sort of thing? How can one ensure the small tasks remain small and handled and the big tasks - the ones which require significant attention - are dealt with in a timely fashion? I would love to say that the answer is readily apparent, but it's not. It almost seems to be a combination of a couple of factors:
1) Managing the smaller tasks: Smaller tasks have to be managed - maybe even more than larger tasks. They must be managed because if not, they become infinitely complex and frustrating. A 10 minute task can take 4 hours if five of the same thing suddenly appear, all requiring the same things to be done. They need to be put in a line, corralled and brought to order.
2) Remember the big tasks: Back to the review I have discussed so often before. One always needs to know what one planned to be doing. Even if the sidetracking comes - and it will - there should still be a sense of what one originally intended to work on. Not only for a sense of proportion - like comparing a seedling to a redwood - but from the sense of keeping one's eyes on the larger picture.
3) Prioritize - And when I write prioritize I mean not only doing first things first but doing anything at all. As I mentioned yesterday, we will never have enough time to accomplish anything. If too many of the small tasks are piling up, have they become a large task? Are the resources not available currently to manage it? If so, what would it take? Can it be done - or is it something that simply needs to fade into the background?
The small things can destroy one's ability to do the big things - but only if left unchecked and roaming about. Bring the small things into line or they will bring you to your knees.
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Find the Focus
Focus can be a wonderful thing.
Focus is the gate through which we can force all things to enter through. It's the floodgates where we fling our energy instead of dissipating it into the stream. It's the single act of drawing and cutting instead of carelessly pulling out our sword and slashing about.
Perhaps for myself the story of my life is this constant struggle I am undergoing between trying to find focus and living my life. The two are at best not synonymous and worst are contradictory. But I get the sense that those who succeed - and when I say succeed, I mean specifically those who are most integrated, most enjoying their lives, not necessarily the most monetarily rewarded - have figured out a way to combine the two.
When focus exists - when your life is lived through the lens of moving in a particular way to accomplish a particular thing - life moves. Things are not just performed as a series of random disconnected actions but as a more and more seamless whole, all things running together towards a larger things. One does some things; one lets other things go because they are contributing to the greater focus. Eventually, I believe, the various parts of one's mind and soul are more wholly integrated as actions and being and philosophy merge into one. "What you seem to be, be really" said Benjamin Franklin. Focus will do that for us.
How do we get and keep focus? That's the sticking point, the thing that constantly seems to rip me back to reality. For me - I assume for many - what we wish to focus on and what we actually focus on are two entirely separate things. So often our lives seem disconnected from that which we wish to do and mired in that which we must. Focus becomes all that more important. But how to get it and keep it on those goals?
I have a suggestion. It's not original with me, but it works. It's from Miyamoto Musashi: "Do nothing which is of no use."
This is a key - not the key perhaps, but a key. We all have limited time. We all have things we have to do. The point is that we need to make everything we do work towards the focus.
Admit it: I am (and you are) frivolous with time. We're extravagant. We spend time on things the way children will spend money on candy if given the chance: freely, lavishly, without a care in the world about the future.
As with savings, working towards those things of value in our lives is a series of building a bank account of accomplishments. Accomplishments take time. Accomplishments take doing things of use.
We need to learn (I most of all) to make all my tasks serve the goal, the focus. Even work - mind numbing work - can serve the focus if we let it. If by working we pay bills and enable ourselves to have time to work on other things, it is time not wasted. And even at work, our focus can shift towards not just tasks but skills. Learning to work diligently and for long periods of time on a task is not something which only applies to our working lives.
The other half? Shed that which is useless. Make every action and task serve your focus. Is it not useful, not serving to help you work towards that which you are focusing on? Consider abandoning it or making it serve the higher goal. Our lives are always more full of things that we can do than things we will have time to do. Determine to make every one of things something which is useful.
Because ultimately, focus is an output of which time and effort are inputs. Time and effort are both finite and have an end date - a date which will never know until it arrives.
Determine to focus. Determine to abandon that which is useless.
Focus is the gate through which we can force all things to enter through. It's the floodgates where we fling our energy instead of dissipating it into the stream. It's the single act of drawing and cutting instead of carelessly pulling out our sword and slashing about.
Perhaps for myself the story of my life is this constant struggle I am undergoing between trying to find focus and living my life. The two are at best not synonymous and worst are contradictory. But I get the sense that those who succeed - and when I say succeed, I mean specifically those who are most integrated, most enjoying their lives, not necessarily the most monetarily rewarded - have figured out a way to combine the two.
When focus exists - when your life is lived through the lens of moving in a particular way to accomplish a particular thing - life moves. Things are not just performed as a series of random disconnected actions but as a more and more seamless whole, all things running together towards a larger things. One does some things; one lets other things go because they are contributing to the greater focus. Eventually, I believe, the various parts of one's mind and soul are more wholly integrated as actions and being and philosophy merge into one. "What you seem to be, be really" said Benjamin Franklin. Focus will do that for us.
How do we get and keep focus? That's the sticking point, the thing that constantly seems to rip me back to reality. For me - I assume for many - what we wish to focus on and what we actually focus on are two entirely separate things. So often our lives seem disconnected from that which we wish to do and mired in that which we must. Focus becomes all that more important. But how to get it and keep it on those goals?
I have a suggestion. It's not original with me, but it works. It's from Miyamoto Musashi: "Do nothing which is of no use."
This is a key - not the key perhaps, but a key. We all have limited time. We all have things we have to do. The point is that we need to make everything we do work towards the focus.
Admit it: I am (and you are) frivolous with time. We're extravagant. We spend time on things the way children will spend money on candy if given the chance: freely, lavishly, without a care in the world about the future.
As with savings, working towards those things of value in our lives is a series of building a bank account of accomplishments. Accomplishments take time. Accomplishments take doing things of use.
We need to learn (I most of all) to make all my tasks serve the goal, the focus. Even work - mind numbing work - can serve the focus if we let it. If by working we pay bills and enable ourselves to have time to work on other things, it is time not wasted. And even at work, our focus can shift towards not just tasks but skills. Learning to work diligently and for long periods of time on a task is not something which only applies to our working lives.
The other half? Shed that which is useless. Make every action and task serve your focus. Is it not useful, not serving to help you work towards that which you are focusing on? Consider abandoning it or making it serve the higher goal. Our lives are always more full of things that we can do than things we will have time to do. Determine to make every one of things something which is useful.
Because ultimately, focus is an output of which time and effort are inputs. Time and effort are both finite and have an end date - a date which will never know until it arrives.
Determine to focus. Determine to abandon that which is useless.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Ignore
There is nothing more infuriating or more debilitating than to be ignored.
One can respond to mockery with mockery. One can respond to challenges with facts. One can even respond to direct attacks with defenses.
But to be ignored - to have one's opinion simply set aside - or even worse, to have it set aside for the purposes of justifying someone else - is something I have come to find as destructive as some of more abusive yelling I've heard.
To ignore is to devalue. It's to treat something or someone as less than value, as less than worth noticing. At best it is simply to pretend that something is there but not important, at worst it is to pretend that there is simply not something there at all.
To ignore is to destroy. More often than not, it is acknowledgement that a situation exists but simply moving on from it for reasons other than solving the problem at hand. The reasons for move on can vary: person pride, lack of resources, lack of knowledge. But the end result is that problems ignored do not go away. Given enough time, they will destroy all that is before them.
To ignore is to debilitate. It is to take the actions and enthusiasms of another and to grind them into powder, leaving that individual with nothing but the dregs of their opinions and actions in their hands as the one who ignores fills their hands with the bulky objects of their own agendas and thoughts. It is to seize and destroy the primal urge of individuals to act leaving only its wake the muddled sense that one must wait - in patience and solitude - until told what one can do. It cheats all of the nobility of acting, replacing it with the sense of being an object to be used.
To ignore is to infuriate. This is the hidden fruit of ignoring by those that practice it. The sense that authority can convey - and often it's false - is that acceptance equals agreements. But to ignore, especially repeatedly, scarcely accomplishes that. Practiced often enough, it creates a core of fire deep within individuals. A core that energizes - but not in the way that many anticipate.
Because ultimately, to ignore repeatedly is to invite disaster. It ensure that problems are not brought to light, that loyalty is not fostered and in the end the thing that the ignorers hope to accomplish will not come to pass. It's simply moving the issues of the day further down the road to a more inconvenient and critical time. It's using power and authority to override the opinions and concerns of others not from any sense of knowledge or supporting evidence but because it's inconvenient or challenging or simply not to be dealt with at this point. More often that not, those that ignore reveal more about themselves and their weaknesses than they do about about the strength of that which they propose instead.
Ignorance may be bliss. Ignoring is foolish.
One can respond to mockery with mockery. One can respond to challenges with facts. One can even respond to direct attacks with defenses.
But to be ignored - to have one's opinion simply set aside - or even worse, to have it set aside for the purposes of justifying someone else - is something I have come to find as destructive as some of more abusive yelling I've heard.
To ignore is to devalue. It's to treat something or someone as less than value, as less than worth noticing. At best it is simply to pretend that something is there but not important, at worst it is to pretend that there is simply not something there at all.
To ignore is to destroy. More often than not, it is acknowledgement that a situation exists but simply moving on from it for reasons other than solving the problem at hand. The reasons for move on can vary: person pride, lack of resources, lack of knowledge. But the end result is that problems ignored do not go away. Given enough time, they will destroy all that is before them.
To ignore is to debilitate. It is to take the actions and enthusiasms of another and to grind them into powder, leaving that individual with nothing but the dregs of their opinions and actions in their hands as the one who ignores fills their hands with the bulky objects of their own agendas and thoughts. It is to seize and destroy the primal urge of individuals to act leaving only its wake the muddled sense that one must wait - in patience and solitude - until told what one can do. It cheats all of the nobility of acting, replacing it with the sense of being an object to be used.
To ignore is to infuriate. This is the hidden fruit of ignoring by those that practice it. The sense that authority can convey - and often it's false - is that acceptance equals agreements. But to ignore, especially repeatedly, scarcely accomplishes that. Practiced often enough, it creates a core of fire deep within individuals. A core that energizes - but not in the way that many anticipate.
Because ultimately, to ignore repeatedly is to invite disaster. It ensure that problems are not brought to light, that loyalty is not fostered and in the end the thing that the ignorers hope to accomplish will not come to pass. It's simply moving the issues of the day further down the road to a more inconvenient and critical time. It's using power and authority to override the opinions and concerns of others not from any sense of knowledge or supporting evidence but because it's inconvenient or challenging or simply not to be dealt with at this point. More often that not, those that ignore reveal more about themselves and their weaknesses than they do about about the strength of that which they propose instead.
Ignorance may be bliss. Ignoring is foolish.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Nanowrimo 2012
It's that time of year again:
Nanowrimo, for those that don't remember or aren't in the loop, is the annual Writing Exercise organized by the Office of Letter and Lights, a fine non-profit organization designed to get people writing. It's a challenge in which thousands of people all across the country (and probably beyond as well) spend a month writing a 50,000 word novel. It sounds like a lot - but it's an average of 1,667 words per day.
Okay, that still sounds like a lot.
This is my second year of participation.
Those who are sensible might ask the question why I'm doing this. I did it last year of course, but didn't make it to the end. That's okay - I tried, of course and even if I failed to complete the task I learned a great deal about writing and output (biggest thing: have a clear idea what you're writing about).
Part of the reason I'm doing this is that I'm at that point. Having just put my second book to bed (literally yesterday) it's time to move on to the next thing. Moss not growing, rolling stone, that sort of thing.
Another part of the reason I am doing this is that I want to try and reduce my cycle time. I went from one year to 4 months in creation. Can I drop it more? (Yes, I fully understand that editing is just as big a job as writing. But it's a different kind of big job. You're revising, not creating).
The last part of the reason I'm doing it is the same reason I'm doing other things this year: because I want to push myself.
I've written about it before but it bears repeating: many of the limitations in my own life are there because I put them there. To simply surrender, to say "Nope, can't do that" is to let that part of my brain win that seems to revel in the fact of what it can't do. To do this - to finish - is another step along the path of teaching myself exactly who is in charge and what I am capable of. We will never find the limits of our lives and capabilities unless we keep pushing right up to the edge of them and discovering what they are - for me, I'm continually finding they are always much greater than what I thought them to be.
So come, Nanowrimo. Let us test ourselves and see if my will to write is greater than my will to tell myself I can't.
Nanowrimo, for those that don't remember or aren't in the loop, is the annual Writing Exercise organized by the Office of Letter and Lights, a fine non-profit organization designed to get people writing. It's a challenge in which thousands of people all across the country (and probably beyond as well) spend a month writing a 50,000 word novel. It sounds like a lot - but it's an average of 1,667 words per day.
Okay, that still sounds like a lot.
This is my second year of participation.
Those who are sensible might ask the question why I'm doing this. I did it last year of course, but didn't make it to the end. That's okay - I tried, of course and even if I failed to complete the task I learned a great deal about writing and output (biggest thing: have a clear idea what you're writing about).
Part of the reason I'm doing this is that I'm at that point. Having just put my second book to bed (literally yesterday) it's time to move on to the next thing. Moss not growing, rolling stone, that sort of thing.
Another part of the reason I am doing this is that I want to try and reduce my cycle time. I went from one year to 4 months in creation. Can I drop it more? (Yes, I fully understand that editing is just as big a job as writing. But it's a different kind of big job. You're revising, not creating).
The last part of the reason I'm doing it is the same reason I'm doing other things this year: because I want to push myself.
I've written about it before but it bears repeating: many of the limitations in my own life are there because I put them there. To simply surrender, to say "Nope, can't do that" is to let that part of my brain win that seems to revel in the fact of what it can't do. To do this - to finish - is another step along the path of teaching myself exactly who is in charge and what I am capable of. We will never find the limits of our lives and capabilities unless we keep pushing right up to the edge of them and discovering what they are - for me, I'm continually finding they are always much greater than what I thought them to be.
So come, Nanowrimo. Let us test ourselves and see if my will to write is greater than my will to tell myself I can't.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Completed II
Book #2: Published.
It happened over the weekend with not nearly the amount of sweat - or tears - at the end as last time. It took me some few hours to figure out the conversion to Kindle instead of the five days of last time. I learned another valuable lesson as well: wait until everything (Amazon, CreateSpace, and Kindle) is available before announcing they're available.
I'm happy about the book. It's not as long as my first one, but then again it's not meant to the same as the first one. It's meant to answer a simple question - well, a question anyway, not so sure about the simple - rather than propose a way of doing things.
The interesting thing to me is how much less time this took than the first go around. I believe the first manuscript was well over a year in writing and publishing. This time is was 4 months or less. The idea was again generated by a blog post - once again pointing out that this entire process of blogging has impacted my life in more ways than just letting me write. This blog has not only provided me with a sort of ongoing journal and way to communicate with my family and friends (especially since the move), it has become a mechanism for learning to regularly write and generating ideas that become other things.
A pleasant surprise was simply the fact that this was a bit easier to write this time. Things flowed faster. The writing was a little better. The editing process was especially a better, as I learned from last time where my typical errors occur (quotation mark, thy name is evil). All in all, a good experience all around.
Like the first book, do I expect to make money on it? Again, probably not. I'm covering costs at this point, which is more than I can say for many other hobbies and projects I've undertaken in the past. I'll make a little bit I'm sure - enough to buy myself one of those signposts of accomplishment I keep reminding others about.
The next book has to come, of course - now I'm hooked. Fortunately, November is National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo), the national exercise in writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I've got my characters, my title and my plot. I need only set digital ink to paper.
It's good to celebrate achievements. But it's just as good to be on to the next one.
It happened over the weekend with not nearly the amount of sweat - or tears - at the end as last time. It took me some few hours to figure out the conversion to Kindle instead of the five days of last time. I learned another valuable lesson as well: wait until everything (Amazon, CreateSpace, and Kindle) is available before announcing they're available.
I'm happy about the book. It's not as long as my first one, but then again it's not meant to the same as the first one. It's meant to answer a simple question - well, a question anyway, not so sure about the simple - rather than propose a way of doing things.
The interesting thing to me is how much less time this took than the first go around. I believe the first manuscript was well over a year in writing and publishing. This time is was 4 months or less. The idea was again generated by a blog post - once again pointing out that this entire process of blogging has impacted my life in more ways than just letting me write. This blog has not only provided me with a sort of ongoing journal and way to communicate with my family and friends (especially since the move), it has become a mechanism for learning to regularly write and generating ideas that become other things.
A pleasant surprise was simply the fact that this was a bit easier to write this time. Things flowed faster. The writing was a little better. The editing process was especially a better, as I learned from last time where my typical errors occur (quotation mark, thy name is evil). All in all, a good experience all around.
Like the first book, do I expect to make money on it? Again, probably not. I'm covering costs at this point, which is more than I can say for many other hobbies and projects I've undertaken in the past. I'll make a little bit I'm sure - enough to buy myself one of those signposts of accomplishment I keep reminding others about.
The next book has to come, of course - now I'm hooked. Fortunately, November is National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo), the national exercise in writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I've got my characters, my title and my plot. I need only set digital ink to paper.
It's good to celebrate achievements. But it's just as good to be on to the next one.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
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