Monthly Archives: May 2020

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Are we Finished?

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Measured progress toward personal goals is wasted if you quit before the ultimate end is achieved.  This assumes you know what the desired outcome is.

A boss I worked with years ago (one whom I really admired) would frequently prompt us during strategy and planning sessions with a simple question, “What does done look like?

 Clarity

For me the question was about both clarity and measurability.  If you are not crystal clear as to the destination how can you assess whether you have arrived or not.

This is a simple intuitive concept, yet I frequently observe (more often than not) people declaring success by morphing outcomes  to appear as meeting the goals.

Example of Project Success

One of my favourite examples  of slipper goals is measuring project success based on schedule and budget.  Frequently unexpected events occur and schedule or budget are modified accordingly.

In the end the project maps to the final timeline and budget, albeit miles from the original schedule and cost.  Without baselining it is easy for this success measure to be achieved but is this really what done was intended to be?

Accountability

To be truly accountable for outcomes you must be both fully in agreement as to what they are as well as buying in to their achievability Iif you aren’t convinced success is within your grasp can you really get it done?).

Absolute clarity as to what done is coupled with buy-in to feasibility will  not guarantee you will arrive where intended but it really increases the odds.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

I’m Back

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Warning, todays post is a rant about the vagaries of modern day social media technology. Really just need to get it off my chest.  Please accept my apologies if this causes your eyes to glaze over.

I noticed this morning my Dlvr.it  WordPress RSS feed automation has not been working since May 20th.  Neither was my Zapier automation which I use to post my feed to the Kerrzone facebook page.

Troubleshooting Yuck

I had an alert from Zapier last week but after spending several hours trying to figure out the problem I gave up.  Dlvr.it sent no error message so I figured the LinkedIn feed was still active and that is the one I really care about.

This morning I thought I would quickly check if my Zapier feed had miraculously fixed itself.  It had not and just in case I checked Dlvr.it and found the feed also was not working.

Strange Ambivalence

I have mixed feelings about trouble shooting technology issues.  I like the challenge and certainly feel good when I figure it out, however, I am never happy when things mysteriously stop working.

For well oiled organizations (public and private) documentation is a system and application documentation is a requirement.  For my home grown Kerrzone tech, not so much. Which of course makes troubleshooting even more fun.

Cutting to the Chase

For some unknown reason (I had made no changes) traffic to my WordPress blog was blocked from outside my network.  So, Dlvr.it and Zapier could not connect.

Within my own LAN I had no connection issues.  When it finally nally dawned on me some sort of weird partial Natty address blocking was going on I put the server into the DMZ and problem was solved.

Even weirder, I took the server out of the DMZ and the problem did not return.  Chalk up another one for the mysterious electronic gremlins..

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

What or How

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Our goals can usually be described as the answer to the interrogative request  “What?”.    The response describes the nature, origin and identity of something.

Focusing only on the tangible and measurable part of what we wish to achieve is often at the expense of the how.  That is, the way or manner in which we behave to attain our objective.

Success without Substance

Unfortunately achievements that leave behind a field of dead bodies can be questionable.    In the movie Kill Bill the heroine exacts her revenge leaving unimaginable carnage in her wake.  Did she ultimately win?

To really be happy with your results it is important to consider how you proceed to get what you are after.  Without carefully considering how you can get what you want to ensure it is not at an unacceptable cost you may tarnish your success with regrets.

This may raise questions about the goal itself.  Was it worth it?

Plan before Leaping

We may feel we need something, the object of our desire.  This emotional tag can cause us to charge ahead without fully thinking out the practicality and feasibility of our approach.

Without forethought and a plan of action we may fail but in fact even worse we might get what we sought but given the cost suddenly we have no taste for it.  We may even be saddened by events.

Success is not simply accomplishing our purpose but rather doing it in a pleasurable and satisfying way is needed for us to be able to claim true success.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Choosing your Direction

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The path forward (or backward) has many branches, take pleasure in choosing your direction.  When you come to a fork in the road (metaphorically speaking) you should allow it to bring you joy.

Making life decisions, should never come with regrets.  Whether your choice has positive or negative consequences (relative to your level of optimism or pessimism) the process of arriving at the choice should be fun.

The Moment of Choice

The act of selecting or making a decision when faced with multiple possibilities is not to be feared.  Embrace the opportunity to choose, it is your moment and regardless of influencing factors it is all about you.

Enjoy making the choice without letting the risk of poor or undesirable results color your thinking process.  Afterall life, everyone’s lives, have moments of joy and sadness and everything in between.

The chance to take charge and make your own decisions (good or bad) should never be shirked from.  After all it is these choices that form the results of your life.  It is your life, your choices and you should not let them pass you by.

Sometimes it appears easier to follow the crowd or let someone with a powerfull personality take charge but in these cases although you may feel okay accepting someone elses choice this approach will not bring you personal joy

Taking ownership and accountabilty of your choices is the only way to really feel satisfied , whatever the ultimate results of your choice might turn out to be.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Respect for all

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One critical key to a happy and successful life is paying due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of both yourself and others.

Obviously a very real and significant part of everything we do is about us but that should not be at the expense of others, nor should we gratify the needs of others at our own expense.

Two Way Street

The most important aspect of behaving in a respectful way is all about universality.  Paying respect to others is not all-encompassing and single-focused.

Treating everyone, including yourself, with sensitivity and fairness and recognizing everyone is important is self-fulfilling.  That is beneficial to both you and those you interact with.

We all desire to be treated respectfully by others but sometimes we act in ways that are self disrespectful.  Not only should we treat others in ways we would like to be treated but also, closer to home, we should treat ourselves that way.

A World of Respect

Fair and equitable treatment applied universally is a utopian concept.  It can seem unattainable.  Partly that is because respectful behaviour has a subjective component and the definition and expectations can vary person to person.

Notwithstanding the various finer and more detailed  interpretations of respect, holistically, the principles are common and in a broad sense, the difference between disrespect and respect is usually obvious.

Check Yourself

A simple way to determine if you are behaving in a respectful way is to check how you feel and watch others to see how they feel.  Evidence of discomfort, your own or others is a good sign you might no be being as respectful as you need to be.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Continuous Improvement

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Doing better continuously should not be treated as a mandate, challenge, or chore but rather a lifestyle choice.  Like the Beatles sang so long ago “ It’s getting better all the time”.

We all have an opportunity to improve both our own and others situations through first recognizing ways to making things better and secondly acting on those observations.

Ongoing

The key to practicing ongoing improvement is a belief everything can be enhanced.  Resting on the laurels of it is good enough or it works so leave it alone can stall this practice.

The associated core value which underlies the process of continuous improvement is “We believe in better”.  This is without qualification.  Everything could be raised to a level higher quality, more efficient, bring more pleasure.  This never stops.

The history of human kind on the planet earth is an ongoing and  persistent example of continuous improvement.

There may be stumbles along the way and of course sometimes our better ways do have negative side effects, on the whole however, our lives our longer and easier than those of our predecesors.

Seize the Moment

When we have the chance to make a change for the better , there is little reason to hesitate.  We may not succeed with every attempt we make but if we don’t make the attempt it is unlikely improvement will ever occur.

Working to make things better all the time does require effort on our part, but the results easily justify the expenditure.  Simply put, better is best.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

But is it Right?

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During my corporate career, I encountered a number of different approaches to defining and implementing a code of ethical conduct.  That is the moral principles that govern a person’s organizational behavior.

Without exception, these were always founded on the expectation every individual member of the corporate family acted with honesty founded on strong moral principles.

Rules versus Common

Rule-based ethical practices are very popular but I have always had doubts about the effectiveness of this approach.  Behaving with integrity is not absolute and definitely is impacted by both context and personal perspective.

I believe the best organizational code of conduct I ever encountered began with a simple dissertation on the qualities of ethical behavior.

It was neither directive or specific as to what was correct or incorrect relative to carrying out your assigned responsibilities. The key to the code was the simple ending.

Question Yourself

Notwithstanding the high-level guidance employees could read in the document, in the end, all were simply directed to ask themselves, “But, is it right?” after considering all the contextual aspects and before committing to action.

After all, acting ethically is not a simple nor straightforward behavior.  It requires consideration of all the factors, and most importantly the application of common sense.

The intent of questioning yourself is obviously not to cause analysis paralysis, some things just don’t have an easy answer, nor is it intended to create a personal dilemma.

Check Comfortability Rating

Rather asking yourself “But is it right?” is simply a reasonability check.  Take time before committing yourself to action to really ensure you feel comfortable about what you are about to do.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Close the Door on your Way Out

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Looking for a way out, best practice, use the door.  Whatever you are doing there can come a time when you need to seek a change.  This can apply to any point or context of your life from work to play and every imaginable scenario in-between

Changes can be abrupt and not well planned.   These typically derive from frustration and related strong negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger, antipathy, sadness).  The exit can be noisy and messy.  Instead of using the door, you might leap through the window glass.

No Regrets

Exits made on the spur of the moment typically are not sustainable.  After a brief period of euphoria, “I did it”, in retrospect you begin to question your impulsive decision, and regret can set in.

There can come a time for you to choose to make a significant change (e.g,  a time to change your career, (voluntary or paid), start or end a family, take up or give up a sport, etc.)

The key to making the change, that is closing the door on something, is to not slam it.  Take your time, plan it out, and execute accordingly.  Your choice to change is in the context of improvement making things better is the goal.

Feelin Good

If the change is made and you are not happy something went wrong.  After all, why change if not for the better.  Planning including some introspection can help ensure you don’t act precipitously or contrary to your ultimate aim (improvement).

Take your time and think it through before leaping into space.  Calmly open the door and exit.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Meeting Everyones Needs

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The greater our ability to be fully conscious of our own character, feelings, motives, and desires (i.e., self-awareness) the more will be able to change our behavior to best integrate with other people.

Adapting our behaviours in ways that resonate with our own needs (which is why we need to know what those are) but taking into account the needs of others will produce the most effective results.

Constant Adaptation

Our personalities are formed by our late teens and changing our “go-to” behaviours holistically after this point requires great effort and occurs rarely.

By our early adult years changing behaviour typically requires conscious and concerted effort with a self focus.  Others can influence how we behave but the ultimate choice of behaviour lies with us.

Constantly adapting the way we react to and provide direction for others relies on a high level of self awareness.  To change and adapt our behaviours we must consciously understand ourselves.

Motivation arises from understanding.

Focus on Everyone

While life is all about me, it is impossible to live without the interactions of others. Their understanding and support is critical, we cannot thrive without it.

Your focus needs to be founded on a base self understanding, it is all about you, however successfully navigating life’s challenges means constantly adapting the way you act to maximize the perception and thus the support of other people.

The world and people that surround us is constantly changing as a results of shifting circumstances, we need to be able to do that as well.