Author: neil

The excitement of getting a kite to fly quickly turned into a desire for a drone for the young lad.

***

This morning, my teenage daughter asked for help with her pitch for a film documentary on information. We watched a couple of videos together – the Carlota Perez talk from last night, a part of the Information author James Gleick’s talk at Google, and the chapter on Money by Gary Gensler during his MIT Blockchain course.

Money, in as much as it moves around as information over the internet, is a line of thought that is novel for my daughter, and likely for many adults. Blockchains and bitcoins and cryptocurrencies might all sound too cryptic, until we realise that three discoveries of the 21st century are building blocks of an entirely new set of lifestyles for us today: the atom, the gene and the bit.  

***

Atomic Habits is a wonderfully practical read, and while I’m going through my first reading, I’ve already recognised some of the ideas in there as what I’m applying to my 100-day dailies experiment. I will explore this at more length over the next few days.

 

Never mind whatever else is happening in the world, the waves still crash up on shore, leave something behind, take something, and if I’m observant enough, allow a lot of reflection of several kinds.

***

I had two conversations today that were inspired me. The first one was with a colleague who has a hearing impairment, and has an incredible story of not just overcoming it, but thriving despite it. I am helping him craft his story and it was invigorating to see his excitement at the opportunity to share his authentic story in a few weeks. The second was with a person on another continent who I had expressed my gratitude for sharing their story in a very public forum. They were kind enough to accept my invite for a call, and we had a wonderful time sharing ideas and books.

While the technology to connect everyone of us on the planet exists, I think that the fear of connecting with another human stops us from actually doing so. And when we get over ourselves and our fears, there are truly wonderful opportunities to learn at any time.

***

 

After nearly 18 months of t-shirts in this world of Working From Home (or Sleeping At Work), I tried on a formal shirt today. It fit, somewhat too snugly in some places, and just right in others.  Walked out into the living room, & was immediately greeted with “Nice, where are you going?”

***

Not a bad view, on our evening walk at the local beach.

[embed-google-photos-link "https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z9mWfFtdpLQURSrEA"]

***

Everyone has opinions. They’re based on experiences, biases, partial information, total bullshit, etc etc.  By themselves, they generally cause little harm to the collective. Until of course, they’re brought together under conditions of duress. Like after a few drinks. Or sometimes, a workshop.

***

I had several strokes of good fortune today. People came to my rescue in ways I hadn’t expected. Others pointed out my ‘super-power’ and how they wished they had it. It allowed me to slow down and think about the things that make it seem easy, but are actually a few micro-skills I learnt over time working seamlessly and at great pace without me even thinking about them. James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, helped me frame this better as a habit – a sequence of behaviours that is automatic. ‘A’ urged me to talk about this in one of the sessions I organise. The procrastinator in me screamed out “NO”.

Some clouds have a darker side to them but like much of the country now, there is light in sight. Including at our household, where all members aged  15+ are now vaccinated.

***

A friend and colleague shared a 2002 HBR article today titled Make Your Values Mean Something. Among other things, it made me reflect on how scarce authentic appreciation of a fellow human for their efforts appears to be in the work world.  The larger corporates I’ve come across seem to mandate that people thank each other, even a target to meet. There’s often an inability to acknowledge by the powers that be (who likely have never used it themselves) that the systems ostensibly designed to keep this thanking business together are so full of friction that few use it, leading to more mandates. The loopy loop goes on.

Upon reflection, I have found it easier to say something in a meeting than to do it in writing. I’ve also let the memory of the best thank you exercise we did together as a team fall into the recesses of my mind.  It was a simple exercise: pick any one person in the team that you were thankful to for something they did for you, and tell it to them in writing. Everyone got multiple mails. Everyone without exception, expressed how valued, even loved, they felt to read the words from their colleagues _____. The feeling of being on top of the world despite being in the thick of the lockdown lasted weeks.

Why don’t we do it more often? Why do I not do it more often?