Category: Writing

I wrote about the gentle gentleman luthier in One Post to Another. I had the chance to visit him a few more times since then – today to pick up a cello that he set up for me.  He’s also an avid gardener, and took the time to show us around the garden. Watching a master craftsperson at their work is a joy; giving them the space and opportunity to talk about their craft is the least we can do.

It was also a joy to see two of my colleagues gather their thoughts, and get ready to share their work. While physical objects are beautiful and can be seen seen/felt/smelt(!), ideas are much harder to work with, and need as much if not more attention and crafting.  Storytelling and creating narrative from the chaos of the world around us is an incredibly powerful skill: the Ukrainian president is demonstrating that in the worst situation possible.

I didn’t get a chance to write my twenty minute journal this morning but that will wrap up my day. I read a page of Metaphors – Orientational Metaphors (the book hurts my head, and beautifully so!). I asked heaps of questions that started with why and where and ‘out of curiosity’.  I learned to play the C scale on the cello with a bow, and get a halfway decent sound from it.  Love, contentment, joy, and wonder were dominant emotions today. The magnificent moonrise on our walk this evening capped it, after my son & I both played the full-size cello, and heard the sounds resonate through the floor tiles and up my spine.

I wrote for over 30 minutes this morning in my journal, and felt in the flow. I wrote to the me in the audience, and how I wanted me to feel. Through the course of the day I felt the whole range of emotions – fear, joy, exhilaration, gratitude, anger, calmness, fear, a sense of satisfaction when the whole thing was over, did I say fear?

I asked far more questions today of several people, and got some useful insights. I was able to help several people, and forgot to connect with a few others.

I learnt how to draw an ellipse using the four point method, because my daughter was struggling with her homework. Breaking it down into easy steps was made even easier by someone who’d posted it on YouTube. She went from frustration and anxiety to being in control and even taking a break!

It’s been an wonderful day of learning and connecting with humans. I hope at the very least, I have a few people thinking about problem spaces rather than problems, and how to reduce both.

 

The experiment I have set in motion is on tomorrow. My preparation, as much as I have done it, is under strain. A few key people I had thought would be there to contribute have had significant personal challenges to deal with.  There’s quite a few people who can’t/ won’t make it.

The primary objective of my experiment is to invite people to feel safe to share their ideas. Many do already. This is for the silent majority that I can not meet individually but who I trust are as creative as everyone else to join in. They show up all the time, and yet hold a little back.

I get to learn and practice my facilitation, leadership and synthesizing skills. In public.

I read the first few pages of “The Metaphors We Live By” today. It’s felt like an update of my Operating System!

I asked for help from a few people, and some agreed! Others gave me an opportunity to practice my persuasion skills.

I wrote for twenty minutes this morning in a journal, and for twenty more transcribing the first paragraph of “The Metaphors…” in Spencerian.

I learned that under the veneer of control, several close friends are struggling with their fears. Some are learning how to be vulnerable despite their fears of being vulnerable.

I most felt at ease with myself, my thoughts, and my emotions. I felt enormous gratitude for someone who’s helped me – and my team – survive through challenging budgetary times, and is about to depart. I also felt enormous pride in the tribe that I work with.

Doing something big yet personally meaningfully is scary. Worrying that it isn’t perfect, that it doesn’t meet the (imaginary) standards that other people have for it, that it might not be successful, the pressures are endless. And because of that, most of these ideas remain just that.

I felt fear, and I took a leap of faith today. I’ve set things in motion that can only result in learning and perhaps personal embarassment. I can, and will, prepare of course. I know what it’s for, and who it’s for, and what the constraints are. I don’t know if the outcomes will match my hopes or expectations. In the process of discovering it, I will learn things I won’t have a clue about while I’m preparing.

I learnt today that even when someone is keen to know more about a subject, the environment they have to do that in will make a huge difference. There were workmen who could only attend today, at the very time we were speaking, and it turned into a splitting headache for me, and a series of embarassing apologies for the other person. I could have quite as easily moved our session to a later hour/day.

Re-read the “From Problems to Problem Spaces” blog again today. A few pages of Daniel Kahneman’s book later tonight.

Asked a few questions today, both at work and at home, and truly listened to the answers. I also asked questions and got distracted when the other person spoke; happened more times than I will admit.

 

 

 

Spent two hours at the hospital, learning about spirometry and lung capacity and how to read charts and sampling and adjustments. It was an interesting experience blowing air through a mouthpiece, almost a full workout. The tests seemed to have ruled out upper respiratory infection at the present moment anyway, and a follow up appointment with the specialist should confirm next steps.

Keeping track of food intake – when I eat, how many times through the day, the choices of food, the emotion I feel when craving food, the emotion after eating. Paper and pen will work just fine.

The havoc wreaked by the storms is very visible on the beaches.  Volunteers and council are doing their best to tidy them up, and there’s still an awful lot of detritus – and mammoth logs – washed up.  The frothy surf makes the water hard to swim in too – and in due course will tidy itself up too, I suppose.

 

I got lots of things done this sprint, sure.   Reading the daily blog is a good way to remind myself what they were 🙂 Lots of activity, a few accomplishments.

I learnt not to forget preparation when speaking.  The weather reminded us to not forget Nature’s power. I put my foot in my mouth again, and bought a couple of books instantly to learn how not to say things in translation. I’ve read a few books, and applied the ideas.

I started writing for 20 minutes  this week, long hand, inspired by Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages.  The exercise has been cathartic when I’ve done it – my mind is calmer throughout the day, and I have more ‘mental room’ to deal with things.

Finances and taxes got the attention they needed, and back in order. That was a weight off my shoulders.

My family got the attention they hadn’t been getting, due to my long hours helping the speakers with their talks. I got both quality and quantity time with the people I most love and want to be around. The benefits are not measurable in the short term.

I’m drawn to the idea of systems and long-term impact. Helping people turns my creative juices on. All the reading I do on various subjects helps me help them more effectively. This fortnight: Speech-writing, crafting stories and presentations, creating narratives that resonate and cause action, connecting several people, financial reviews, grant applications, joining several dots at work and in my local community.

Health takes front-stage this next fortnight.  Follow through on the intent with Yoga mornings, walks at lunch-hour, and inhaling Nature in the evenings. A couple of medical appointments feature in this fortnight, all going well.

finding the energy and commitment to do things that others might not easily measure in the short run is the best way to make a difference. – Seth Godin

Reading has bookended a short nap I took in the afternoon: David & Tom Kelley’s book Creative Confidence followed Clayton Christensen’s essay “How will you measure your life”, and dozens of interesting blog posts. Natalie Merchant’s haunting version of “Motherland” is playing the background when I started writing this, just after I read Seth’s daily blog post.

From my meandering reflections of my life thus far, it’s amply clear that I have kept that voice inside me that wants to soar way beyond the boundaries I’ve found myself in. “Make a  living to have a life” is the tenet I’ve unconsciously followed, only occasionally permitting myself to follow purpose.

Re-reading the Manifesto for Agile Software Development  made me wonder about what and how I’ve prioritised throughout my life.  The 4 values of the manifesto acknowledge that there is value in both columns, and that they value what’s on the left OVER what’s on the right. In other words, when faced with a choice between two good things, the principles make the decision easier.  Clayton Christensen makes it even more personal: Choose the metric you will measure your life by, and live up to it.

It’s easier said than done. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Listening to that voice inside, following my instinct when connecting with people, and trusting that I am carrying out my purpose has become much easier in the last four years.

I can measure the difference I’m making by my own yardstick.

I listened to Leslie Shannon’s presentation on telco trends this morning. The energy and enthusiasm she poured through the screen was infectious, and had the virtual audience spellbound.

She is a seasoned presenter and storyteller. I hoped there may be some ideas she’s shared about her techniques, and so I did an online search. I was not disappointed. This particular interview was illuminating, and actionable too. One paragraph in particular stood out:

It’s really Find, Filter, and then File. That is the input hopper. Then once you have the file, familiarize, by reviewing; and reviewing to make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything either on the trivia side or what are interesting elements of my story here; because sometimes I put things in the giant 400 slide deck and I forget that they’re there, so when I’m just reviewing those, I’m like, Oh, that was interesting in the past but now it’s important, I’d forgotten about that one, bring it in. Then formulate, formulating the story that I’m going to tell whether it’s an external story to convince people about the credence of new technological developments and the importance of those or formulating a story so that I can remember key bits of information and random bits of information that I happen to come across. It’s the five F’s, Find, Filter, File, Familiarize and Formulate.

I’d like to give this a try. I do much reading, and file it away in my mind (ha!). The graph database in my head works okay when finding things. What I can (and want to) do is to Familiarize and Formulate.

John Boyd developed the Observe – Orient – Decide – Act loop strategy to apply in  a military context, for combat operations.  The faster one is able to go through this loop, the more effective they are.

I’m involved in several projects at work. In most conversations I’ve had this week, I’ve observed the magnetic pull of “Act”. Let’s do something to fix things. I remain in the Observatory, usually alone. Perhaps people have already oriented to the situation, and have decided on a course of action. I find it fascinating that they choose to act on their decision the moment our conversation begins. I don’t know if they ever go through the loop again; I must find out over the course of the next few weeks.

I find it fascinating that people – myself often included – cannot help themselves from deciding and acting in the moment. Pausing is a heretic idea. There’s no need to sharpen the axe. Just keep hacking away and you’ll eventually cut the tree down.

 

Debate and discussion are a healthy way of thrashing out ideas that at best malformed in our minds. How do you build a culture where debate and discussion are considered healthy and desirable?

It’s possible to do, and it takes time, and deliberate effort. For the last four years, it’s something I’ve contributed to along with the rest of my team. It is by no means easy. Everyday behavior and choice of words go some way in making this a reality.

And yet, I often stumble in my choice of language, and consequently vocabulary.  Idioms in my instinctive language don’t translate well to English, and not pausing to think about the implications of the translation leads to incorrect yet totally understandable interpretations.

I made another such stumble today. It was gently called out, and I apologized for my choice of words. And immediately thought of the book I need on my desk: Metaphors We Live By (Lakoff and Johnson). It’s on it’s way 🙂