Tag: make

Create Something

Post author By jrlsage
Post date November 15, 2016

Do you create?

Human beings are complex. That’s why we need to create.

Anything that forces you to put a piece of your thinking “down” and out of your head is a creation.

It’s powerful.

The benefit of getting in touch with your taste and making better decisions is an investment worth making.

Creating gives us time to settle our thoughts.Before you create anything that seems to make sense, you have to pare down. You have to find the truly good ideas.

You have to see that all ideas aren’t good.

The benefit of getting in touch with your taste and making better decisions is an investment worth making.

It’s difficult. Your brain screams “it’s easier said than done.” It’s easier to continue to our typical day. Habit doesn’t need any additional thought, so we act on what we already know.

To settle is a mistake.

Try something new.Try something new. It doesn’t take much time.

Create something.

Tags create something, do, make

Blog Post

Write a Love Lette: Treat Your Work Like It Matters

Post author By jrlsage
Post date October 28, 2016

Treat your work like a love letter

A love letter is “sendable.” We take our time to understand how the other person enjoys our communication and strive to match it. We leave ourselves open by admitting our want for someone else.They are honest and vulnerable.

If your kid picked up those letters, they would smile, knowing that their parents loved each other. That effort and vulnerability show up in work. As a result, it reads well.

Therefore, treat your work like that.

Consider the audience, be honest, and make sure that if someone who you were close to read it, they would appreciate it because our work is our connection to the world.

When you short change the work, you only play yourself. Make it count.

Tags Create, love letter, make, own, sendable, work

Blog Post

Call in a Point Man to Keep Things on Track

Post author By jrlsage
Post date September 16, 2016

Secure the Landing Zone (LZ)

When delegating a project, it’s easy to let things “take their course.”

This structure can work if the team has worked together and the members have self-selected roles.

In most circumstances, ad hoc groups (especially in startup and complex corporate structures) don’t get things done.

Projects are full of little decisions. After a certain point, dealing with these decisions lead to confusion.

That’s where a point man is valuable.

The point man isn’t the leader, per se. She/he creates the structure for how things work, makes sure the meetings happen, and connect and gather resources. In bigger organizations, this is a project manager type role. In smaller groups, it makes sense to have a senior person do this.

This role, clearly defined, gives people room to do their job. It also gives you, as the delegating person, one point of contact to be responsible for the project’s entire scope.

If the leader’s job is to clear the landing zone, it’s the point man’s job to secure it.

Tags delegating, LZ, make, pointman, roles, secure

Blog Post

Notifications and the Work We Miss

Post author By jrlsage
Post date April 6, 2016

That buzz is annoying isn’t it?

Every zing, ding, badge, buzz, and pop sound instantly grabs my attention.

In a few minutes, I go from working diligently to finding an excuse to get to my phone. Soon I start “the cycle” and next thing I know, 20 minutes have gone by.

This only happens when I don’t intend to use my phone.

Thinking back on it, I’ve never gotten a text that needed a direct answer immediately. That goes double for email. Phone calls have more importance, but we all have free answering machines (who calls people anymore anyway :-]).

Notifications are a bane on our existence. Nothing effects day-to-day concentration like them.

The effects are widespread, pulling us out of flow and depth and leaving us very superficial and disjointed. That superficiality and disjointed nature leave a lot of work on the table. Instead of the interesting stuff that we have the power to craft now, we spend more time creating tweets, texts, and Facebook comments that don’t push our skills or help us grow.

Serious, right?

I turned off my notifications for almost all my apps on my iPhone, and most badges (still have one for text, I should get rid of it). The hope is, I stop looking at that buzz so much and focus on whatever I do.

I hope you join me, there is so much work to do.

Tags cell, cell phone, craft, ding, make, notifications, phone, serious, ship, stuff, the cycle, zing

Blog Post

Go Make More Stuff

It is hard to make something happen when you have nothing in front of you. There is nothing to show.

So, the goal is to make more stuff.

So go make more stuff. Just go make more stuff.

Tags make, more, stuff