Tag: outro

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Lessons Learned – July 2018

Reread and Proceed

Every month is a month to experiment, aligned with a theme. With each theme, I want to turn those experiments into action, so at the end of the month, I write, publicly, some of the successes and failures I have, and lessons I want to take moving forward.

The goal – something actionable that we can take home and use today.

  • Reread
    • Successes: Three books reread, themes, story, redone posts helped my critique.
    • Failures: Goal of one per week missed
    • Lesson: With things in flux, reorganize goals so that you don’t overshoot them, context matters.
    • Moving forward: Add “risk tolerance” to month spreadsheet so I can contextualize outside factors. Add “reread time” to each month.
  • Proceed
    • Successes: Video production, reading out, team dynamics, LinkedIn Videos
    • Failures: Writing (nothing came out)
    • Lesson: I need to dedicate time to embrace the suck of writing
    • Moving forward: Trying a writing day to get that “shitty first draft” done and proceeding from there.
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Lessons Learned – June 2018

Mind and Body

Every month is a month to experiment, aligned with a theme. With each theme, I want to turn those experiments into action, so at the end of the month, I write, publicly, some of the successes and failures I have, and lessons I want to take moving forward.

The goal – something actionable that we can take home and use today.

  • Mind
    • Successes: Breathing
    • Failures: Meditation, Gratitude
    • Lesson: If I don’t do something every day, scheduled and “habitualized,” they won’t happen.
    • Moving forward: Meditation and gratitude need to happen on a daily basis, and tied to something (commute maybe?)
  • Body
    • Successes: Sleep
    • Failures: Gym, Diet
    • Lesson: Habits matter and I am not an every other day guy. I need to find a way to keep things continuous.
    • Moving forward: Daily gym routine, meal plans.
  • Life
    • Successes: Job search, Life As Usual Video Launch!
    • Failures:  Writing/Product (double yikes!!)
    • Lesson:  I over-promised while not considering my mental space
    • Moving forward: So, find a time and schedule things on the calendar over the next month. I was successful with that.
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Lessons Learned – May 2018

Things Learned in May

This was a month that was designed to experiment. I wanted to take apart certain aspects of my life and try different things. Here are some of the things I did, as well as the results.

  • Blog
    • Successes: Link posts, Stray Thoughts,
    • Failures: Video and audio
    • Lesson: I don’t share enough point of view on this blog. Making room for it during the week could help me exercise my writing skills.
    • Moving forward: One or two of those posts per week, let them evolve.
  • LinkedIn
    • Successes: Videos!
    • Failures: Pictures, blog posts.
    • Lesson: Videos are fantastic. People seem to like them.
    • Moving forward: More video content, even haphazard video content to test.
  • Life
    • Successes: Books (Look ma I’m reading again!)
    • Failures: Job search (yikes!), Writing (double yikes!!)
    • Lesson:  I need a process for a few things, and I need to time them:
    • Moving forward: Books in the morning, on commutes, meditation as soon as I wake up, double down on asking for jobs (hmmm).

This was a fun and scary month. I learned a lot.

Thanks for reading.

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Lessons of April 2018: Take a Break!

Have a break, make sure others do too

This month started with a crippling depression.  The start of the month involved me not taking more than 1,000 steps in two weeks.

Trust me, I had free time.

Here is how I spent it:

  • Instead of getting stuff done, I stayed in my apartment away from the world
  • Instead of going to the gym, I focused on the pain in my body and used it as an excuse to do nothing.
  • Instead of talking to people, I. hid, crushed with anxiety for what could happen.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The end of this month has been one of the most productive of my life. It is as if I made up for lost time not just in work, but in attitude. I was better, both in mind and spirit.

A break was what I needed.

This month was about not being dragged down, and part of that is what you can do at the moment (which is some of what I wrote about daily). Another part of that is learning that sometimes you need to shut it down*.

This lesson was the most significant one for me. One I often forget and usually (unlike this month) learn the hard way.

We aren’t robots. We don’t follow to-do lists. Our emotions and spirit come into play and affect everything we do. If I came to work in a dark place, that opens to door to vindictive, messy work that serves no one and as a destructive bonus takes other people down as well.

That is why listening to your fatigue and finding breaks is often the healthiest/most productive thing you do.

Recovery is part of strength.

You take you everywhere. Your team takes themselves anywhere. Physical fatigue isn’t the only thing we need to listen to, we have spiritual and mental fatigue, too.

Because when we drag ourselves down, we can drag other people with us, and we don’t want to do that.

*My privilege in life allows m to do this. I am a mental health advocate, and this only strengthens it. The ability to take a break shouldn’t just go to the classed. Personal days is a right; we’d all be better for it.

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Expert Mentor Coach – What I Learned March 2018

Damn it, sometimes we are (useless, awesome) on our own

And it feels great to get something done (in spite of, because of) that.

We get to pat ourselves on the head, do a little dance, and feel better about what we do because of that.

And that is why we do it; we do it for us.

Don’t try to rationalize it. Don’t try to talk about the greater good. And definitely, don’t say you did it for the team.

When we do things on our own, outside of the movies, we are doing it because of our ego.

Full stop.

Even if the outcome helps others, the narrative that we tell ourselves in private is one of me, me, me.

Coaches, mentors, and experts give us a different road.

Why?

Because if we utilize them (the good and great ones, at least), we have to communicate the what, who, why, and how at every step of the journey, and where that leaves us.

In the end, since you’ve shared the wins and losses, it stops being about you and starts being about the what, who, why, and how. You depersonalize yourself and get closer to shared objectivity.

You start saying we, us, the team instead of me, me, me. And if you wish to lead, that better be the default, or else you are lying to those you serve.

Ego is damned.

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Minimum Effective Dose – What I Learned Feb. 2018

Minimum to understand, keep testing

I started a new job this month.

As the senior product manager, my job description focuses on the externalities of the product a team creates.

Except, it isn’t that.

What I do is create alignment for the product, the consumer, and the team building the damn thing.

And as the defacto head of marketing, understand the process so that those who end up working for (content, production, design, social)  and around (recruiting, product, sales) can work from that alignment without having to consult me.

So, this month and theme have been pretty fortuitous for me.

Why?

Everything I do in this position requires a minimum effective dose to be effective, quickly.Writing about the work of testing, understanding risk, and falsifiability has helped me communicate it through action.

This work has helped me resist the temptation to “go all in” to feel effective, because I know I can’t “afford” it. I can’t afford to go all in on anything because, as a startup, everything (including me) is new.  Resources are tight, time is tighter, and in this environment, you cannot afford to move without trust.

Every movement is a test, not to be liked, but to be effective.

Think of it as a “pen test” instead of a business plan.

Small is significant, and thrashing is a must.

Move forward.

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Setting Up Basecamp – What I’ve learned – January 2018

Take a second

When we take on an important project, we need to take a second to think about:

  • What are the stakes involved
  • How do we measure success
  • The difference between positive and negative conflict, and how we handle it
  • What are the incentives
  • Who do we need
  • Why we are doing this

And if even if we can’t a definitive answer (actually, it may be better not to), we have to get a general sense of what they are.

Why?

Projects are messy and humans are complicated. Messy in the sense that when we are pushed to the edge of our competence, things get “weird,” stuff breaks, and nothing goes to plan. Complicated in the sense that we are illogical, emotional, and environment changes everything.

That is a good thing, because that is where innovation lives. With a good base camp, we get processes to catch the errors and reframe them into the usable.

So take a second and think it through.

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Yourself, Be Yourself – Lessons from December 2017

Being Yourself Takes Courage

I don’t think I realized how much work it takes to infuse yourself into your work.

Instead of a month dedicated to the concept, at some point, I realized that it is a decision that happens, moment to moment, hour by hour, and day by day. Being yourself is hard because the rest of most of our world doesn’t like it because it makes you hard to predict.

It is far easier to make sure someone says the “right thing.” Because if they say the “right thing” they are more likely to dress the “right way.” If you “dress” the “right way” they are more likely to buy the “right stuff.”

Sooner than later, you have a profile of a segment of the population, and life becomes much more predictable.

Predictability means persuasion.

So, keeping a lid on individuality is a priority of many a social structure. The cost of that cap is lost innovation, creativity, and courage.

So, ask yourself this question.

Are you bringing your full self to this conversation? If not, how do I bring just a little bit more?

Build that muscle.

Becuase once you stop being afraid of being unpredictable, you can concentrate that energy on making an impact on projects that matter.

Books – My Goodreads Account

Newsletter – Subscribe Here

Did you know I send a newsletter out every Sunday? It is more personal than the blog, combining my personal stories with an overarching theme.  I also throw in some great links that I’ve found on the internet.

Life As Usual Video Blog

I created a video blog that delivers these lessons in a visual medium. Curious? Subscribe above and get a notification as soon as they come out.

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Good or Bad… No, Just Grey – Lessons from November 2017

Change is hard

If there is a theme on this blog, more than self-awareness, execution, and direction – it’s that different is difficult.

No need to spice it up, it’s a mound of trouble as is.

We, though, spice it up. Without much of a prompt, we attach labels like good and bad around the work and relationships that we have.

It doesn’t matter that we are mostly wrong, we just do.

The world isn’t either sunshine or rain. It is often a mixture of both, along with wind for good measure.

To get out of the metaphor for a moment – shit’s complicated. When we react, we oversimplify and engage without consideration.

Those labels just make the world harder to see, and often, are just rationalizations for our reaction.

Different is difficult. It requires a lot of “extra” just to make something happen. You have to get over yourself and your reaction to take a bigger view.

Reacting takes us away from the ability to see more.

And if you want to change (the world and yourself), seeing is a requirement.

Books – My Goodreads Account

Newsletter – Subscribe Here

Did you know I send a newsletter out every Sunday? It is more personal than the blog, combining my personal stories with an overarching theme.  I also throw in some great links that I’ve found on the internet.

Life As Usual Video Blog

https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js

I created a video blog that delivers these lessons in a visual medium. Curious? Subscribe above and get a notification as soon as they come out.

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Using “Uncomfortability” As A Guide -Personal Lessons From October 2018

Being uncomfortable sucks.

As creatives, we face the uncomfortable as we make things. “Uncomfortability” surrounds us and lets us know our boundaries.

Typically, that is a sign to run.

Don’t. If you can manage, stay with it. In fact, take some time out of your day and dive into it. 

Sometimes, being uncomfortable is a blessing.

By dancing with our uncomfortableness, we find out a lot about ourselves and our surroundings. It is an influential teacher that can:

All of those things are precursors to great questions about yourself and others.

Once you can question, you gain freedom through critical thought.

Change is never comfortable. Our ego swears by who we are in the past and imagines how great being the same will be in the future.

The past is a fantasy, and the future is the distraction.

Connect with the present to grow.

 

Books – My Goodreads Account

Newsletter – Subscribe Here

Did you know I send a newsletter out every Sunday? It is more personal than the blog, combining my personal stories with an overarching theme.  I also throw in some great links that I’ve found on the internet

Life As Usual Video Blog

I created a video blog that delivers these lessons in a visual medium. Curious? Subscribe above and get a notification as soon as they come out.

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