one at a time.

To do two things at once is to do neither.
-Publilius Syrus, 42 BC

Imagine if you will, a fire in your office building (with a humourous link back to Friar’s safety post!) – the alarm bells sound, and everyone runs simultaneously to one exit.

What happens?  Everyone gets stuck in the door.  People get trampled.  Broken noses.  Some people might not even make it out.

Not good.

So what should happen?

The alarm bells sound, and everyone walks calmly out, single file.

One at a time.

Call this a strange analogy if you will – but I’d say this is a lot like some people’s work schedules.  You have a million things to do, perhaps a day job, and your family obligations, and then you want to break free, become independent, so you’re working on that too.

You try to do it all.  Things get lost in the fire.  What to do?

One at a time.

That’s why I let this post sit yesterday.  I knew I couldn’t get it to where I wanted it, and also give my family the attention they needed (it was a rainy day), so I spent the day with my kids.

And then, to get it finished, up early today – before my family was up.  No music, no email, no feed reader (no Twitter, but that has been less important to me these days anyway).  But even before that, I had to work on my important personal projects.

To keep me on track, I keep a list – though the purpose of the list has changed.  It used to be an all encompassing “task list”.  Now I use it like this:

I start the day by making a list of intentions, what I will do, and what I really expect to do that day – perhaps 3 to 5 things – and make sure that some of them are for my personal projects.  I keep a separate list of other things that come up during the day, to keep for later.  I then set aside time to focus on these things – technology free time (or if at the computer, I make certain email and so forth will not bother me).  It is important to set some ground rules for where I will and will not check my mail, surf, chat.  So I have a spot for writing, for instance, where I only write.

I guess I’ve been developing this myself for some time, and then I stumbled across the same concept explained very well by Linda Stone.  It really works well for me (being the “full-time job, four kids and husband who exercises a lot and really likes the internet” sort of guy).  Perhaps it might also work for you.

Just remember.  One at a time.

(I know this topic has been covered many times elsewhere, but I find it is easy to forget how to focus on the important.  I could write at length on this, and in fact, I am doing so in one of my books.  For a nice essay on this, check out The Autumn of the Multitaskers.)

–

And, lest Wendi think I forgot – 4,721 words this week.  I also ran once (on Wednesday), 2.1 km in 20 minutes (a bit slower than normal – but just for fun, I didn’t even wear my funny shoes – that’s right – totally barefood on pavement!).

My friend continues to work on his liberation.  A reader of this blog contacted him with some promise, and he has also been working in the background on traditional and independent employment.

viking fridays – the ignorant man.

Who travels widely needs his wits about him
The stupid should stay at home
The ignorant man is often laughed at
When he sits at meat with the sage.
- The Hávamál

So I have this friend who works for this company, and my friend was telling me a story yesterday about his computer troubles at work.  Yet another straw, perhaps…

Anyway, my friend has a laptop, and about three weeks ago today, the battery died the death.  My friend unplugged the laptop (which showed a fully charged battery, according to the light), and it shut off without warning.

ARGGGHHH!!!

First thing Monday morning of that week, my friend called the help desk.  Let me set the stage a bit here – the company where my friend works is about 100 times larger than the next largest company he’s ever worked for in the past.  Full IT department, help desk 24/7, you name it.

Good thing, right?  *bzzzzt*

After calling every single day for two and a half weeks, my friend wandered over to the building where they do the repair work.  The very helpful tech determined what my friend already knew, that yes, the battery was dead and the laptop was fine.

(My friend is very good with computers.)

Does this company, with thousands of employees have spare batteries?  No.  Of course not.

My friend was sent a quotation for a battery.  Which he has to enter himself, into the user-unfriendly purchase requisition system (that’s another story…)

My friend was telling another co-worker about this, and the co-worker said, “well, that’s just the way IT departments work.”  The co-worker, by the way, has never worked for another company in his life, only this one.  My friend, meanwhile, has worked in the REAL WORLD.

The story continues – you see, the last company where my friend worked (with 1/100th the employees) had a service agreement with a computer company.  One day, the LCD on my friend’s laptop died the death.

TWENTY MINUTES later a tech was in my friend’s office, with a spare LCD – swapped it out on the spot, and bid my friend farewell.

My friend has been asked why HE doesn’t work for the IT department, because he seems quite knowledgeable about these things.  The simple honest truth is that my friend would probably make most of the managers in the IT department look like ignorant men, and he would have a hard time not laughing at them.

Really, though, could my friend expect anything less from a company that can’t even fix the stairs?

So what is the point of this, what are our Viking friends saying today?

The way I see it is this – if you’re looking for sound advice on something, ask a person who has worked in many different fields, many different places, who has experience.

–

This rant is dedicated to the Friar, lest he think I only write about positive stuff, like that time Timmy fell down the well

PS – the picture I intended to attach, is not available due to the draconian policies of my friend’s work firewall… it will be attached when it becomes available… I will comment on the picture when I put it up, so please come back to enjoy

–

UPDATE!  This is how the Viking IT Department would handle my problem…

participant.

We all know the secret to success, right?

Show up.

And a little luck doesn’t hurt.

Most folks have dreams – some are grandiose, some are more modest.  It doesn’t matter, really, if your dream is big or small, as long as you are happy with it.

Luck – you can’t control.

But, you need to show up.  You need to be a participant.

As Karen writes about belief and preparation, you need to keep that dream alive, to know you can do it.  Perhaps that attracts the luck?

And you have to keep at it.  That is showing up.  Being a participant.

How many of us have dreams that have been shelved, for one reason or another?

Or ideas that are getting minimal attention, for one reason or another?

Many of the folks reading this have a book in the works.

I know I do, and I could name several friends who do.  We are all working away at them, of course.

Can we get there?  Will we get there?

It depends on our ability to show up.

Don’t believe me?

Meet Dave Dessler.

The man doesn’t even have a house.  He lives on the street.  He’s been writing poetry on pieces of cardboard, and selling it.

Yet now, he has a book.  Yes, luck was involved.  But he believed in it.  He showed up.  He was a participant.

So, what’s my excuse?

What’s yours?

viking fridays – you ain’t done lookin’ yet.

Hidden Runes shalt thou seek and interpreted signs,
many symbols of might and power,
by the great Singer painted, by the high Powers fashioned,
graved by the Utterer of gods.
- The Hávamál

What are our Viking friends looking for behind Door #1 today?  They seem pretty determined to find it, whatever it is.  And find it they will.

I can’t find the car keys.

I don’t know what to write for my next blog post.

I hate my job, but I don’t know what I’d rather do.

So easy to say these words, isn’t it?

So easy to give up.

From the comments in a kick ass blog post by James at Men With Pens, on How to Exceed Expectations, Michael Martine, the Remarkablogger, said:

One thing that bugs me to no end is when people say “I tried,” when what they’re really saying is they only put in a little effort and then gave up.

When I was in the Marines (yes, I really was, but was injured in basic and let go) I was told to find something in the barracks by one of the drill instructors. I looked for what seemed to me like a reasonable amount of time and reported back to him that I couldn’t find it.

He looked at me and said, real slowly, “Then I guess you ain’t done lookin’ yet, are you?”

I got the message, and that message has stayed with me ever since.

Next time you can’t find what you’re looking for, whether it be a physical object, a solution to a problem, an idea for a story, spiritual guidance, a new direction in life, whatever…

You ain’t done lookin’ yet.

Opportunity knocks.  You just need to make sure you’re knocking on the right door.  With a battering ram, if needed.

Don’t you dare stop lookin’, until you find it.

Or these guys will come and find you.  And believe me, they ain’t here to play Parcheesi.

field of dreams – the dream meme.

My dream.

I like to write.  I love to write when I’m writing about things I love, things I know.  I don’t want the big house in the ‘burbs with the Bimmer out front, or the Hugo Boss suits, the power lunches, the CrackBerry.

No.  I want the freedom to take a walk on the beach with my family, and then up into a field, to enjoy a picnic lunch.  Away from the clamor of the city.  Under a sunny sky, a gentle breeze blowing in off the ocean.

So really, my dream is to write for a living, so that I may be free to be there for my family, when they need me, rather than being chained to a desk in a cube far, far away from them.

My first book, and I would say my crowning achievement, is to be the story of my wife and children.

There will be others, too.  In fact, some are already in the works.

My goals.

In the next year, I will:
Complete the manuscript for my wife’s biography
Submit a copy to Oprah hey, dream *BIG*
Start shopping it around to publishers, while working on my other writing

Today.
I will spend 30 to 60 minutes working on my book.

–

I thought about tagging some other folks, and then I thought I’d just ask you – any of you who are reading this – if you like, please feel free to share your dreams as well.

It is really simple, just describe your dream, then three tangible goals you can do in the next year to help you meet your dream, and finally one single action that you *will* take today to bring you closer to your dream.

You can do it any time, you can make it as long or as short as you like.  This took me all of about 10 minutes to write, and it was fun

Thanks to Bob at The Writing Journey for tagging me with the dream meme.  It gave me pause to think more about it, and as I’d said at his blog, I really am already living this dream.  It is unfolding before me, and it is great.

Soon, soon, we will walk up the beach, into that field…

–

Just for kicks, I thought I’d link over to Big Bright Bulb and Crystal’s piece “What Did You Want To Do When You Grew Up?”, so in this way I’m sort of answering her questions too!

Hmm.  When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut.  But I knew that I’d need to be a fighter pilot first.  Sadly, my eyes had other ideas… dang those glasses!

Then I thought I wanted to be an engineer.  Well, I am an engineer now, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what I want to be.  Why is that?

Well, perhaps I’m not grown up yet!  Nope, I want to be a writer.  And I guess I am.  Now I just need to get that book done, and convince everyone to buy it.

Can and will – and believe in yourself.  That’s what it takes.

just the way you are.

Inspiration can come from many places, and sometimes from where you least expect it.

I was watching a recorded episode of Battlestar Galactica last night (I’m a few episodes behind), and for those of you not familiar with the new series, there is a very spiritual undertone to the storyline.

There was a line that struck a note with me at the climax:

God loves you because you are perfect, just the way you are.

No matter what your faith, what your belief, the meaning for me is very clear – we are all great, and capable of greatness.  This one simple statement reminded me of a chat I had with Crystal the other day, about faith in one’s self to do great things.

I shared a quote with her, that I carry with me everywhere:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson

It also makes me think of a piece I ran across last year, that I’ve talked about before at Life Coaches Blog – What Successful People Believe.

Point number 5:

People already have all the resources they need.

That’s it, really.  We are all Children of God, or Buddha, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or whatever you choose to believe.

I choose to believe that, in spite of my very real, human faults, I am great.  We are all great.  We only need to accept that, and there is nothing we can’t do.

I can and will… and I believe.  (Thanks for that one, Wendi.)

You are perfect, just the way you are.

All of you.

viking fridays – the best things.

These things are thought the best:
Fire, the sight of the sun,
Good health with the gift to keep it,
And a life that avoids vice.
- The Hávamál

Simplicity, it seems, was a concept embraced by our Viking friends.  Simplicity, and good, honest living.

I mean, really, what more do you need? A fire to keep you warm and cook your food, sunshine to cheer you up and help you grow your food, and good health.

Hopefully, all of us have that.  Now – go forth and live a good, honest life.

People will remember you, and sing your praises.

(Don’t pillage and burn, in spite of the temptation to do so.)

So there you have it.  Give thanks for what you *do* have today, and be a good person.  Go make someone else happy.  It will make you feel good.

Tonight, I will have a fire, and give thanks for my good health, with a glass of wine.

how to switch – part 2, and the mouse.

Whoops!  Where did the time go?  Something about best laid plans… now was I the man, or the mouse?

Anyway, now back on track (mostly), and with some new fire thanks to the straw, what do you do next?

Continue with Phase 2 of how to switch, of course!

You have a nice shiny Mac sitting in front of you, and you have your data backed up.  You have backed up your old PC as a virtual machine, or you may decide to make a fresh start.

I have tried both, and in the end I settled on a fresh install, as I only need a few applications on the Windows side (Internet Explorer 7 for my work VPN; Liquid Story Binder XE, which I use for writing – and will blog about soon; and Office 2007, since I haven’t saved up to buy Office 2008 for Mac yet).

Anyway.  Open up the web browser of your choice and go to Vmware to download Fusion.  You could just out and out buy the current stable version, or throw caution to the wind and run the latest beta for free (for now!)

Hey – fail early, fail often, right?  Right!  The latest beta works just fine, and has for the last three weeks with no problems.  Sometimes they’ll offer a discount for beta testers, so why not give it a whirl?

Follow the instructions to install Fusion (drag to Applications folder, not too difficult!) and then fire it up.  Once running, you can either click “New” to create a new virtual machine (you’ll need your Windows disk), or you can click “Choose” to open up the virtual machine you created from your old PC using Converter.

(If you are using your old PC as a virtual machine, just make sure to copy the files from your external hard drive or network share onto your new Mac’s hard drive before you do this.)

After Vmware is finished working some magic not involving underpants, you can then start up the machine (just click the little symbol that looks like a play button).  By default, it will start up in a window.  Once it is running, you can go to View on the menu bar and select “Unity” if you wish – this will hide the virtual machine and allow you to integrate your Windows applications into your Mac desktop.

The picture above shows a Word 2007 window and Internet Explorer 7 integrated into my Mac desktop.

This works so well, you have to see it in action.

Please excuse the cheesy music…

Anyway, what about the mouse?  If you ever have a chance to use one of these – awesome.  Just wish it would work with my Windows laptop from work…

So there you have it, in a non-technical nutshell.  I’m still working on the PDF for the “tech stuff”, and once it is finished I’ll put up a quickie post to link back to this.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any detailed questions – like the Koala Brothers, I’m here to help.

the straw.

(No camels were hurt in the writing of this blog post.)

Today I have a story for you, a story about a good friend of mine, and his wife.  It is a short story, but one that is close to my heart.

My friend was telling me a bit about recent events in his life, last week and today.  He and his wife work at the same company, a company that prides itself on being “professional” and “top notch” (I’ve used different corporate buzzwords, to protect the innocent).

Last week, my friend and his wife were going out for lunch.  The nice lady was driving.  As they approached the security checkpoint, they stopped.  No security guards were in sight.  They waited a good 10 seconds, and then proceeded through the checkpoint.

It was then that the security guard appeared, and shouted at them to stop.  He proceeded to berate them, and when the nice lady apologized, the security guard offered nothing in return.

This upset the nice lady very much.  Her husband, knowing how these types operate, said nothing, but glared at the security guard.  When the lady told her boss about this after lunch, he brushed it off and said, “the guard must have been having a bad day”.

This from a company that prides itself on being “professional” and “top notch”.

No.  This is unprofessional.  Unacceptable, even.  (There’s that corporate buzzword again.)

My friend was telling me today how he is now required to generate a document by the end of the week.  You see, the deadline has been moved up by three weeks – THREE WEEKS – at the whim of his supervisor’s supervisor.

Failure to deliver on this commitment will be unacceptable.

This from a company which quite publicly embarrassed itself on the international market, and then brushed it off.

(Details withheld to protect the innocent.)

That was the straw.

My friend contacted an old colleague last week, on a whim, to see if there was a chance of employment elsewhere.  The response came within 10 minutes by email.  You see, my friend is more marketable than his company would tell him.

My friend is not sure whether this lead will go anywhere, but he is encouraged and will continue.  He also has some other independent projects he will continue to pursue.

I have asked my friend if I may report on his progress as a new 6 week challenge (seeing as I dropped the ball this week on my running and writing report), and he agreed.

We will see how well my friend does on his quest.  I have a feeling that he will do well, once his “urgent” document is out of the way.

Employers:

Beware the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

It may only take your employees 6 weeks to find a new job.  Perhaps less.

–

Alas, my friend did not run last week at all.  He was ill and felt that it was best not to make it worse.  He probably could have run on Friday night, but he traveled six hours by car that afternoon and once the children were settled, he was too fatigued.

He did write, however.  Three thousand, four hundred and eighty-seven words.  I am proud of my friend.

viking fridays – wake early.

Wake early
if you want
another man’s life or land.
No lamb
for the lazy wolf.
No battle’s won in bed.
- The Hávamál

I think our Viking friend should have spent more time stretching before he tried yoga…

Now I’m pretty sure that the Vikings didn’t wake early to exercise, but the idea of putting first things first when you are fresh was not lost on them.

I can’t say it is for everyone, and some days it isn’t easy – yet I continue to do it, because I’d rather give the best part of my day to me.  During the workweek, I am able to get a few things done on my personal projects before I have to slave away for “the man”.

And then on the weekends, I’m able to spend some quality time with my children while mom gets to sleep in a bit (although it usually doesn’t last long for mom, as they miss her…)

Does it work?  Well, I get about an hour or so in every day when my brain is well rested, to work on my books and so forth.

At 365 days a year, that’s a lot of hours.  My current paid workweek is 37.5 hours.

What could you do with almost 10 weeks?

You could take that man’s life or land… you could get that lamb… you could win that battle.

Or you could do some yoga…

Sometimes, it is nice just to do absolutely nothing.  Sit outside under a tree, with a cup of coffee, before the rest of the world wakes up.  That’s a good time to plot how you’re going to take over the world!

(As always, thanks to Friar and his bear for the great artwork!)

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