Bookworm

BYH | prompted by S.H.

I rarely post on this section of my blog anymore, but more personal long-form stuff seems to fit better here. Stephanie has written a Blog Your Heart post and invited us to join in. It always seems like a good idea, ya' know? Even if I don't share much personal stuff here normally. 

1. It hurts my feelings that neither of my sisters sent me a birthday card or a gift or called me. Both of them sent a Facebook message saying they'd call and neither of them did. Seriously? 
2. I'm grateful for my job and our health insurance, but I wish I could be home more. I'd love to work at home, part time, and be there after school, instead of having G. go to the after school care the three days her Daddy is teaching in the afternoon. But I'm grateful that we have affordable care right in town, even if there are things we don't love about it. 
3. I'm proud of myself for having fit in some exercise three days this week. I never feel like it, but not only is it good for me, but it's setting a good example for G. Now I need to encourage either a fitness center membership or a treadmill for the house, so K. will get into a routine, too. 
4. The first month of third grade is over already. I'm glad G. still wants to tell me things about school and all the interpersonal drama that goes on between her and her friends. I don't remember that aspect of elementary school. I love that she will tell me things like, "I have a crush on Jeremiah." 
5. There are so many important conversations to have with G. I want her to have information and ask questions, but I know that once she knows about how babies are made, she will be less innocent and look at the world differently. She's eight. There's only so long I can put this off. For now, I answer things as they come up. I want things to be in the proper context -- i.e. this is something special to wait for when you get married -- but she has classmates whose parents weren't married when they were born (and has asked me about that.) Aside from the religious aspect, I told her that having children is such a big commitment that you want to make sure that you have a strong commitment and relationship and friendship with the person who will be the father of those children and that I feel having children within a marriage is the very best thing to do. 

Ocean sounds + Emergent Task Timer = good

A couple of new techniques/tools that are helping me be more relaxed and productive this week:

First thing in the morning I launch iTunes and set it to play a loop of environmental sound tracks -- one of ocean waves and one of a Cathedral garden with twittering birds and the far off sounds of the choir.  Then I launch Firefox and the Emergent Task Timer, which I use to log my work.  Something about filling in the little circles to indicate what I worked on is satisfying.

Some killer questions to ask in your next job interview

"Ask the people interviewing you about their best experiences working for the company. Questions like:

   
* What’s been your best experience working at this company?
   
* When do you have the most fun at work ?
   
* Who do you enjoy working with the most here? What do you like about them?
   
* Which manager do you admire the most in this company? What do you admire about that person?
   
* What’s the greatest thing your manager has done for his/her people?"
[Link: Some killer questions to ask in your next job interview]

A helpful list for people who want to try to get a feel for how happy they might be with a potential employer and who find it difficult, after a half day of interviews and informative discussions, to find anything left to ask the interviewers when they inevitably ask, "So, do you have any questions for us?"

Please Don’t Make Me Go on Vacation - New York Times

[I]n the United States full-time employees have 3.9 holiday and vacation weeks off a year. But this is paltry when compared with European countries, including the United Kingdom (6.6 weeks), France (7) and Italy (7.9), according to the 2004 figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development." [NY Times]

Creating Passionate Users: Mosh Pit as Innovation Model

"Professionals" in any field come in two flavors: Knowledge Sharers and Knowledge Hoarders. The hoarders believe in the value of their "Intellectual Property"(IP). The products of their mind must be carefully guarded lest anyone steal their precious ideas. . . To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

Yes, there are some crucial exceptions, but for most of us, It's our implementation, not our idea that matters. . . It's how we apply those ideas.

How creative we are.

How useful we are.

How brave we are.

How technically skilled we are.

How we anticipate what our users will love.

How we learn from the ideas and work of others.

And. . . it's not about our ideas, it's about what the ideas can do for our users. [Creating Passionate Users]

Don't be the box

"We've all heard the phase "think outside of the box. . ." Where I see a real problem when it comes to work style, creative thinking and building the best business possible is when you become the box or let "the box" dictate how you work. . .  What do you think the box is?  To me the box is the known. It's rules, prejudices guidelines and constraints. . . My advice, when it comes to the box, is that you do your best to be flexible and adapt to, or transcend the box. Rules are there for a reason, but that doesn't mean you need to either follow or break them all the time. Don't let the rules define how you work -- in either direction. Don't be the box. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. It's there, when you've completely ignored the rules that govern your day-to-day work and life that you'll do some of your best work." [Blue Flavor; emphasis mine]

Attention Deficit Trait

Dr. Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist in Sudbury, Mass., has seen . . . a tenfold rise in the number of patients showing up with symptoms that closely resemble those of attention-deficit disorder (ADD), but of a work-induced variety. "They complained that they were more irritable than they wanted to be," he says. "Their productivity was declining. They couldn't get organized. They were making decisions in black-and-white, shoot-from-the-hip ways rather than giving things adequate thought, all because they felt pressured to get things done quickly." But Hallowell, an ADD expert and co-author of several best-selling books on the subject, including 1994's Driven to Distraction, noticed something different about his new cases. Unlike patients with typical ADD, which persists no matter the setting, the new patients felt frantic only in certain situations--mainly in the workplace or, for at-home moms, while managing the home front.

In a Harvard Business Review article last January, Hallowell gave the condition a name: attention-deficit trait, or ADT. He explains that ADT takes hold when we get so overloaded with incoming messages and competing tasks that we are unable to prioritize. The result is not only distractibility, impulsiveness and haste but also feelings of guilt and inadequacy. "People think it's their fault that they're falling behind," he says. "They think they have to sleep less and work harder and stay later at the office, which only makes it worse because they're not taking care of their brain by getting enough sleep." How common is this phenomenon? "It's rampant," says Hallowell, who believes that corporate downsizing and job insecurity contribute to the problem. "When I give lectures around the country, there's always instant identification with what I'm saying. People in the audience immediately say, 'Oh, yes, that's me,' or, 'My whole office is like that.'" [TIME Magazine]

Getting into a Productive Groove

I struggle with keeping a consistent schedule.  Everyone has imperfections; this is one of mine.  But the past two days I've gotten out of the house earlier than I had been, arrived at work at a time when it's easier to find a parking spot, and arrived home so that I can feed my daughter a little earlier.  I feel that I've been getting things done at work in a more productive manner.  My nascent "Getting Things Done" habits are helping, especially having a master "Next Actions" list.  If I need to do it, it goes on that list.  It's a long list, but not everything on there is front-burner priority, either.  Also, and this is a very basic "hack," I've been putting a project right in front of my monitor (sometimes taping things right on the monitor frame) to jumpstart my workday.  Otherwise I tend to get bogged down in looking at non-urgent email first thing and not getting as much done as I could. 

I guess this is just a post to say, I'm having a good day and a good week.  :-)

Nerd Attention Deficit Disorder

"Stop reading right now and take a look at your desktop. How many things are you doing right now in addition to reading this column? Me, I've got a terminal session open to a chat room, I'm listening to music, I've got Safari open with three tabs open where I'm watching Blogshares, tinkering with a web site, and looking at weekend movie returns. Not done yet. I've got iChat open, ESPN.COM is downloading sports new trailers in the background, and I've got two notepads open where I'm capturing random thoughts for later integration into various to do lists. Oh yeah, I'm writing this column, as well.

Folks, this isn't multi-tasking. This is advanced case of Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder. I am unable to function at my desktop unless I've got, at least, five things going on at the same time. If your count came close, you're probably afflicted, as well. Most excellent." [Rands in Repose, a 2003 entry; related: Repetitive Information Injury from the same source]

iTunes playing Christmas music, Outlook open for email & calendar, three browser windows open to things I want to read, work portal open, my department's page open, and a dormant IM window.  *giggle*  And this is a slow day.  How about you?

Trying to hold my temper

Why is it that certain people have the capability of getting on your last nerve so easily? A co-worker, who outranks me in terms of how many years she has worked here, but not in terms of the positions we hold, just made me feel like a schoolchild being called on the carpet in front of one of our clients. The important thing is to get the client what he or she needs -- in this case, access to the computer system. My co-worker could easily have signed the person in and then told me that the person's password wasn't active yet. I could've then given the person a temporary password and made sure all the computers registered the new user. Instead the co-worker, with a fake smile on her face, has to say: Well, and you didn't email the temporary password and it wasn't in the calendar, blahblahblahblahblah. Made me want to slap her. And I'm a nice person, really! Whew. I do feel better having typed it out.