The QLog

What's Your Excuse?

As a manager and coach, I've heard a lot of excuses of why people couldn't, shouldn't, or wouldn't do something important for their company, family, or self. Most of them are untrue when examined objectively.

What is your excuse? Too old? Too young? Not enough money? Not attractive enough?

It is time to leave excuses behind. 

Next time you generate some excuses, I challenge you to consider Joseph Merrick or James O'Neal. They probably could have fell back on excuses, but they both chose to strive forward. Life is not always easy and these men each struggled with physical, emotional, psychological, and sociological difficulties that few can imagine.

Who are they? You might know Mr. Merrick as 'The Elephant Man' and perhaps you have seen the 1980 biopic loosely based on his life experience. James O'Neal has a very similar genetic disease: neurofibromatosis. Although he is deformed, he has decided to go beyond excuses and work extremely hard in a very public job for the past seven years. I think his persistence at being an excellent human being is paying dividends finally.

His customers say that he is amazing and I agree. Watch the full story here: http://www.komonews.com/news/19339104.html?video=pop&t=a

As of 2008, James O'Neal lives near Redmond, WA and his efforts at being a constructive member of society even with his deformity has resulted in an effort by others to change his life. I would like to give Safeway a big kudos for pledging the first $10,000 for his reconstructive surgery project (perhaps someone should call Microsoft as I'm sure many of their local employees have met James).

Also, I'd like to recognize Katie Knopf who setup the initial website for the cause in March. I also understand that an updated site with donation information will be up very shortly, if not already.

My last question is this: what's your excuse to not donate and help James O'Neal?

Content and Context

On the blogosphere, many people claim that "content is king" as good information is vital to a great post. However, this is only half the equation. Context is equally important. They are two-sides of the same coin.

Let me demonstrate what I mean with a simple sentence:

Woman without her man is nothing.

Wow. I can not believe such a sexist comment is on my blog...or is it? I am sure many of you read it this way: Woman, without her man, is nothing. Yet, is this the only conext? With a few dots of punctutation, I will illustrate the correct context to consider this statement:

Woman: without her, man is nothing.

You need not agree with either statement to understand my point. If "content is king" then "context is key" as both are needed to successful communicate the meaning of an idea.

The Last Lecture

"We can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." - Randy Pausch

Former Disney Imagineer and Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch is an inspiring man at age 47. He is also dying from pancreatic cancer but you would not know from his enthusiasm for life. On September 18, 2007 he gave his 'last lecture' to a packed audience at McConomy Auditorium. Also, more recently, his new book The Last Lecture, was published and I do recommend it. However, I suggest that watching the original lecture should be mandetory for just about every adult at any age!

As someone who strives to enable the goals of others, I promise that if you choose to spend the full 76 minutes viewing this very enjoyable lecture, you will be well rewarded. It will help focus your thinking on what should be most important for your life: striving to acheive your dreams!

Whole Glass Thinking

Whole Glass Thinking

Janas

S.W.O.T.

A Reason to Consume Smart: The Island of Garbage

Productivity, in part, is about the efficient use of time, energy, and resources. However, as a society, many believe that any solution which is 'faster and cheaper' for a single person is the best one. I would argue that true productivity for an individual, firm, or the planet as a whole needs to embrace a systems approach which accounts for long-term impacts and is more 'global' to integrate the various parts. Otherwise, the real costs are not considered.

Due to the nature of ocean currents and the waste disposal habits of modern Homo sapiens, a very large island of plastic garbage exists within the Pacific. In fact, this floating heap of trash is visible from space. Here it is within Google Maps. Clearly, systems thinking with a time horizon extending far into the future is currently lacking for our world.

I am not advocating that everyone should stop using plastic; however, I would suggest that smart consumerism includes making responsible choices. Vote with your dollars when plastic is concerned (e.g. small bottles, shopping bags, single-item wrappers, and many other packages). There is currently too much waste. Of course, if the costs of oil continue to rise (especially if we have really crossed Hubble's Peak), then Adam Smith's invisible hand might solve this problem with market forces as firms will seek other remedies.

To learn more about this island of trash, I've embedded this clip from an web documentary called Garbage Island (note: this was produced by VBS, an online broadcast network, not PBS...and therefore, it does contain some adult language).

50/5 Challenge

I have encouraged friends, family, and clients (and some strangers) to consider crafting the following:

A. A Life List of 101 Goals that includes goals for 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, (and maybe 50) year time horizons.

B. A Purpose Statement to explain the reason one has for waking up everyday (a good starting point is to consider what you would like people to say about you...both now and 100 years after you have died).

However, a few people have told me that they have have a hard time with both of these activities. Here is an exercise that can help.

Today, you are given both "the good news" and "the bad news".

1. While having breakfast with your accountant, you discover that your net worth has suddenly increased, due to all your efforts, to $50 million dollars!

2. However, after lunch, during a routine doctor visit, you discover that you only have 5 years to live. These will be healthy years until the very last day; however, there is no cure or treatment.

This is the 50/5 Challenge. Map out how you would spend your time for the next five years. Go into detail. Do not just say "travel the world". Where would you go? Why? With who? What would you do there? What else?

If you have a problem with goal setting, this may help you gain some insight into what you really would like to try, see, experience, be, or have before you really do enter into your last five years of your life.   

100 Goals in 1000 Days

Yesterday, I started a new blog to track one hundred goals I plan to complete over the next 2.75 years. Please visit 100goalsin1000days.com to learn more about this new meme. Although this neoblog has a minimalist look currently, as it matures, the style will certainly change and I have plans to add both audio and video entries. 

My new 100 Goals in 1000 Days blog will NOT replace Qlog as it has a very different purpose. Instead, I will be maintaining both digital journals simultaneously.

What Have You Forgotten?

On March 19th, the world lost writer and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke. You can see the farewell video that he recorded for his 90th birthday where he outlines his world-changing "three wishes" for humanity I hope they all are granted in the near future.   

Although Clarke is best well known for his science fiction novels such as Childhood’s End (which has been in print for 50-plus years and has generated over $25 million in revenue) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (plus the 1969 movie of the same name that he co-created with director Stanley Kubrick), he also wrote a technical paper that outlined the feasibility of a true global communication system in 1945 via satellites in geosynchronous orbit, a brilliant insight, some years before Sputnik. Twenty years later, Clarke wrote an interesting essay entitled "How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time" about this idea as he did not patent the the concept (yet, he points out, the patent itself would have expired by the time it would become economically viable anyhow).

I decided to re-read his classic novel Rendezvous with Rama and while I was immersed within his fictional universe, I discovered a great question, a motto of one of the characters, Karl Mercer: What Have You Forgotten?

Consider your current goals, projects, and tasks. What is missing? What is hiding? What have you overlooked? Is there an assumption you need to re-think, a variable you need to re-calculate? In other words, what have you forgotten?

Earth Hour is Tonight!

Learn more about Earth Hour here.

The main goal: turn off all lights and non-essential electrical appliances for an hour tonight at 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

Why: 1. Save Electricity. 2. Increase Awareness (including self-awareness) about the resources that are consumed during day-to-day living in the 21st century.

Practice Makes Perfect, Part Two

Practice is Important; however, good feedback is the key!

After more research, Thorndike revised his original model some years later to include feedback as an essential ingredient. Without some metrics, it is virtually impossible to measure progress. Both negative and positive feedback loops are necessary to improve any skill over time. This is why students receive grades and professional athletes review their own performance after the game.