Little By Little Day by Day – Don’t get run over

December 1, 2022

2022 Check-ins

Pushing on

Some weeks are more interesting than others. There wasn’t so much an explosion of life or events more so than just the accumulation of stress and life things. Little by little and day by day is the more modern equivalent to eating an elephant a ‘spoonful at a time’. Our 2 oldest kidlets have returned to school, so meshing that into the equations of life have been fun.

LinkedIn fun

Well some fun I suppose. I have been posting a bit more some of my Work Life observations on the notorious LinkedIn platform. I shared the posts in my last blog post (click here). I guess I am treading carefully, because the noise from the last week has been getting to the point that things boil over a bit. I guess I am leaning into the 5 balls of life context and remembering that the ball known as ‘work’ is a rubber ball that will ALMOST Always bounce back. The others won’t.

Unrealistic expectations are just future resentments. Properly framing trajectory then recalibrating and adapting with consistency has always paid largest dividends for me on the hamster wheel of what I do at work. Little I start can’t be reframed, reshaped or recalibrated. But if I don’t start all I get as a consequence is NOTHING.

The challenge is, work is something I do, not who I am. 🙂 Not all efforts deserve a start or the associated level of effort. The topic of #quietquiiting a new label described here in this Wall Street Journal article (click here). This lead me to post these various wide brush strokes of thoughts:

Post 1

Apparently #quietquiting on TikTok is making a few folks uncomfortable. One of the elements in persistent improvement process, is facing the Stockdale Paradox.

It is indeed uncomfortable to take the noise, determine how it applies and then — do better.

This is a topic, given current world circumstances that was evident pre-Covid but is boomeranging back into the foreground – It will be interesting to see what businesses will take on this obstacle as an opportunity to improve and which ones retreat to the way ‘we always do things’?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-your-gen-z-co-workers-are-quiet-quitting-heres-what-that-means-11660260608

Unfortunately this is not ubiquitously a Gen Z trend, which is unfortunate based on the provocative click-bait oriented SEO titling in the article’s headline. A tool such as TikTok has just provided a ‘safer’ tool for apparently many to express catharsis, albeit arguable about its execution.

Post 2

I also posted this on a Qualtrics post – see what kind of heat it takes.

Unfortunately this is not not a new issue. Perhaps digging into the paradigm of appreciating appropriate ownership, leadership and contributor relationships is a better place to examine. A recession and decaying reasoning for employees to stay after being inspired to level up, which many did, and then shown proverbial dead ends or exit doors.

While #quietquitting is getting attention #exploitation is also real – the we don’t talk about Bruno of capitalism :/ If Tiktok is the place folks feel safe to express their catharsis, business leaders and owns need to face the Stockdale Paradox too, and invest in the employees and contributors and re-align expectations, compensation packaging and resources. Even Atlas had to take a knee.

To quote Marcus Aurelius, “what is good for the hive is good for the bees” – companies that care for the hive generally keep the bees!

I heard it said the quote about this – if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen is the wrong context. I say create the heat instead of tolerating what’s already there. This is why i love what my hobby of triathlon stretches and gleans out of me.

Post 3

Isn’t that the same question you are asking of the future contributor? Lazy is an arrogant label, but I digress. Compensation through currency is just one element of the overall compensation package – benefits, lifestyle, and culture are desires and wants of the contributor of the now.

I find most are agitated by two things –

1. This is what many wish they could have been brave enough to do in their early career paths –

and lets eat a bit of crow here –

2. Isn’t it what we told the generation after us to do – all the while ignoring investments in coaching, mentoring and equitable professional development opportunities.

It is my observation that lazy is often a misinterpretation of efficient and uninterested in the level of effort. The question is what steps is your search taking to attract the candidates you desire. I am involved in interviews as a thought leader and a Subject Matter Expert and find it incredible how many folks are positioned to actually ask for their compensation packages. Sure there are the ‘pointy’ few that are out of touch and will also learn that unrealistic expectations are just future resentments.

Simon Sinek offers a lot of provocative rabbit holes to explore in the power dynamics of the leader/servant paradigm.

OK, Moving On!

Yikes, there are cringy things in any noise that comes forward. I shared this quote and changed it a bit with some personalization but I want to share the thought:

"It is my perspective that we will never be post covid – Because so many things that covid brought into the public and private view, were of course, if I am being honest with myself, were ALWAYS there! And they will always be there throughout the remainder of my lifetime.  Life has always required making choices.  Life has always placed certain restrictions on people.  Life has always included people that face the problem and people who run from it.  People that prioritize their own well being and people that lookout for the common good.  Life, or the world, has always been in the practice of shattering a cherished way of life.  There is no certainty in life except for change."

Above were some thoughts from a podcast guest to the daily stoic, they are nearly identical to my thoughts, so, but I wanted to reference where the source came from so not to plagiarize. There really isn’t original thought anymore.

I just wanted to express gratitude and share gratitude from a provocative thought leader and Author Ryan Holiday. Maybe one day I’ll get the privilege to express a more direct thanks, but the universe isn’t often that cruel, or is it. 🙂

The books Ego is the Enemy and Courage is Calling have had the most direct impact to me. The Daily Stoic and the Daily Dad (https://dailydad.com/) are most helpful too.

Thanks Ryan.

This was prompted b/c even this platform is rife with the positives and negatives that are found on any platform. Be kind, and be better are echoing in my mind today!

Mindfulness and Mindset thoughts

I recall studying this in HS and as a freshman in University. Neither of which had taken root but when I came across this share by Cory Booker last week – it hit me differently:

—> In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.

One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said,

“Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied.

“Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right, ” Socrates continued.

“Before you talk to me about my friend,

it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test.

Filter 1 (Truth)

The first filter is Truth.

Have you made absolutely sure that what

you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates.

“So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.

Filter 2 (Goodness)

Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of goodness.

Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about

him, but you’re not certain it’s true.

Filter 3 (Usefulness)

You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of usefulness.

Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

Conclusion

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher & held in such high esteem.

I often share about my concept of —

Does it need to be said?
Does it need to be said now?
Does it need to be said by me?

This struck me a bit differently as I have flipped my concept of sharing context for clarity. In fact I describe that in a post over on linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/…/urn:li:activity…/).

Road to IM California

So this last week was mostly good. I concentrated on trying to execute on the plan I am following from the book I mentioned in a previous post (Triathlete by Tom Holland). I have adapted it to time based training and trading Sunday or another rest day as my brain or body say, break please! I didn’t get formal pool time, but I did move about 2000 lbs of stone in various ways helping my wife with a project.

Projects: Hucking Stones!

As you may see, moving 20 by 20 squares and 16 inch retaining wall cinder blocks. That was my strength training for the week. My joints are taking on the accumulation. I really am trying to be a finisher here and think I should be about ready as I get to the event. The moving of all the stone work reminded me how human I am. Like Dave Grohl explaining his OZ-fest experience and following up behind Pantera, moving stone is raw and meaty! It’s the Valhalla of Cro-Magnon activities – lift and huck! lift and huck! Oh what dear? You want me to move that one again. oh hold on while I check my hernias! 😛