Seeking Coastal Utopia

This has to be one of my most favorite phrases ever. This is a prominent phrase stated by the character Zedd in the Sword of Truth ( series by Terry Goodkind ( Wizard’s First Rule , Chapter 7, page 77). For some reason, I have loved this remark primarily because it is so true and its simplicity. Nothing is ever easy. “Oh, maybe this is easy?” photo by Tommy Lisbin on  Unsplash Remember the first time that you tried something new? How much you struggled with it? You (your ego) may have mentally gone into it thinking, “ oh this is a piece of cake! ” Then you quickly realized as you started spending more time with it, that you underestimated the amount of effort that was required to be able to take onto this task. Oops. Well, that was not as easy as I thought . Now we need lean the words of Theodore Roosevelt for his take on the “easy” button. “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life en...

Really. In all seriousness, you need Toastmasters . “comfortable presenting” by rawpixel on  Unsplash Primarily you need it because you end sentences with the “I know right?” I needed, er, wanted it, because I knew I could be better. I was suffering from unconscious incompetence . Ego said one thing, actions, that I was blind to, spoke volumes contrary to the damn ego. A skunk cannot smell its own scent, they say. Here are some of the things I have learned on my Toastmasters journey. I would suspect you have the same issues: I would umm, ahhh, tsk, and use verbal crutches anytime I would talk to somebody in senior leadership or when I would give a presentation to people in a group setting. I needed it because I would blend my words together and I would mumble or speak too fast for anyone to clearly understand me I did not enunciate while I would annunciate, nor was I able to articulate my narrative in a succinct manner. I was unable to or did not know how to mo...

Maybe we should even restate it by saying that simple is always better. “eyeglasses with black frames” by Jess Watters on  Unsplash Simple. The word itself is simple. The opposite of complex, the opposite of making it so confusing that it requires three people to work on it. It is as simple as one element, one piece. Simple is elegant in its scarcity. When you say “ wow, that was simple, ” you say it with a smile. When you say “ wow, that was complex ” it is usually prefaced or closed with expletives. Now, this is not a treatise against technology, even though technology is taking over. It is adding more complexity to our cars (e.g. self-driving vehicles) or that our appliances are now connected to the web and have browsers and screens built into them, enabled to determine where you are short on foodstuffs. There are (lots of) times when you want simple. It is recognized that self-driving vehicles are required to be complex because of the daunting task for eng...

What comes to mind? . . . . . Is it a passive-aggressive response to a pithy title like that? A response but not a response? One where you decide not to say anything just to see who responds first? Or better yet, is it the reimagined song Sound of Silence by Disturbed , or the original version by Simon and Garfunkel ?  If you listen to either version of those make sure you actually listen to the words that are being said such as “ ..people talking without speaking, people hearing without listening…. ”.  We are a race that makes a bunch of noise, sound and fury, but with little effect. We are too lost in our own worlds, distracted by the things we invent to make it easier for us to communicate. “white space and silence” photoby rabby ahmed on  Unsplash What if we were to use silence? The effort to use silence to help generate tension that may create more open communication between parties. However, in some cases, silence may not w...

We live in a world of instant gratification. We seek the fast, cheap and easy. We consume information, live the vicarious fitness plan via the web, and buy the things that we want without getting out of our chair — in mere seconds. “yes, you really do need to work harder” by Jordan Whitfield on  Unsplash Hard work? We go to the vending machine over in the corner and buy it the premade something.  Prepackaged stuff. Ready to eat. Immediately consumed. Is this what we want? Of course we do! We are consumers. We are always trying to find a hack, we try to find a shortcut. We want our hard work to be easy. 6 Minute Abs! Get rich quick! Whiter teeth in just a few days! This is your hack to hard work . Hard work is only hard the first time you do it. Seriously. That’s it. Nothing else. It is not magical. It is not complex. It is just hard. We recognize that doing it the first time is hard, and after that, it is no longer hard. Wait, what? ...

Competencies There are four types of competencies - also described as stages of learning. 1. Unconscious incompetency - you don’t know what you don’t know 2. Conscious incompetency - you are aware that you don’t know and can recognize you have a lot to learn. 3. Conscious competency - you are aware and you know how to do it and the level of effort that is needed to remain good at it. If needed, you know what questions to ask 4. Unconscious competency - you are aware and it is rote, second nature. You know what to do, how to do it, and you can do it in your sleep. *this is the highest form of competence* These stages of competence is what defines us as professionals and recognizing each stage is key to growing as an individual and a leader. Let’s break each one into better examples. Unconscious incompetence - this is not derogatory, just a simple fact. You really do not know what you do not know. There are functions and actions taking place outside your worldview that you have...

Boomerang Effect NO! Not the social psychology term which is best described as “ reverse psychology .” Boomerangs. Everyone has the mental image of the boomerang. The bent and shaped piece of wood with Aboriginal origins? The shaped stick, the one that is designed to return to it’s thrower if enough energy is remaining from the launch? We aren’t going to talk about the hunting versions, but of the returning version. Did you know that the boomerang has the same behavior characteristics as business and relationships? Do you know how bomerangs work ? Have you ever tried to throw one ? Do you even know how to throw one ? Understanding how to exert the right amount of force in the right direction will bring the boomerang back to the thrower. You can’t go and fling it as hard as you can without direction and expect success, it crashes violently or fails to fly correctly. Nor can you throw it lightly , not giving the right amount of energy it deserves as it will not have enough en...