Would you rather stand out amongst terrible coworkers and constantly be praised or perform as an average employee surrounded by stellar people? Logic may not follow. People aren’t designed to push themselves every day. As many find in their 30’s living within a cubicle, it’s easy to fulfill the minimum of life, just enough to […]
Category: Reflections
Death is Inevitable
I woke up this morning, drank three expressos, and spent more than two hours planning my 401k contributions for the next 40 years. Like I have a single clue what my life will be like at age 64 (if I’m still alive). Life seems so sure until it crumbles. Until the doctor schedule a few […]
Life is Like Poker
When most children grow up, their parents tell them that life is like chess; you follow a strategy to win. But life is more like poker. You never know what cards you’ll be dealt, if your competitor is a master, or what cards other hold. And few people hold the same set of cards. Everyone […]
Don’t Fear Endings
Endings are always good. You reached where you aimed. For better or for worse, it happened. You quit jobs, educational programs, and move across the country to reach your goals. You sacrifice for overtime work staring into an iridescent computer screen early into the morning. Many people mourn the high divorce rate. I see it […]
The Art of Work
How many hours do you actually spend working each day? Actually working, not just pretending. The combination of socializing, replying to emails, and attending meetings can drain your day. I worked my first 12-hour shift in the corporate world today. Switching from a 9-hour workday, I documented my day into 30-minute increments to document my […]
Small Decisions Can Cause Big Consequences
When I updated my company’s website, it crashed. One missing _ in the code caused a fatal error. Thankfully, a WordPress update included a patch. I fixed it in two clicks. The irony is that the plugin that crashed it also backed it up. Some miniscule decisions have detrimental effects. Eating chips once shouldn’t cause […]
Don’t Diss Free Time
When people slash their schedules to be more productive, downtime is often the first to go. But a world that only focused on work-related activities would be one without Gmail and Sticky Notes—both created during what’s known as a FedEx Day. In 1948 the company 3M gave employees 15% paid free time at work to […]
5 Project Ideas
For month two of Praxis, I’m going to start a project to demonstrate my value-added ability to business partners. I want to demonstrate my ability to write for a business partner, as well as to use numbers to tell stories. I plan to write content that draws in readers, in a field in which I’m […]
How I Work
This is a short exercise so you can see a snapshot of how I work. Location: Carbondale, IL Current gig: Financial Analyst and Web Designer at Pepsi MidAmerica Current mobile device: Iphone 6 Current computer: Dell Inspiron 13-7353 One word that best describes how you work: Focused What apps/software/tools can’t you live without? I use […]
Big Challenges Require Small Steps
When you look at a towering challenge, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Learning Ruby on Rails, a new language, or writing a book, can’t be done it a day. Instead, it requires repeated practice investing the cumulative power of completing small tasks every day. You have to take steps toward your goal, not just learn […]