Organizing and simplifying, one illumination at a time
Sometimes work hits a bad spot. Sometimes mentally you hit a bad spot. Both are OK (which is to say they happen, it’s not necessarily your fault, life goes on).
Sometimes we need a bit more motivation than we’d like to show up at work in the morning.
My August 5 post on The Interconnected was about staying motivated at work. Let me know if you have other ideas I should incorporate into another article. (Or write for us!)
“The Guy” is a concept I heard about years ago. The Guy is that one person that the company absolutely cannot live without — The Guy cleans up the messes, works incredible hours, fixes things no one else can fix, and is indispensable. If The Guy is on vacation, work doesn’t get done. If The Guy gets sick, or has a family emergency, no one’s sure how to pick up The Guy’s work.
Thing is, no company over a certain size should have a The Guy. I’ve seen many situations over the years where The Guy was the result of a manager who didn’t want to staff up or provide adequate support, which forced The Guy develop. I’ve also seen many situations where people made themselves The Guy by putting so much personal pressure on themselves that they became The Guy just because.
Neither of those is healthy. My July 12 post on The Interconnected explains why, and what to do about it.
Read You are not “The Guy”.
Having changed jobs a few months ago, my February 28th post on The Interconnected is about the difference having time to do my work at work makes both in my personal life and my productivity at work.
On The Interconnected, I wrote about how we keep and create balance in our lives. It’s a little corny, but also an important message for a year that’s brought chaos to so many.
This was my last post on The Pastry Box, because on December 31st, they posted their last article and closed down. (The archives are still all there, and eventually I’ll move copies to here.)
The Pastry Box gave me the confidence to write and publish in front of the entire UX industry. Without their call for writers, I never would have had the nerve to write for A List Apart, and I never would have started taking my fiction seriously. I will miss Alex and Katy and their advice and encouragement immensely.
(And yes, I’m looking for a new publishing platform, something where I can share space with other authors.)
This last post was filler; I’d provided it because Decembers were always rough for the editors and having a last-minute post for cancellations seemed to help them quite a bit.
It’s also a bit of a personal post, describing how I picked up walking as a “hobby” and/or “lifesaving device” as well as how you too could pick up the habit.
I hope you enjoy Walk It Off.