MAÔ – Page 112 – Michael's Musings

Weekly Rundown

October 25, 2019October 25, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Social

What I’m reading: Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy by Robichaud and Irwin. Sometime last year I played D&D for the first time, though the campaign only lasted a few months. Some friends and I have been talking about getting back together on a weekly basis. Also being interested in Philosophy, this was an interesting find for me.

What I’m listening to: White noise. Lots and lots of white noise.

What I’m spending time with: Decluttering. Between selling things on eBay, throwing stuff out, and donated gently used items, it seems like I’ve gotten rid of so much and yet I still have too much. I’ve found that everything has a way of piling up. From the smallest receipt to the boxes that online orders come in from. I started with Marie Kondo’s book three years ago, and have waged a war in my house against excess stuff. It’s still anyone’s guess which of us will win.

Other things of interest:

HBO’s new series featuring the indomitable Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great. This article addresses the troubling effects of rumors, especially as they relate to women who take their sexual power seriously. A good read. Another over at The Daily Beast.
Star Wars Episode IX final trailer is out. Umm, I have thoughts. I’ll wait to see it, but I was underwhelmed by Episode VIII. I thought Force Awakens set up a good series, but then Last Jedi felt less like a part of the saga a more a one-off film featuring characters from the Episodes. So like I said, I’ll wait to see it.
Vulture’s Read Like the Wind – a new space for discovering books. I like books. They like books. It’s two for one.

Revisiting resistance

October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Yoga

I wrote this about two months ago, after diving deep into my yoga practice.

I’m stretching out the muscles in my legs.

As I’m stretching them out, pushing forwards and backwards on my legs, alleviating the tension that builds up, I notice the resistance. Resistance that is met in a forward bend and backward bend. And just as the resistance becomes so terrible, so unbearable, the tension releases. I can feel the muscle actually give way – it sort of vibrates, and then it’s loose.

I think of it as a metaphor for all resistance we face. I don’t push the stretch to the point where the muscle will tear. That would do irreparable harm. But I’m finding the space just past comfortable, where I’m living in the state of discomfort, until the muscle finally gives. The resistance breaks.

You must lean into the points, as Pena Chödrön says.

Over the past few months, reestablishing my yoga practice, I’ve had to remember this more and more.

The big decisions

October 23, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Pathfinding

I was talking with a friend of mine today about this and that. Decluttering, relocating, loss and grief, acceptance, work, etc. We try and talk frequently, though sometimes it is longer between chats.

Something he said regarding making big decisions stuck with me. In times of distress, try not to make any big changes.

For many of us, though, we stay in states of emotional distress. From work, relationships, financial hardship – it can be a challenge to approach things calmly.

So what will help? Those things I’ve found that work for me – Recovery days, Letting Go, No preference – I’ve actually been working towards making the big decisions, and letting the rest fall to the background.

And that is an exciting place to be.

Nomads

October 22, 2019October 22, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Travel

There is a kind of person I distinctly admire: nomads. Whether they were born into nomadic tribes or left off cultural normalcy for a life on the road, they interest me to no end.

It takes a special kind of person to live without guarantee of what the future will hold. Of course, no one can actually guarantee any future. And that’s where we often get stuck.

We think that the future is something that can be planned – can be manipulated. However, we’re shown time and again that no amount of planning or preparation can ready us for the future. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Nomads understand this and live life accordingly. And that’s something we should emulate.

Recovery days

October 21, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Work

Some days it’s important to focus on your health and recovery – not necessarily creating or building or selling. You can’t stay on 100%. You can’t fill every waking hour. It’s important to find time to shut down, relax, and decompress.

And that can be a challenge. There is always something else to be doing. Always one more item to check off the to-do list. But make sure your list has alone time. Refreshment time. Time to recover. It’s one of the most important things we do.

Piecing it together

October 20, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Pathfinding

Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual. It’s as if life was a thousand-piece puzzle all over the floor, along with the pieces from everyone else’s thousand-piece puzzle. And to top it off, the pieces are face down.

We can’t ever really be sure what we’ll be, how we’ll do. But we try things. We make mistakes.

Sure it’s okay to cook from a recipe book, but isn’t it more rewarding to experiment?

Weekly Rundown

October 18, 2019October 15, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Social

Two weeks in a row. I’m still feeling good about it. Calling it Weekly Rundown, that is.

What I’m Reading: Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life by Terry Brooks. Coming out of John McPhee a few weeks ago, I wanted to give this one a try. Concise, fun, and a little “out there”, I’ve enjoyed reading it so far. One thing that did throw me off a bit was the intro by Elizabeth George, who derided some authors who could only produce one book. Whereas I do respect a person’s opinions, I think anyone who has at least sat down to write a book, even if it’s just one, deserves some consideration for their efforts. But that’s a minor thing, at least for me.

What I’m Listening To: The Nothing But Major Gifts Podcast. This episode deals with keeping Major Gift Officers. So I’ve actually worked for two organizations, building a development program from scratch for them. After about ten months at each place, they felt the results weren’t worth the money or effort that they were putting in. Best practices require one-to-two years for that level of relationship building. After my last stint, mired in aggravation and dealing with an unresponsive ED, I decided that I’d never take on a fledgling development department again, unless perhaps a contract was in place for a period no shorter than three years. Anyway, if nonprofit administration is interesting to you, check out the Veritus Group and their podcast.

What I’m spending my time with: Meditation. I’ve been trying a new 3x daily meditation practice (most days… I’m committed to every day for a month. Working my way up to it.) I was recommended this practice from a yoga teacher I practiced with last week. In theory, it’s a way to rest your internal programming – pushing through all of the negative buildup that accumulates. Here’s a link to Elephant Journal for an article I found, but it doesn’t really explain the three times daily practice.

Other things of interest to me this week:

Seth Godin’s post on mediocrity, and how corporate policy is about consistency, not necessarily excellence.
Society for Psychical Research. A leftover from Mary Roach’s Spook, I was curious to see what kind of activities that they investigated.
Dude – a brief history from The Atlantic. “You know… if you’re in to the whole brevity thing.”
Trying some new recipes in the kitchen, this time experimenting with Indian cuisine. My first endeavor will be this weekend making Aloo Matar, but here’s a link to some basics.

Setting communication standards

October 17, 2019October 15, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Work

Management is about delegation, communication, and motivation. Peter Drucker warns that, “There seems to be little correlation between a man’s effectiveness and his intelligence, his imagination or his knowledge.” (The Effective Executive)

When managing any group of people, from three up to multinational corporations, communication is paramount. Any misstep in communication regarding expectations, assignments, etc, rests solely with the management. (Any lag in communication regarding issues that arise in the trenches are most likely the cause of ineffective management as well, as effective communications in the past will lead to open channels of dialogue in times of crisis.)

The importance of communication is the shared understanding. “Communications are a two-way process. You can be certain of what you communicated, but how can you be sure what you communicated was understood by the receiver? The assurance of your message being understood begins with the message and the manner of delivery.” (University Survival)

Interview questions

October 16, 2019October 15, 2019 by MAÔ, posted in Work

“Think of a time that you were in a stressful situation at work, and tell me how you handled it.”

“What do you consider to be your weaknesses?”

“Tell me about a time you had to choose something else over doing a good job.”

“If you were an animal, what kind would it be and why?”

The interview question. I don’t even know what to say about the interview question. Does it matter? Can you gauge a person’s aptitude, willingness to work, good behavior, ethics, attention to detail, etc. off an interview? Human Resources departments would say yes, undoubtedly.

I’m not convinced. I’ve seen some slick monkeys give amazing answers to these questions. You know what slick monkeys use their slickness for in the workplace? Sliding out of responsibilities.

What’s an animal in the trenches? An elephant? A donkey? That’s not a sexy animal to be. (I didn’t mean to take the animal thing and run with it. But I grabbed the metaphor and it grabbed me back.)

But seriously – how can you gauge talent? It has to come down to a feeling. Sure, sometimes something slick will slide by you, and you won’t catch it until you’re undoing some mess that’s been made. And, more often than not, you’ll be passing on honest-to-goodness qualified talent, because you just can’t hire everyone that would do a great job. You’re going to watch them get away, and you shouldn’t even give that a second thought.

I like the Google example in The Internship. In deciding whether to admit to seasoned (nee, old) out-of-work salesmen into the internship program, one of the reviewers asked, “Our final judgment is always based on the layover test, right? Who would you rather be stuck next to at an airport bar for a six-hour delay?”

Maybe that person is the next golden goose for your company, and that’s no bull… (I’m done, I swear.)