Posts about the intersection of faith, entrepreneurship, and fatherhood.
December 24, 2012 Leave a comment
Sarah wrote a wonderful year-end summary, highlighting a number of 2012’s memorable events. What a year it has been! Here is her summary along with some inline comments from me [like this]. Leave us your thoughts in the comments. Much love! Read more of this post
December 22, 2012 5 Comments
Here’s an observation: it seems that each day, we get a certain amount of capacity to make decisions — a “tank of fuel” if you will.
Each decision we make, no matter how small, subtracts from our available fuel. At some point, we deplete our tank and decision-making becomes impossible or severely flawed.
If this is true, it means that to the degree you can minimize the number of decisions you make in a given day, the more you have left for important matters.
And this is why I’ve found that by wearing the same clothes every day (or by intentionally limiting my options), the amount I subtract from my tank is minimal (or nothing at all). Instead of having to worry about matching shoes, socks, pants, belt, shirt, and coat, I provide myself with a set of clothes that are easy to mix-and-match (or nearly identical).
And this leaves me more fuel for the day.
I’ve also noticed that at the end of a long day of decision-making, I have little left in the tank for my wife. A simple question about a mundane household task can feel simply overwhelming.
Thus, if this crazy theory is true, then we should minimize BS for ourselves (like the hassle of having to put together a new outfit everyday), and therefore improve our ability to make important decisions (as well as have meaningful interactions with our loved ones).
What do you think? Could wearing the same thing each day yield more capacity for decision-making? Or is this a weak excuse on my part to explain poor fashion sense?
December 16, 2012 2 Comments
Like many of you, I’ve worked hard all my life. I expect those I work with to do the same.
As I’ve gotten older and the demands on my time have continued to increase, I actively ask myself whether (or not) I’m working on the right stuff. Is what I’m doing right now going to make any difference?
Similarly, when asking others to do something, I try to ensure they are like-wise focused on things that matter. I’d hate to contribute to someone else wasting portions of their life.
Another way to look at this is that I don’t like to generate make-work. Make-work is the crap we do that consumes our time, but doesn’t really move us forward. It may make us feel good, since we’re working and moving around, but it’s really unnecessary and doesn’t make a darn difference.
As the past 48 hours have once again reminded me, a complete life includes much (much) more than just work. And certainly a lot more than make-work.
We need our families. We need time to rest. We need to cultivate outside interests and hobbies. We need time to learn something new. And we need the time and space to pursue these things.
That’s why I believe it is important to cultivate a spirit and discipline of sabbath, both literally and figuratively.
Colin Powell puts it like this:
Don’t run if you can walk; don’t stand up if you can sit down; don’t sit down if you can lie down, and don’t stay awake if you can go to sleep.
Amen.
Where can you cultivate this spirit in your life? What would happen if you gave yourself permission to rest?
December 9, 2012 28 Comments
12/8/12: My Uncle’s Memorial
On September 1st, 2012, as I enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning in bed playing with my 4 month old daughter, we received news that my uncle had committed suicide, somewhere around 3:30 AM PT. Read more of this post
December 3, 2012 11 Comments
The other day I heard one of our engineers say that he had to take vacation before the end of the year. It seemed he actually wanted to work, but that he had to use the vacation — or he’d lose it.
Wait a sec. Here’s a guy who wants to work, but for whom our “use it or lose it” policy is back-firing. (Of course, he could still take time off and work anyway [I won’t get into that here], and that’s not the point.)
But before I get to my point: I am a big believer in taking time off. In my earlier days, I had a very hard time pulling myself away. I went through what felt like extreme emotional duress, worrying about this, that, and the other thing. I couldn’t sleep, focus, or be present with the people around me.
I was somewhere else and nowhere at all. Maybe you know the feeling.
But over the years, something strange happened. I started learning how to unwind, and began forcing myself to disconnect. And in doing so, I didn’t become lazy (one of my fears), or miss out on something (another fear). Instead, my thinking was enriched, my soul refreshed, and my body renewed. Vacation and time away is a wonderful thing and can actually improve your results. I encourage everyone around me to do it and feel good about it.
So here’s the point — something I wish we could say at work: Why do we even have a vacation policy at all?
I wish we (and other companies) had the guts to implement a policy like this:
I’ve thrown this idea out to people, and I usually get the same question: “Dave, you’re smoking something. What do we do if someone abuses this policy?“
I think that’s easy: We’d let them know they aren’t meeting our “be reasonable and use your head” policy, and we’d say “bye-bye” if it doesn’t improve. They wouldn’t fit in and I fully expect their peers would call them out. I realize there are legal implications that would have to be worked out (especially here in CA), but I feel that (maybe?) the right people would be attracted by a policy like this.
Your turn: What do you think of doing away with vacation policies? What are some things you wish you could say at work, but don’t have the guts to utter?
Akathisia: Life In Motion -- David Rosendahl 