Shipulski On Design

Archive for the ‘Authentic’ Category

More isn’t better, it’s just more. What makes it better is how it compares to the expectations we set.

Less isn’t worse, it’s just less.  What makes it work is how we compare it to what we want.

Enough isn’t enough until we decide it is.

We forget what we have until we don’t have it.

Our health isn’t bad until we can’t do what we want to do.  But don’t we decide what we want to do?

Activities aren’t fun unless the experiences exceed our minimum level of enjoyment.  But aren’t we the ones who define that threshold?

When we look back at last year, we will have more of some things and less of others.  None of the situations are good or bad, but we will make them that way by comparing what happened with what we wanted, what we expected, or the thresholds society sets for us.  We will decide what’s good and what’s bad. We will define our level of happiness.

When we look forward to next year, we will set expectations or goals to have more of some things and less of others.  We will define those thresholds and establish the criteria for good/bad.  And at the end of the year, we will compare what happened against our self-defined thresholds.  We will be responsible for our happiness.

Things happened last year.  They were not good or bad.  They just were.  We can’t change what happened, but we can change how we feel about what happened.  At the end of the year, may we be aware that we set our good/bad thresholds for the year.  And may we remember that we defined our thresholds somewhat arbitrarily, and we can reset them along the way.

Things will happen next year.  They will not be good or bad.  They will just be.  We won’t have infinite control over what happens, but we can control our good/bad thresholds.  At the start of next year, may we set our good/bad thresholds skillfully.

Image credit — Ajay Goel

Personal energy. Mojo. Vigorous interest. Gravitational field. Life force.

When the project is stalled, someone adds their personal energy to reestablish momentum.  No one asks them. They step up. And without their personal energy, the floundering would flounder on.

When there’s a risky decision to make that everyone is unwilling to make, someone proactively injects their mojo to unstick the decision.  They aren’t invited to step up, but they step up nonetheless.  Their mojo doesn’t make the difficult decision, but it makes it possible.

When the team is stuck and progress is insufficient, someone takes vigorous interest in the situation to unstick the team and reestablish momentum.  They actively demonstrate their interest by getting up to speed, formulating the problem, and creating the conditions for a good solution to emerge.  They don’t do it for credit.  They do it because they care. And they do it in a way that they will get invited back under similar circumstances.

When there is chaos in uncertainty, someone attends the crisis mitigation meeting, and their gravitational field calms the room.  They don’t do anything special.  They sit calmly and emanate confidence, kindness, and caring. There is no need for words, just bodily acknowledgement that things will be okay.  Everyone lightens, but no one knows why.  Their gravitational field doesn’t create the mitigation plan, but it puts everyone at ease so the plan can emerge.  They do this because they know it’s important, not because they were invited.

There is more to people than their knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience.  And there is more to us than core competencies.  People have a life force.  It’s not measurable.  It’s not quantifiable. It’s not tangible.  But it’s real.  You know the someones who step up.  You know the someones who run toward the problems.  And you know the someones who pick you up when you need it.  If you take a minute to visualize those someones, you will know what life force is.  You may not be able to name it, but you’ll know it.

Take another minute to write down how their life force manifests.  Create a list of what you’ve seen them do and the impact they’ve made.  This will give you insight into how you’d like your life force to manifest.  Then, tomorrow, help your life force do its thing.

Some have more than you, some have less. Can you be thankful?

Things will go well, and things will go poorly.  Will you be thankful?

Some will support you, and others will diminish.  Can you be thankful?

Truth will be told, and so will lies. Will you be thankful?

You can prevent some problems, but others you cannot.  Can you be thankful?

Some of your hypotheses will be validated, and others will be invalidated.  Will you be thankful?

Sometimes you will be supported, and other times criticized. Can you be thankful?

You will be healthy, and you will be sick. Will you be thankful?

You will get old.  Can you be thankful?

Sometimes you will be calm, and other times anxious.  But can you be thankful?

Sometimes you will agree with family, and sometimes you will disagree.  Can you be thankful?

You will have everything, then it will all go away? Can you be thankful?

Things will be better and worse. Will you be thankful?

There will be success and failure.  Can you be thankful?

You will be happy and sad. Will you be thankful?

Some family members will live close to you, and others will live far away.  Can you be thankful?

Some friends will support you, and others will bail. Will you be thankful?

Sometimes you will rise to the occasion, and other times you will bail. Can you be thankful?

You will be understood and misunderstood.  Will you be thankful?

Thankfulness is a choice.  What will you choose?

Image credit — Cindi Albright

When you start something, by definition, you will end it.

All good things come to an end.  So do all bad things. That’s how it goes with things.

All new things start with the end of old things. That’s how things are.

What does it say when a phase of your life comes to an end?

Doesn’t the start of a new phase demand the end of an existing one?

When something ends, do you curse it or celebrate it, do both, or neither?  And how do you decide?

If you stay with the old thing too long, what does that say?  And how do you know it was too long?

Can you know it will be too long before you stay too long?

If you leave too soon, can you know that before you leave?

The follow-on results of a decision do not determine the quality of a decision.

There is no right decision to make.

Make the decision and then make it right.

Image credit — Karissa Burnett

I’ve written a blog post every Wednesday for the last sixteen years.

The first years were difficult because I was unsure if my writing was worth reading.  Writing became easier when I realized it wasn’t about what others thought of my writing.  For the next ten years, I let go and wrote about things I wanted to write about.  I transitioned from describing things to others to writing to understand things for myself.  I learned that writing about a topic helped me understand it better.

By writing every week, my writing skills improved.  I learned to eliminate words and write densely.  Early on, I wanted to sound smart and, over time, I became comfortable using plain language and everyday words.  My improved writing skills have helped my career.

Over the last several years, writing has become difficult for me.  After 800 blog posts, it became difficult to come up with new topics, and I started putting pressure on myself by trying to live up to an imaginary standard.  I blocked my own flow, everything tightened, and the words came reluctantly.

Then I became tired of paragraphs. I wrote in topic sentences, bulletized lists, and a sequence of questions.  Each topic sentence could have been the topic of a blog post; the individual bullets were standalone thoughts; and the questions ganged up to build the skeleton of a big theme.  For some reason, it was easier to come up with a collection of big thoughts than to write in detail about a single topic.

I’m not sure what the future will bring, but thanks for reading,

Mike

Image credit — chuddlesworth

When the ocean gets tired from holding its water up to make high tide, it lets go and relaxes into low tide.  The ocean takes direction from the moon who knows it can’t always be high tide.  This is The Way.

When the earth gets tired from heating up the northern hemisphere it wobbles on its axis and relaxes its northern territories into cooler weather.  And the reduced energy demand in the north frees up energy for the earth to focus on heating up its southern hemisphere.  Taking direction from the  sun, the earth knows it cannot always be hot in the north or the south.  And it know it doesn’t have enough energy to make it hot in the north and south at the same time. And it knows it can’t be lazy all year and let it be cold in both hemisheres year round. It’s natural for winter to follow summer and for the hemispheres to be out of phase.  The earth and sun know this.  It’s natural for them.

Bears have their fun in spring summer and fall.  They are all-in on eating, taking care of young bears, and making new ones.  After three seasons of fun and games, bears know they need to hunker down and rest for the winter.  That is how it is with bears and how it will always be. It is natural bear behavior. And it works.

When you work out hard, your body knows it needs to rest the next day.  It knows it needs to recover from the elevated stress of the workout so it gives you feedback that it’s important to do less the following day. There’s nothing wrong with that.  In fact, there’s everything right with that.   It’s natural and it works.

And there are natural rest cycles at work,  After a full week of planning meetings, people need to downshift into work that is less taxing and gives their bodies time to process the plans.  This is not weakness, it’s natural.

And there are even natural hibernation cycles at work in the form of vacations and holidays.  Like with bears, our bodies need (and deserve) deep rest.  And just bears don’t check their email when hibernating, neither should we.  Taking time for deep rest is not irresponsible or wasteful, it’s natural

Without a trough there can be no crest.  And without rest there can be no high performance.  This, too, is natural.

Image credit — Geoff Henson

No gets attention.

No creates a constraint that all can see.

No is a forcing function.

No preserves bandwidth.

No drives a workaround.

No forces a tack or jibe.

“No, and here’s why” is a good way to deliver a no.

No can secure a future yes.

No shifts strategy.

No requires courage.

No keeps your power dry.

No creates trust if your actions align.

No creates stress.

No is more powerful than yes.

No is not negative.

No is difficult to say.

Judge me by what I say “no” to.

Image credit — Kjetil Rimolsrønning

Are you working on important problems?

Or are you seeking out important problems?

Or are you connecting with people who work on important problems?

I ask because I think working on important problems is important.

Are you working with people who build you up?

Do you separate from those who do the opposite?

Are you building up others?

Do you call out those who do the opposite?

Are you seeking out people who deserve rebuilding?

Do you suppress the unbuilding that creates the need for rebuilding?

I ask because I think building builds character.

Does your work matter?

What do you do when it doesn’t?

To whom does your work matter?

What do you do if you don’t know?

Do you seek out work that matters?

What do you do to block yourself from seeking out work that matters?

How do you decide if your work matters?

What do you do when you are unsure?

I ask because I think it matters.

Who is important to you?

How can you spend more time with them?

Who is not important to you?

How can you spend less time with them?

I ask because I think that’s important.

What do you think is most important?

What deserves more attention?

Who deserves to know?

When will you tell them?

I ask because I think this adds meaning to our lives.

Image credit – Dr. Matthias Ripp – Any Questions?

Growing a company is challenging.  Here are some common difficulties and associated approaches to improve effectiveness.

No – The way we work is artisanal.

Yes – We know how to do the work innately.

It’s perfectly fine if the knowledge lives in the people.

Would you rather the knowledge resides in the people, or not know at all?

You know how to do the work.  Celebrate that.

No – We don’t know how to scale.

Yes – We know how to do the work, and that’s the most difficult part.

It doesn’t make sense to scale before you’ve done it for the first time.

Socks then shoes, not shoes then socks.

If you can’t do it once, you can’t scale it.  That’s a rule.

Give yourselves a break.  You can learn how to scale it up.

No – We don’t know how to create the right organizational structure.

Yes – We get the work done, despite our informal structure.

Your team grew up together, and they know how to work together.

Imagine how good you’ll be with a little organizational structure!

There is no “right” organizational structure.  Add what you need where you need it.

Don’t be so hard on yourselves.  Remember, you’re getting the work done.

No – We don’t have formal production lines.

Yes – Our volumes are such that it’s best to keep the machines in functional clusters.

It’s not time for you to have production lines.  You’re doing it right.

When production volume increases, it will be time for production lines.

Go get the business so you can justify the production lines.

No – We have too many projects.  It was easier when we had a couple of small projects.

Yes – We have a ton of projects that could take off!

Celebrate the upside.  This is what growth feels like.

When the projects hit big, you’ll have the cash for the people and resources you need.

Would you rather the projects take off or fall flat?

Be afraid, celebrate the upside, and go get the projects.

No – We need everything.

Yes – Our people, processes, and systems are young AND we’re getting it done!

Assess the work, define what you need, take the right first bite, and see how it goes.

Reassess the work, define the next right bite, put it in place, and see how it goes.

Repeat.

This is The Way.

Attitude matters.  Language matters.  Approach matters. People matter.

Image credit — Eric Huybrechts (Temple of Janus)

I started writing because I had no mentor to help me.  I thought I could help myself grow.  I thought I could write to better understand my ideas.  I thought I could use writing to mentor myself.  I tried it.  It was difficult.  It was scary.  But I started.

You will see the title, but you won’t see my scrap paper scribblings that emerge as I struggle to converge on a topic.  Prismatic shapes, zig-zags, arrows pointing toward nothing, nested triangles, cross-hatched circles, words that don’t go together, random words.  And when a topic finds me, I move to the laptop, but you won’t see that either.

You will see the sentences and paragraphs that hang together.  You won’t see the clustered fragments of almost sentences, the disjointed paragraphs, the out-of-sequence logic, the inconsistency of tense, and the wrong words.  You won’t see my head pressed to the kitchen table as I struggle to unshuffle the deck.

You will see the density of my writing.  You won’t see the preening.

You will see a curated image and a shout out to the owner.  You won’t see me spend 30 minutes searching for an image that supports the blog post obliquely.

You will see the research underpinning the main points, but you won’t see me doing it.  Books on and off the shelf, books on the floor, technical papers in my backpack, old presentations in forgotten folders, YouTube, blogs, and podcasts.  Far too many podcasts.

You will see this week’s blog post on Wednesday night, Thursday morning, or Thursday afternoon, depending on your time zone.  You won’t see the 750+ blog posts from 15 years of Wednesdays.

When it was time to send out my first blog post, I was afraid.  I questioned whether the content was worthy, whether I was right, and whether it made sense. I struggled to push the button.  I hesitated, hesitated again, and pushed the button.  And nothing bad happened.

When it was time to send out this blog post, I was confident the content was worthy, confident I was right, and confident that it made sense.   I put myself out there, and when it was time to hit the button, I did not hesitate because I wrote it for me.

Image credit — Charlie Marshall

Sometimes when I have a good idea, my body recognizes it before my mind does.  I believe my body has been doing this since I was young, but only over the last five years have I developed sufficient body awareness to recognize the sensation my body generates.  And now that I know the sensation is a signal, I know my body knows more than I do.

My body’s signaling system is usually triggered during a conversation with someone I trust.  While they are speaking to me, one or two of their words help my body flip the “knowing switch” and send its signal. Sometimes I stop listening and wait for the idea to come to my awareness.  Sometimes I say out loud, “My body thinks there’s something important in what you said.” Sometimes the signal and idea come as a pair, and I tell my friend about the idea after they finish their sentence.  All this takes some time for my coworkers and friends to understand and become comfortable.

My body can also send signals when it recognizes wrong paths or approaches that will cause conflict or confusion.  It’s a colder sensation than the one described above, and the coldness distinguishes it as a signal of potential wrongness, conflict, or confusion. Like above, it’s usually triggered during a conversation where a coworker’s words help my body flip its knowing switch and send the cold sensation.  Sometimes I stop listening and wait for the knowing to arrive.  Sometimes I acknowledge I just received a knowing signal. And sometimes I tell my friend about the knowing as soon as there’s an opening.  This, too, takes time for others to understand and become comfortable.

For my body to be able to do this for me, it must be well-rested, well-exercised, and grounded.  To do this, my body must be standing on emotional bedrock.

I think I’m more effective because I can connect with my body’s signals.  I can become aware of better ideas, I can become aware of skillful approaches, and I can become aware of ways to protect my friends from conflict and confusion.

Bessel van der Kolk says The Body Keeps The Score, and I agree. And with deep calm and awareness, I think the body can do much more.

Image credit — darkday