I’m experiencing some exhaustion from work… or the onset of it. Best thing I’ve done is to say “hey, I’m starting to experience this, so I’m going to take time off.”I highly recommend! Listen to your body.

I don’t think we stop to deeply understand what’s communicated when one person says to another, “I don’t care.”If you and I engage in conversation about a topic, you respond to my idea with “I don’t care,” what you are communicating is that you don’t care about my idea. In one sense, that makes sense. In another sense, why bother asking for my ideas? What incentive do I have to share more?We need a new phrase/statement to communicate, “your idea may have merit. I am more curious about this other thing.”Perhaps expressing gratitude for being brave and generous enough to share combined with an acknowledgement that we’re not on the same wave length is what’s needed. I care too much about a person to “not care”. Leaders: we need to cultivate teams and environments where that language exits stage right from our lexicon. If we want teams that contribute and engage, we need to use language that helps guide people towards what would be helpful.

I changed my belief that before I can judge a book I must completely read it.I recently quit Bernard Lewis’ “The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam.” The history of the sect is fascinating; however, Lewis is taking a bit too much time, for me, to share how this group came to be and, I don’t know that I trust Lewis to tell me an “accurate” story. History is hard. How do you separate the fact from the fiction? Deeper still, it must be challenging to separate one set of accounts from another. Who had an axe to grind? Who didn’t? The decision to quit the book is good. You and I have a finite amount of time to learn and grow. We must use that time wisely.

I saw “Madame Webb” the other day. The junior popcorn was $8. I wonder if movie theaters are making their money back on popcorn sales?Thinking it might be better to eat before I go.

I dive into so many topics that I forget that not everybody is on the same journey with me. And you know, I forget that obvious fact at the most obvious times. A good reminder: you’re not always on my wave length, and I’m not always on yours. We have to tether ourselves to something that matters for both of us if we’re going to explore some ideas together.

The gig I played yesterday will likely pay me $175 to $200. I arrived on site at 4:45pm to unload my gear. I sound checked at 5:15pm/5:30pm. I left the site at 11:00pm. in total, I spent ~6 hours on site and about an hour to do some work while I waited for the show to start.Let’s say I get $200. If I divide that $200 by the number of hours I had to be on site, 6, plus the 30 minute rehearsal earlier in the week, we’re looking at $30.00/hour. Musicians and non-musicians may believe that’s good money. I am thankful and privileged to earn that money doing something I enjoy. I hold that last belief to be true and at the same time I have a contrary belief. I don’t know that value is worth the time I invested. I’m at a point in my life where I enjoy being in my home, reading, listening to music/podcasts, or watching a movie. If I’m going to load and unload gear for something, I want it to be something that I’m “fuck yeah” about. Why invest my time in anything less?As conflicted as my thoughts can be; I am thankful for last night’s gig. I am thankful for the people I shared the stage with, and the enjoyment we brought to a whole bunch of fun loving nerds last night — the crowd was awesome. Thanks for wading through my inner conflict with me. Perhaps you’ve had similar thoughts yourself.

When businesses change, what happens next? It’s uncertain.Don’t try to predict the future. Embrace the unknown.Be a explorer, stay on your journey and see what happens. Get as much as you can from your experiences and have fun. Only fate and fortune know what’s ahead.

A team member presented their idea for how we might improve a process to me today. They were nervous. Me? Scary? And though they were nervous, their presentation was effective. I wrote out my thoughts to this person’s manager, and I thought to share them with you. Perhaps there are some nuggets that are useful. Note: I am doing a copy-and-paste job. There is context and nuance that you’d need to understand things like “stop being a perfectionist.” Assume I know the person I am talking to and we have a trusting relationship.Stop being a perfectionist.When pitching to me (at least) go in small bites and simplify.  Imagine you’re talking to a kid.Identify ways to escalate early before something gets delayed in order to cover our butts but also to prevent delays for the providers.When project planning, do a gap analysis to understand where gaps are and be relentless in looking for them.If you want to make change happen, be as progressive as possible – a blue sky thinker – and then let reality pull you closer towards the middle.  You’ll make more progress than the person who inches a little bit.Quantify, quantify, quantify outcomes.  If you want a phase to have a specific outcome, be able to measure it.  If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get managed.

A question I ask myself when I need to hire: what are the skills and experience I need in order to make my vision of next year a reality now?I then don’t go out to hire a body. I go out to hire the future; someone who has already done the thing I’m looking to do.

The inconvenient truth or the “truth” that better suits our worldview?In most things, gains are seen from pains. Spend a bit of time with the inconvenient.