Chaos Tamer
with my morning tea
the gentlest of breezes
sunlight through the clouds
I love calm mornings. Today, Seattle’s weather seems to be pivoting from rain to partially cloudy. Blue skies punctuated with white clouds. Summer’s heat abated, whether temporarily or for the rest of the year is uncertain, but I’ll take the respite.
orange and red leaves
as i gaze out my window
glories of autumn
The maple just outside my office window already shows autumn colors. Of course, September approaches quickly. Less than a week (Sunday) brings the new month. As tempting as it might be to make some reference to the passing of time, it doesn’t feel very creative.
after the rainfall
sunlight moves from behind clouds
summer reaches far
grace consumes the night
within this silent darkness
healing commences
evening light descends
boisterous colors emerge
glory of flowers
in the early morn
long before the birds arise
listening for grace
Like Eric Markowitz, for years I’ve been focused on “the long view” (as I’ve called it), or as he calls it “long-termism” (I do like his term). Basically, it means trying to make decisions that have a long-term, sustainable impact and escaping the tyranny of short-term (or, dare I call it, micro-term thinking). That mindset where the only thing one considers is maximizing profit (or enter your preferred KPI here) NOW, or perhaps out to the next earnings report. This thinking is so destructive when you look at the long game.
Mr. Markowitz wrote a piece last month titled “How a brush with death shaped my long game“. TLDR: he gets seriously sick, looking at a very high likelihood of death in the next few months. As you might expect, this causes one to rethink…a lot. (Fortunately, it has a happy ending…read it for the full details…it’s worth it).
He has lots of great ideas, but I particularly appreciate this one: “Playing the long game isn’t just about structure and process and systems that are designed to withstand the long-term: it’s about the joy and gratitude of getting to play the game in the first place.” I get fixated on the structure and processes and systems, and lose site of the joy.
Like him, I’ve had this long-term view in my mind, but have been really poor at living it. It’s far too easy for me to get wrapped up in short-term stresses, and lose track of the long-term goal. I appreciate the wake-up call (and am glad mine is this article and not the frightening series of events that Mr. Markowitz experienced).
I need to pull back and look bigger picture, focus on my long-term goals, and keep my short-term worries in perspective. Easier said than done, I know. Yet, I also know, it’s an effort that’s worth it. Like Thoreau, I want to ensure that “when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” That’s what’s most important to me.
as the daylight fades
the dahlia glows in the sunlight
bringing the bees joy
quiet summer's walk
I lift my gaze to the sky
and feel life's wonder
I got this email last night:
Well, that’s…amazing? I started my account in 2004, hmm? Ah, the great conflicting thoughts I have! It both feels brand new and like LinkedIn has always existed.
Anyway, it’s interesting to think about the evolution of the platform. Launched in 2003, I first heard about it in 2004 when I started at Starbucks, where I was part of a group that talked a lot about careers and their management. So the site made a lot of sense to me.
I use it fairly often but really am not a power user of the platform. I like it better than most social channels and it’s more professionally focused, but political bloviation has made its way there, too.
I enjoy the interactions I’ve had, and maintaining connections with former colleagues. I post fairly often. I mean, I don’t want to be one of the people who ONLY logs in when I’m job hunting. But I know I don’t maximize the platform. I’ve been reading several bloggers’ strategies about powerfully leveraging LinkedIn, and I’m slowly building out my plans to do “better”. I see it as a powerful career management tool, one that I can improve upon.
Are you on LinkedIn? Do you find value in it? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading!