Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Posted: March 29th, 2010 | Author: Deke | Filed under: Me | Tags: ThoughtsIf I keep my self-control, I’ll be safe in my soul.
And the childhood belief brings a moment’s relief.
But my cynic soon returns and the lifeboat burns.
My spirit just never learns.
This is more of a combination of thoughts based primarily on an exercise in the awesome Caffeine for the Creative Mind. The premise is that we all put up fences — both mentally and physically — which either enable (+) or limit (-) our capacity. The exercise is to take pictures (they suggest 15 but I’m lazy) of our fences and examine their position in our lives. So, here’s a quick sampling of my fences …
1.Family (+)
I should probably give them more credit, but as my in-situ barometer, these guys simply rock. My daughter has a very primitive interpretation of “later” which means my deviations are normally filled with all sorts of odd activities; great for creative breaks. I’ve also mastered the art-of-the-mop which means I get some additional physical activity to boot.
2.CountryLife (+)
Living (a bit) outside the city has its disadvantages (crap electrical, internet services, etc) but I’m marking this as positive. A friend of mine said it best; “I have a basement with a view”. Stepping out of my basement office to a view of mountains and a river valley certainly helps keep perspective.
3.SiolLife (-)
Mentioned above — and considering I’m in the NetBiz — it’s an important rant. We lose connectivity multiple times a day, often for hours at a time. I won’t describe the in|competency of our provider’s helpdesk, let’s just say they could improve. I’ve heard multiple times from multiple people that I should switch providers. Unfortunately, the Country Life prevents it due to old lines & no line-of-site to any other carrier. Ugg.
4.JugglingTime (-)
I’m occupied with too many things and far too much variety. I should probably give up altogether with programming and focus on
more business|human factors; the thrill is (however) still too great. My GTD list has run out of primary colors and I’m now into shades of pastel. In defense of this as a negative, splitting my day into manageable shreds-by-topic has proven to work fairly well: Morning & afternoon for business, evening for tech and brainstorms, etc.
5.Jezik (-)
I’ve managed to learn a couple of languages in my life but there’s something about Slovene that just hasn’t … I’ll stop … I’ve been too lazy. This is certainly the biggest barrier that I need to address; it’s been promoted to a primary color on my GTD list.
Finally — because Gabriel speaks no evil — the requisite close:
Thinking he is quite alone, he enters the room as if it were his own.
But ripples on the sweet pink water reveal some company unthought of.
This will probably lead to #6: Lack of Professional Interaction. I really need to get out more …
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