Getting things moving
It's clearly been a monumental week nationally, and there's so much I want to write. It's also been a packed week vocationally, so I've needed to settle for a note here and there instead, in hopes that I can one day string them together into something coherent.
Regrettable things about Irwin's this morning:
Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission.
If it isn't going to devastate those around you, try it and then justify it. People-whether parents, partners, or bosses-deny things on an emotional basis that they can learn to accept after the fact. If the potential damage is moderate or in any way reversible, don't give people the chance to say no. Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you're moving. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up.
That's been huge for me, not because I work in some kind of sluggish bureaucracy, but because I don't, so everything suffers if I act as if I do. Once I started just pulling the trigger more quickly, independently, and often, I realized no one really wanted me to wait for permission at all-permission was rarely as valuable as just making it happen. If this approach reaches a point of diminishing returns, I trust the feedback will be quick and clear. Until then, things seem to work a lot better this way.
Regrettable things about Irwin's this morning:
- There's a guy at the table next to me making the most awful smacking noises as he chews. Put in earbuds in hopes of blocking the sound, but it's loud enough that I had to turn on tunes to cover it entirely. His wife sits across from him and I can't help but wonder how she copes. Perhaps she finds it endearing. Or drinks a lot. Or she's deaf.
- The wireless internet is still (read: continually) for crap. How hard can this be to get right? Apparently it's harder than the effort anyone here is willing to give, and yet, they do insist on continuing to give the illusion that they have service. Maybe it's some sort of game (that I don't like playing at all). In the meantime, I bogart another nearby signal.
Ask for Forgiveness, Not Permission.
If it isn't going to devastate those around you, try it and then justify it. People-whether parents, partners, or bosses-deny things on an emotional basis that they can learn to accept after the fact. If the potential damage is moderate or in any way reversible, don't give people the chance to say no. Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitant to get in the way if you're moving. Get good at being a troublemaker and saying sorry when you really screw up.
That's been huge for me, not because I work in some kind of sluggish bureaucracy, but because I don't, so everything suffers if I act as if I do. Once I started just pulling the trigger more quickly, independently, and often, I realized no one really wanted me to wait for permission at all-permission was rarely as valuable as just making it happen. If this approach reaches a point of diminishing returns, I trust the feedback will be quick and clear. Until then, things seem to work a lot better this way.