I'm in Portland, looking out the back of my home, sipping a cup of morning coffee. The sun has just started to come up over the mountains, giving off just enough light to not be blinding but shooing away the night. The house itself is beautiful - lots of large glass panes to let in as much natural light as possible, exposed rafters, a very urban log-cabin feel to it. Soft leather chairs and couches face the front of the house, a kitchen to the right. Looking out the back, there's a porch that juts out to give you that feeling that you're hovering over the hillside. Looking out to the east is the city, intermingled among the trees. The air is cool but not crisp.
This is my morning ritual, before I go into the chaos head-first. The frenetic pace of life in the office is balanced by this moment, right here, when everyone but me is still asleep. I work...a lot but it's on my terms.
Business is going well. It's that feeling of accomplishment that goes through me this morning...I did it. I'm not content with "it" though. There is still much to be done - much more than anyone can anticipate. I've been holding back, waiting for everyone to get a moment of victory savored before I drop the next bomb - we have to do it all over again. Not because someone screwed up but because we can't be content with "right now" - we must strive to tomorrow. And in this moment, by myself, I smile because I know that the path ahead might be difficult but no one could have seen this coming, not by a country mile.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Friday, October 9, 2015
Reshaping the Concept of Work
Here's a problem: life is becoming more and more dependent on working extended hours. Why? Why do we feel compelled to be on and available at all hours of the day? Why do we feel compelled to respond to that email or phone call when we should be disconnecting from work and nuturing our life outside of work? More importantly, why don't people get this concept? I mentioned to someone yesterday that I don't work once I'm home and the response I got was "that's good"...in other words "what's wrong with you?"
I've read a lot about the need for work/life balance, for movement towards a 4-day work week, for paid maternity AND paternity leave outside of vacation time accrued. And yet most business leaders see all of these concepts as a detriment to the business. Unless you are in the medical industry (accidents and ailments don't come just between the hours of 9-5 Monday-Friday), my question is simple: why?
What are we doing that is so critical that we bury ourselves in work? What transformational and life-extending idea or product are we creating that demands such ridiculous effort? Most of the time, the answer is "nothing, that's just what my company/boss expects of me". I call bullshit. Here's a different train of thought: what are we doing to minimize the necessity for work? What advancements are we doing to require less time at the office and more time at home or places we actually want to be?
I read recently about the concept of machines becoming so effective and intelligent that we could be looking at a future where full-time employment becomes harder and harder to find. Again, why is that a problem?! I know this is completely outlandish but stay with me: how about, if we get to that point, we still pay people the same amount for less work? Maybe, just maybe, we want to take care of our fellow man, provide them the income and benefits they need to provide for their family and not chain them to a desk for 50 hours a week because "that's just how it needs to be"? Maybe we stop being hyper-focused on making a bunch of money for ourselves and instead investing in being better humans. I know: crazy.
I've read a lot about the need for work/life balance, for movement towards a 4-day work week, for paid maternity AND paternity leave outside of vacation time accrued. And yet most business leaders see all of these concepts as a detriment to the business. Unless you are in the medical industry (accidents and ailments don't come just between the hours of 9-5 Monday-Friday), my question is simple: why?
What are we doing that is so critical that we bury ourselves in work? What transformational and life-extending idea or product are we creating that demands such ridiculous effort? Most of the time, the answer is "nothing, that's just what my company/boss expects of me". I call bullshit. Here's a different train of thought: what are we doing to minimize the necessity for work? What advancements are we doing to require less time at the office and more time at home or places we actually want to be?
I read recently about the concept of machines becoming so effective and intelligent that we could be looking at a future where full-time employment becomes harder and harder to find. Again, why is that a problem?! I know this is completely outlandish but stay with me: how about, if we get to that point, we still pay people the same amount for less work? Maybe, just maybe, we want to take care of our fellow man, provide them the income and benefits they need to provide for their family and not chain them to a desk for 50 hours a week because "that's just how it needs to be"? Maybe we stop being hyper-focused on making a bunch of money for ourselves and instead investing in being better humans. I know: crazy.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Daring to Dream
Steve Jobs: that's my hero. I've wondered on more than one occasion what it would take to be like him one day. Being an asshole isn't in my nature but the man couldn't have been full asshole all the time, right? It's a caricature of Mr. Jobs that I can't validate was an accurate one. Regardless of what you thought of him, you can't deny the fact that the man was a game-changer. Had I had the chance to meet the man, I would want to ask him two things: are you a dreamer and, if so, how did you start turning your dreams into reality?
I regularly find myself wondering what I could accomplish by being just a dreamer. I don't have an engineering degree though, given the right opportunity, I would probably go after one. I haven't made one piece of technology myself but I have an affinity for putting things together and, equally pleasurable, tearing things apart to see how they work. I read voraciously about technology to see what the future holds in a connected society.
The new "Steve Jobs" movie is coming out this week and, to noone's surprise, I'm going to see it asap. In the previews, there is a shot of Jobs (Michael Fassbender) in his later years looking down at a display, deeply examining the creation in front of him with a sense of both scrutiny and elation. It's that look of "why hello there" that I want to have when looking at some idea I have that has come to fruition.
And therein lies my problem: I have no product to drive to, no resources to create it, and no work environment to foster it. Looking at "opportunities" at employers other than my own has left me with a sense that I will need to do this myself on my terms. Creating anything while at my current employer will a) be the property of them and b) will get lost in the enormity of the company. I need that garage, that Wozniak, that Apple II to get me off of the ground. But all that is Apple didn't come to be just out of thin air - Jobs made a decision to go after what he loved, what he dreamed to bring into this world, and he did so not giving a shit whether the establishment thought it was a good idea. Maybe it's time for me to stop giving a shit about everyone else's agenda and get to work creating what they don't know they need yet but will need it when I show it to them.
Update: I had no idea when I wrote this that today, October 5 2015, is the 4th anniversary of the day Steve Jobs passed away. This was not intentional but a happy coincidence. :)
I regularly find myself wondering what I could accomplish by being just a dreamer. I don't have an engineering degree though, given the right opportunity, I would probably go after one. I haven't made one piece of technology myself but I have an affinity for putting things together and, equally pleasurable, tearing things apart to see how they work. I read voraciously about technology to see what the future holds in a connected society.
The new "Steve Jobs" movie is coming out this week and, to noone's surprise, I'm going to see it asap. In the previews, there is a shot of Jobs (Michael Fassbender) in his later years looking down at a display, deeply examining the creation in front of him with a sense of both scrutiny and elation. It's that look of "why hello there" that I want to have when looking at some idea I have that has come to fruition.
And therein lies my problem: I have no product to drive to, no resources to create it, and no work environment to foster it. Looking at "opportunities" at employers other than my own has left me with a sense that I will need to do this myself on my terms. Creating anything while at my current employer will a) be the property of them and b) will get lost in the enormity of the company. I need that garage, that Wozniak, that Apple II to get me off of the ground. But all that is Apple didn't come to be just out of thin air - Jobs made a decision to go after what he loved, what he dreamed to bring into this world, and he did so not giving a shit whether the establishment thought it was a good idea. Maybe it's time for me to stop giving a shit about everyone else's agenda and get to work creating what they don't know they need yet but will need it when I show it to them.
Update: I had no idea when I wrote this that today, October 5 2015, is the 4th anniversary of the day Steve Jobs passed away. This was not intentional but a happy coincidence. :)
Friday, October 2, 2015
A Stream of Consciousness
Hope, that is what I find myself both yearning and refusing. Hope doesn't produce results. Hope doesn't make things happen. Hope makes you weak. Hope makes you rely on someone else's action to drive your happiness. Hope is a nice idea but a terrible agent of action. What's the point of hoping something happens if that "something" never comes because it required effort on your part?
I loathe the idea of relying on someone else to make things happen for me and yet I fall into that state of reliance every day. This is not who I am supposed to be nor what I am supposed to be doing. I know this and yet I also know that as soon as I leave here and take off these headphones, I'll be back in reality - succumbing to the ebbs and flows of an ocean that I cannot cross. Or can I?
I watched "The Truman Show" the other night and caught myself watching the whole thing, despite the fact that it ended around 11:30 and I was going to be up at 5. That ending was appropro to what I just said above. He's sailing away from what he's known his whole life because he knows that whatever is on the distant shore is what he truly wants and needs. He's willing to survive an onslaught of crushing waves and dangerous weather because, at the end of the day, it's a battle of wills that he has to win. That sense of accomplishment that comes over him before exiting the world he knows is analagous to what I want to feel.
I loathe the idea of relying on someone else to make things happen for me and yet I fall into that state of reliance every day. This is not who I am supposed to be nor what I am supposed to be doing. I know this and yet I also know that as soon as I leave here and take off these headphones, I'll be back in reality - succumbing to the ebbs and flows of an ocean that I cannot cross. Or can I?
I watched "The Truman Show" the other night and caught myself watching the whole thing, despite the fact that it ended around 11:30 and I was going to be up at 5. That ending was appropro to what I just said above. He's sailing away from what he's known his whole life because he knows that whatever is on the distant shore is what he truly wants and needs. He's willing to survive an onslaught of crushing waves and dangerous weather because, at the end of the day, it's a battle of wills that he has to win. That sense of accomplishment that comes over him before exiting the world he knows is analagous to what I want to feel.
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