Don’t call a meeting for something that can be resolved in one or 2 emails. On the flipside, don’t try to resolve something in a flurry of emails, to a long list of recipients that get copied on every response, if it can be resolved in one short, focused meeting.
Category: Uncategorized
Wordless Wednesday – Boredom?
“Goals” kill motivation
Well maybe not, we all need some lofty goals for ourselves to keep things going and add some spice to life. But in my opinion these should be extremely high level.
A few years ago I followed the advice of some blog out there, I’m not even going to attempt to find that link again, and set some specific goals for myself. Some of them were around my sideline business at the time, some around my sports training, some around self improvement, and some around the things that I actually enjoyed doing.
When I say specifics, I mean SPECIFIC.
One of the goals was to lose x kilogram by this date, another to write so many blog posts every month, etc, etc, etc.
Now, blogging is something I did for fun at the time, and the moment I put that “goal” on myself, I stopped enjoying the writing process, because now I was forcing the issue.
Since then I’ve been writing off and on more then that now, and constantly thinking to myself, I should be doing x many posts, and I’m just not getting it done.
So, in an effort to actually enjoy life, and the things I used to love some more, I’ve removed a lot of “goals” from my life. And maybe added a few new ones in the process.
Some of the new ones:
- Try not to think of work over weekends (Everyone needs rest, and to maintain life balance)
- Don’t do anything you don’t enjoy doing (Pay other people to do the mundane stuff, it works out better for both parties)
- Spend as much time as possible with the family (there’s a caveat here, because I also want to spend quality time on my bike, but balance is important in all aspects)
You see, at a much higher level, and aimed at getting some more enjoyment out of life. We have enough pressure at our workplaces to not need any more in our personal lives. And if this means that I don’t get to make the billions everyone dream of having, then so be it. Memories are worth more anyway.
Wordless Wednesday – Why give this view to prisoners?
Always implement the simplest solution
I learnt this from hard experience. Any programmer’s natural instinct is to design the most robust & generic solution they can conceive. But once you’ve done it, you can then think of 20 ways to improve it and make it even more generic. Continue reading Always implement the simplest solution
Charity work
Some time last year I was approached by a friend of mine, who had just started a charity, for some help on a website. At that point they had nothing, but needed to get a portal out to the world to showcase their work. Normally I would not just give something, because I believe that a lot of people take advantage of charity, and become lazy. The proof is standing at just about every traffic light in Joburg.
Thought for the day – 2008-11-25
There's a point in your life when you get tired of chasing everyone and trying to fix everything.
But it's not giving up…
It's realising that you don't need certain people, the bullshit and the drama that they bring.

