Growing is painful. I thought by the time I reached 41 years of age in this body I would have figured this existence, whatever the hell it is or isn't, out. No dice.
I keep looking to the future and thinking it will, in some way not seen to me yet, be right there and I will have the answers. No dice, again.
I am struggling with watching my oldest son grow and encounter experiences that will help shape and mold him into the person he will become and it is forcing me to be shaped and molded in other ways I haven't anticipated. Here I am, typing this at 2:24 am Sunday morning trying to figure out what this next trial will do to him, and what it is doing to me. And here's the kicker - it isn't even something at all important!
Yet here I am, trying to figure out how to be a good father, how to be a sound mentor to my son, and I have no answers. I even understand intellectually that, for the most part, I have absolutely no control over anything - including the outcome of trivial events. And therein lies the pain. Knowing one thing but believing another. Understanding that it is my desire to control something I cannot control is not helping me relax, reduce my blood pressure, or helping me get some needed sleep.
Sigh.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A post I am sharing from Seth Godin's blog...
The hierarchy of success
I think it looks like this:
Attitude
Approach
Goals
Strategy
Tactics
Execution
We spend all our time on execution. Use this word instead of that one. This web host. That color. This material or that frequency of mailing.
Big news: No one ever succeeded because of execution tactics learned from a Dummies book.
Tactics tell you what to execute. They're important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.
But what's the point of a strategy if your goals aren't clear, or contradict?
Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.
Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won't work nearly as well.
As far as I'm concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?
Some more questions:
How do you deal with failure?
When will you quit?
How do you treat competitors?
What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?
What's it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?
What sort of decisions do you make when no one is looking?
Sure, you can start at the bottom by focusing on execution and credentials. Reading a typical blog (or going to a typical school for 16 years), it seems like that's what you're supposed to do.
What a waste.
Isn't it odd that these six questions are so important and yet we almost never talk or write about them?
If the top of the hierarchy is messed up, no amount of brilliant tactics or execution is going to help you at all.
Technorati Links • Save to del.icio.us (323 saves, tagged: strategy sethgodin success) • Digg This! (39 Diggs, 6 comments) • Email this • Stumble It! (3 Reviews) • Subscribe to this feed • Share on Facebook • Twit This!
Posted by Seth Godin on September 14, 2009 Permalink
I think it looks like this:
Attitude
Approach
Goals
Strategy
Tactics
Execution
We spend all our time on execution. Use this word instead of that one. This web host. That color. This material or that frequency of mailing.
Big news: No one ever succeeded because of execution tactics learned from a Dummies book.
Tactics tell you what to execute. They're important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.
But what's the point of a strategy if your goals aren't clear, or contradict?
Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.
Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won't work nearly as well.
As far as I'm concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?
Some more questions:
How do you deal with failure?
When will you quit?
How do you treat competitors?
What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?
What's it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?
What sort of decisions do you make when no one is looking?
Sure, you can start at the bottom by focusing on execution and credentials. Reading a typical blog (or going to a typical school for 16 years), it seems like that's what you're supposed to do.
What a waste.
Isn't it odd that these six questions are so important and yet we almost never talk or write about them?
If the top of the hierarchy is messed up, no amount of brilliant tactics or execution is going to help you at all.
Technorati Links • Save to del.icio.us (323 saves, tagged: strategy sethgodin success) • Digg This! (39 Diggs, 6 comments) • Email this • Stumble It! (3 Reviews) • Subscribe to this feed • Share on Facebook • Twit This!
Posted by Seth Godin on September 14, 2009 Permalink
Monday, September 21, 2009
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