Lately I had a discussion about the value of particular experiences. Many people had been laid off because their particular and very specific knowledge was not needed any more.
It has been a longer while ago when I watched a video of Nathan Myhrvold - watch it yourself here (length 17:14). For me this is a very good example (if not the best) that you can apply knowledge and experience you gain in one realm onto completely different subjects to find creative new solutions or bring additional value into foreign areas.
It can an immense opportunity for a company hiring people with a broad experience on different areas - and it is a primary productivity boost if you are able to learn quickly from experience and find out different realms where it can be applied.
Another example: I talked to a doctor where I go to the gym. He has more than 20 years of experience at the intensive care unit in different hospitals. He told me that many times nurses called him being totally in panic because of emergency and he learned to take himself 60 seconds of time looking at the situation and analyzing. He said: Nobody is dying within 60 seconds. You always have at least 60 seconds for analyzing the situation doing nothing. (There might be some exceptions, e.g. when a very lot of blood is extruding around.) His experience is that doing "something" (in panic) often makes the situation becoming worse. If an injection is set, it's in and if it was the wrong action or just the dose was too high then you suddenly have to deal with two things running out equilibrium. He said, in 90 percent of the cases a slight adjustment was sufficient. Slight adjustment can be worth more than big rough action. I think this could be for example applied perfectly to IT emergencies also - as well as for a plenty of other situations too.
And while talking about knowledge being applied on other issues under different circumstances, I see that the knowledge from different other areas can help you in fitting your solutions to the rest of the world. I think, especially the wise men/women are particular good in re-utilizing knowledge.
I always tried not to get stuck looking just at my programming code, I always looked for the link to the customer real needs and kept an eye on overall efficiency and productivity. And I wish I had better listened to the other subjects in school too - even those which did not interest me at all. There are so many things you can learn from animals, from physics, from history etc - knowledge that can be useful while thinking of solutions for your daily issues. Testing knowledge and experience on different realms can boost your personal development (BTW: A boar is running faster than Bolt - maybe you should learn running from the boars ;-) ).
Keep your eyes open, learn, be creative and test on reality!
Related posts: Unwanted creativity, Speed, Knowledge is freedom, The value of experience, Prudential innovation.
2009-08-21
2009-08-18
About drugs
In the last days there were a lot of articles in the news talking about doping or about the tremendous drug usage all over the world.
I did not talk about drugs so far because it is so natural for me to not even think of drugs. Other happens to the drug user: Often he/she can't think of anything else than the next dose.
Why do people start with that? I can't believe that most new users try it just for fun. The more I think of it the more I get to the conclusion that it must be stress, pressure, fear and similar reasons that drive people to do that.
I don't want to talk a lot about the huge amount of disadvantages, I prefer pointing out just one fact: Using drugs is making dept. You gain a short boost and later you pay for it. For a little too much in alcohol you pay with a headache on the next day, for "real" drugs the price is much higher (also - but not only - from the financial point of view.
In reality there are a lot of possibilities in making dept from the health point of view - smoking, eating junk food, too few movement, working too much or lack of sleep and so on. - But I think the rule applies that the harder the drug, the higher the dept.
As it applies for your financial situation, it also applies for your health: Don't make dept!
Related post: Reduce the stress factors, Getting older.
I did not talk about drugs so far because it is so natural for me to not even think of drugs. Other happens to the drug user: Often he/she can't think of anything else than the next dose.
Why do people start with that? I can't believe that most new users try it just for fun. The more I think of it the more I get to the conclusion that it must be stress, pressure, fear and similar reasons that drive people to do that.
I don't want to talk a lot about the huge amount of disadvantages, I prefer pointing out just one fact: Using drugs is making dept. You gain a short boost and later you pay for it. For a little too much in alcohol you pay with a headache on the next day, for "real" drugs the price is much higher (also - but not only - from the financial point of view.
In reality there are a lot of possibilities in making dept from the health point of view - smoking, eating junk food, too few movement, working too much or lack of sleep and so on. - But I think the rule applies that the harder the drug, the higher the dept.
As it applies for your financial situation, it also applies for your health: Don't make dept!
Related post: Reduce the stress factors, Getting older.
2009-08-09
Weird symbols
Lately for our tenth anniversary I have been in the church with my wife and although I do not feel a particular relation with the catholic religion I found two particular meanings in Jesus hanging there on the cross:
Related post: There is suffering.
- Don't whine about your suffering.
There could be so much more suffering that it is most likely that your suffering is not that hard as you may think. - Be careful about what you do.
You can easily contribute to big suffering with your words and actions - or with prejudice.
Related post: There is suffering.
2009-08-04
Something more important
A good while ago I stumbled upon this quote:
Whatever problem might hold you back from success, whatever suffering you face, it might be worth every single step towards a better future.
Thanks to all those who are working honestly and with the best intentions to create a better world for all of us.
Related posts: The fear, Plan to get fear done, The golden rule, Primary motivator.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. (Ambrose Redmoon)I am about to widen this:
Whatever problem might hold you back from success, whatever suffering you face, it might be worth every single step towards a better future.
Thanks to all those who are working honestly and with the best intentions to create a better world for all of us.
Related posts: The fear, Plan to get fear done, The golden rule, Primary motivator.
Unattended mode
While proceeding with your life plans or projects or "simply" building up your personal environment you are establishing services and systems that assist you in being more productive and/or focusing on what you like to do most.
While creating this environment you move your focus from one service or "feature" to another.
So what we do is usually that we pay attention to a thing only during the period when it is created - "installed". Afterwards we tend to consider the thingy to be working. In some cases we remember more or less continuously to check or do some maintenance work.
I am not talking only about technical equipment and infrastructure like heating, light, your PC and all your other devices and gadgets, I am also talking about non-material topics like friendships, partnerships, education of children, inner peace and so on.
Not only when we have finished installing some technical stuff, but also when we have taken decisions or established relationships, we tend to leave it in unattended mode and we forget about the "maintenance work" that is necessary in the long run to keep everything "up and running".
Remember your "civilization goodies" in the way that you pay attention to them once in a while to do a little maintenance work, adjust things a little or "simply" - show a little respect. And pay attention not to commit for too many things!
Related post: Total cost of commitment, Show respect to the team, Respect by attention.
While creating this environment you move your focus from one service or "feature" to another.
So what we do is usually that we pay attention to a thing only during the period when it is created - "installed". Afterwards we tend to consider the thingy to be working. In some cases we remember more or less continuously to check or do some maintenance work.
I am not talking only about technical equipment and infrastructure like heating, light, your PC and all your other devices and gadgets, I am also talking about non-material topics like friendships, partnerships, education of children, inner peace and so on.
Not only when we have finished installing some technical stuff, but also when we have taken decisions or established relationships, we tend to leave it in unattended mode and we forget about the "maintenance work" that is necessary in the long run to keep everything "up and running".
Remember your "civilization goodies" in the way that you pay attention to them once in a while to do a little maintenance work, adjust things a little or "simply" - show a little respect. And pay attention not to commit for too many things!
Related post: Total cost of commitment, Show respect to the team, Respect by attention.
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