Default Settings

When you open Microsoft Word, the default font is probably Calibri. For better or for worse, it is what you probably end up using whether you like it or not or until you change it when you are done working on your document.

Calibri may not even be the best font for what you are doing. Maybe you are trying to make a statement piece with a few words to communicate a central idea and what you really need is a heavy weighted font to really emphasize what you are trying to say.

Potentially you are trying to write a long for piece and you need something with good spacing and is easy on the eyes but is not too heavy.

Or potentially, you want to write in a plain jane and you want your font to have look and feel.

Any way you look at it, you still never get there because Microsoft chose Calibri as your font and you have not changed it.

Likewise, when you get up in the morning, you are stuck with the default breakfast options because that is what you buy when you go to the store. You have been trying to eat healthy, but you keep eating the same cereal because it is what you know you are not sure what other options are actually healthy.

You have been trying to read more, but that new year’s resolution really did not stick. You stick with the default of turning on Netflix after dinner and watching your show some more.

You meant to fix that leaky faucet, but you are not quite sure how and the weekends keep filling up with family and friends and anything else, it would be a shame to spend all day inside working on a faucet when the world is full of everything else.

No matter the thing, no matter the excuse, your default is easier.

It is easier to keep doing what you have been doing than it is to do what you want to do. But, now is the time to save yourself and make progress on your one goal or project. One thing for you to make progress on. One thing for you to improve one.

What is your one thing? Who is going to help you stay on track? How are you going to overcome your default?

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Accessibility Settings

Apple continually works to make their products more accessible to more and more people who would not normally be able to access their products. One way they have done so is their accessibility settings.

These settings can do a ton of different things from reading the screen to you if you are visually impaired or give you a button to perform commonly used functions or commands. You can even hook the iPhone up to hearing aids, zoom the screen/magnify or just plain make the text larger and/or bolder, to name a few.

These amazing settings make the phone easier to use for people who want to use a smartphone but they might need additional consideration.

In contrast, getting ahold of a company when I need product support, is almost impossible. For instance I was trying to call my cell phone provider recently and it took me multiple attempts and waiting on hold for a representative because they were experiencing ‘longer than normal wait times due to an increased volume of calls.’ Of course, I can give them my phone number and they will call me back later. And of course when they call later, I am in the middle of something and physically unable of answering my phone.

I am now left to call back again and wait. This time spending more time on hold and waiting for a representative despite the ‘longer than normal wait times due to an increase volume of calls’ ... again.

Which way have you positioned yourself? Are you more accessible or less accessible? Are you trying to find better ways for your customers and friends to be able to work and engage with you? Do you push your business and office to be more accessible to your customers?

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Consuming Raw or Undercooked Meat

Every restaurant serving beef, pork, fish, and eggs has the warning about the dangers of consuming raw or undercooked meat? I would not be surprised if there are mountains of legal precedents regarding these warnings and how they have saved restaurant after restaurant from millions of dollars in lawsuits.

But these warnings are everywhere. They have become white noise. When was the last time you actually read one of these notices? They are there. Go to your favorite local eatery and they probably have one of these warnings.

They are not pretty. They are not fancy. They are just a warning against the common knowledge. A warning many people ignore.

I like my eggs sunny-side-up. Some people want to eat a steak that is blue. I do not want to get sick. I am guessing people who eat blue steaks do not want to get sick.

Why do we still let this noise persist? These signs have as much use as a restroom sign. Never visible until you need to see them. But we keep posting restroom signs and meat disclaimers because we have always posted meat disclaimers.

How much of your work do you do because the industry or organization has always done it? How much of your work ends up being background noise, invisible till needed? What is more meaningful that you should be working on?

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Brilliance

The other day someone peered over my shoulder as I was working on some odds and ends bouncing between email and web browsers and they were impressed by how fluidly I moved around and how I had applications and windows sorted on the computer. Really, I do not ever think about it. Most of it is all pretty simple and well thought out and arranged around my computer’s desktops for where I want them to be. It is natural and logical to me. 

However, to them, it was brilliant! They had never thought of it all this way. They had never thought to use spaces like I do or arrange their applications like I do. It was genius. What was completely obvious to me was genius to them. 

Likewise, I was playing a game and I kept failing pretty hard with some friends and strangers. They pointed out how I was failing and what to do differently. To me, what they suggested was not only brilliant but also perfect. They solved my problem and made it possible for the whole team to succeed. And we did. 

Their suggestion was obvious to them and genius to me. 

It all brought me back to how I can often miss the most obvious of things; but, when someone else brings their opinion to play, I can suddenly be shocked out of my train of logic into a different train of thought I had never thought of before. A train of logic seeming quite brilliant to me. 

I have to wonder, was E=MC^2 brilliant to Einstein or was it obvious? 

What brilliant idea are you logically working out as if it should be plain as day to everyone around you? What brilliant idea have you come across from someone else who thought it was no more than common place? How are you observing the people around you to grow and improve in new ways?

Logically,

–JT

Designed in California

As I continue to process my findings about myself from the Pathmaker personality metric I went through in December, I continue to unlock nuances to how much impact these nuances have for me. One of these nuances resides within my purpose statement, “I must … create opportunities for others to pursue excellence.” This bit isn’t about me. This bit is about other people. It is about giving them a place to be who they are and suceed. I do not have to succeed for them, I need to put them in a position where they can succeed. I need to give them the tools, resources, and implements they need to be able to pursue excellence. 

The most notable part about pursuing excellence is not achieving it all the time. Hopefully, we will achieve excellence as a rule. However, there will be times where we are in a situation and we cannot achieve. Some people call an unsuccessful pursuit, ‘failure.’ I call an unsuccessful pursuit, ‘education.’ Retitling failure as education takes a bit of the edge off, it does not take away my fear or negative attitude towards it. Retitling failure as education reminds me of the purpose of failure, to learn. 

Thus, we have reached the pinnacle of the back half of my purpose statement. I am here to create space for people. For people to learn, to try, to succeed, to educate, to enjoy life, to be frustrated, to be who they are at their fullest potential. I am here for the purpose of other people. I am freed from making them succeed and tasked with empowering and equipping them to succeed. 

I am both freed and excited.

Whether in mass or in one–on–one (much preferable) situations, I am here to create space for other people to do what they are designed for.

What are you designed to do? When was the last time you acted like this out?

For you, 

–JT