Drawers

I had an opportunity not too long ago to visit the hospital, and while I was there, I was noticing the drawers, cabinets, and equipment they had around the room. Of course everything was on wheels and there were all sorts of different machines, signs and bins for disposal of all the various stuff.

What truly stuck out to me were two rolling carts with drawers.

One of them was this large rolling cart with multi colored drawers. Each drawer in addition to being a color was also labeled: Pink/Red, Purple, Yellow, White, Blue, Orange, and Green. On the opposite side of each drawer, was a piece of masking tape with another label scribbled onto it in the usual doctor’s handwriting. Each drawer had at least one and most of them then had the first label crossed out with a sharpie and a new label written on it. Equally illegible.

The other cart was all the same color, a drab sterile grey-ish color. The cart had large labels on it. Each label was a folded piece of paper shoved into a clear sleeve that was glued to the front of the drawer. The label printed in a plain font in all caps. It was far from a genius design, but it made the necessary point. No room for ambiguity.

As you live your life, which are you?

In a hospital room, I want to know my nurse, doctor, surgeon, or EMT is reaching for the drawer labeled MEDS when she is looking for the necessary meds to keep me alive. I do not want her opening the Orange drawer and then opening the White drawer and then opening the Red/Pink drawer to find what she needs.

If my son is putting his toys away, I want the multicolored rolling drawers. I can work with him to learn his colors and help him access/store his toys. He needs more opportunities to work with colors, not fewer.

When someone talks to you, are they talking to the grey drab well labeled drawers, when they need the multicolored drawers, poorly labeled, but full of personality? Or does your job need the consistent and stable grey drawers, well labeled and ready for action and you are trying to be the brightly colored poorly labeled drawers and making everyone’s day more difficult?

How do you need to change to better suit your work environment? How does your product need to change to better suit its use case?

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Different Cries

My son has different cries. One cry is all about needing food. Another cry is telling me he has a loaded diaper. A third cry is his call to be held. And still, another cry is all about him just being fussy and angry for little to no reason at all.

Learning these cries has taken me pretty much his whole life. These cries are all symptoms of the issue they represent. They are probably indistinguishable to other people and sound only like a baby crying. Annoying. And crying.

What I am now considering is how I too have symptoms. When I am hungry, I get grumpy and short tempered. When I am tired, I become frustrated and apathetic. To everyone else, I am unpleasant to be around and a nuisance.

The only difference between my symptoms and his symptoms is about 30.5 years.

The only difference between my symptoms and the symptoms of the people I see around me is understanding. I understand and know my symptoms. I do not know the symptoms of my neighbor, their nuance, and their meanings.

When my symptoms start showing, I need to take a deep breath, pause, and remember how my symptoms can hurt the people around me.

What are your symptoms? Who helps you stay in check? How do your symptoms affect the people around you?

Symptomatically,

–JT

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Wrestling Elephants

When my son is on the verge of falling asleep in the afternoons, he will fight it. He will fight it so hard. He will pull his wubanub (wub) out of his mouth over an over again.

Every time he pulls the wub out of his mouth, he wakes himself up. When he wakes up, he fusses hard core because he is grumpy. He is grumpy because he is tired. We will put the wub back into his mouth and then he will start to doze off and then he will realize he is dozing off and fight it, flail, pull out the wub. Then we start the battle all over again.

The issue is, he needs to sleep.

He.

Needs.

To.

Sleep.

He is wrestling his little elephant and he keeps wrestling it despite the obvious benefits it will bring into his life.

However, how often am I any different? How often do I not do something I desperately need despite my personal preference in the moment? How do I react when my friends try to give me a tool to help me grow? Do I accept it or fight it off?

They are obviously giving me this advice because I need it. Why do I take my time accepting it?

How often do I handicap myself by pushing away what I need because I am grumpy, afraid of the change, or being selfish?

What are you not doing because you are afraid of the change? What crutch are you pulling away because of the change it will bring? Who are the people in your life you trust to give you the tools you need to succeed in the moments you want them least?

Wrestling,

–JT

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