Author: Jeff Hora

Focus

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St Anthony the Great

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I have a quote on the white board in my office.  It is attributed to Abba Anthony, one of the Desert Fathers of Christian history.  It is, “Do what you are doing.”  This is my own challenge and one I put to you as well.

To accomplish this, you must not dwell in the past (although you can and should learn from it).  You must not obsess about the future (you have no real way to control it, so this is pointless).  The only moment you really have is this one (there it goes….).

This moment is not entirely yours, as you share it with all creation.  However, the piece of it of which you are a part is important, as in this moment you can focus on the task at hand, make it good, make it worthwhile, create, enable and assist.  Without your critical contribution in this moment, the lessons of the past come to nothing and the future is dimmer.

Focus.  Do what you are doing.

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The measure of glue

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Adhesives, Nitrocellulose adhesives

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I’ve been in a number of discussions, both “official” and over the proverbial pint, about the things that help groups of people actually do things worthwhile.  A very close colleague of mine told me that, in turning over a spreadsheet listing the things that she does everyday to her manager, he said, “It seems you only work about 15 hours a week!”  While being completely wrong, his comment points out something that is devilishly difficult to measure and enumerate on paper: the innumerable small-ish things she does that keep her team moving forward and meshing well.  I’ll call it “glue”, for lack of a better term.

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Open the Box–Steering Wheel

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Steering Wheel

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I opened the box today and found a steering wheel. My attention involuntarily went to the whole “direction of your team/business” kind of attention hole. After climbing out of that one and spending a little more time looking at this particular steering wheel, I realized there is a higher meaning here. It has to do with responsibility. This responsibility is both visionary and of the moment.

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People and Contacts

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Illustration showing fashion throughout the ce...

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I’ve been reading a lot online and in various articles and books lately about the balance of online and offline relationships, as well as the greater understanding of the actual concerns and lives of people.  I know it sounds broad and perhaps a bit vague, but let me provide some clarification and get to what I’m thinking.

Earlier, Tac Anderson wrote a post about the value of actually getting out from behind the desk and connecting with people.  I see a couple of energies at work here.

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Open the Box–Wood Floors

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Timber Floors Pty Ltd - Forest Reds

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I opened the box today and found hard wood floors..in boxes…with guys and their tools ready to start installing it all.

This has been my life this week.  My family and 4 cats have voluntarily relegated ourselves to a couple of large connected rooms (mostly to keep the cats out of the flooring stuff) in the evenings, and the cats are there during the work day (plenty of food, water, toys, and, heaven help us all, litter…).  It’s not comfortable and we’re all dearly looking forward to when (hopefully late this afternoon) they will be done, do the final sweep up, and we can reassemble our normal lives.

So, beyond the obvious, I started to think about what this evolution has entailed and what else I can learn from it.  Here’s what I have so far…

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Leaders–It’s all about the context

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Music Droid

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Being an authentic leader means being true to who you are in dynamic situations and with different audiences and scenarios.  In this excerpt of an interview with Dr. David Darnell, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Education Leadership at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa he talks about how his experiences as a leader differ when working with his graduate students, his colleagues at Drake and his work in his local church, as well as touching on his lifelong experiences in education.  The subject of this excerpt is how being a leader may change given different contexts and in working with different constituents.  His comment about remaining true to yourself while helping others get where they are going is particularly keen.

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Another milepost on the journey

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Yesterday I officially graduated from the University of Washington with a Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) degree.Jeff graduates from UW I have a huge number of people to thank for “holding me up” when I was ready to fall and joining me on the journey.  The two primary people I want to thank are my spouse and partner, Carol, and Hanson Hosein, director of the MCDM program (pictured here handing me my diploma). This would have been impossible without them.

Of course, while a signature event, the degree was never really the point.  It has always been about the journey, and this has been a doozey. A few years ago I realized that I had reached the limit of what I could do with my existing set of skills and framework of understanding.  I considered going for an MBA, but thought better of it for a few reasons.

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Open the Box 3–The Pressure Washer

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Pressure Washer

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So I Opened the Box today and found a pressure washer.

I began meditating on what this might represent, other than the forcible removal of gunk from my patio, driveway, sidewalk, etc.  What has come up for me is the process I go through to figure out whether I should have something done by someone else or whether I should do it myself.  This has broad implications for personal endeavors and business.

First some backstory…

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Dr. Who and the War of Art

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The Mark 2 fibreglass (Tom Yardley-Jones) Tard...

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OK, so the title of this post may seem a little like link bait, but stay with me.

I have been a Dr. Who fan for a long time.  Generally each season of the show has some kind of overarching storyline.  This season a race of beings calling themselves The Silence are introduced.  They have a number of disturbing traits, but the back story on them implies they’ve been on Earth for thousands of years and have had a controlling hand in the destiny of mankind.  No one has noticed because they have a particularly disturbing ability: they can erase all memory of themselves from a person’s memory once the person looks away from them.  How do you fight against something when you can’t even remember it when you’re not looking at it?

Where this thought connected for me in my professional development comes with my completion of Steve Pressfield’s excellent book The War of Art last night.

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Slice and dice

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I am in love...

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If you follow my blog at all you already know that I have become a fan and follower of Seth Godin (one of my first readings every morning is his blog).  One of the ways he has inspired me is that he has helped me realize that my writing isn’t likely to be, shall we say, a modern masterpiece with every post.
I wish, but seriously, no.
But I am learning that’s OK.  I’m also trying to wrap my head around what this means for other projects, both my own and those at work.