Dealing with crappy weeks

We've all had a crummy day or week.  You know those times when everything seems to go wrong and any bit of news is bad news?  That week when a major deployment you’re managing hits a massive (or even small) snag?  They hit all of us differently, from shrugging and moving on, to getting worked up emotionally, to taking it entirely personally.  For most of us they’re not fun (especially if you feel like you’re responsible for the problem!), but there are ways to help get through them.

Separate the emotion

Emotions are great tools in many situations, but when we’re evaluating a problem they can get in the way.   At the very least the emotions of "I screwed up", "I hate I have to XYZ" and others suck up mental bandwidth we should be applying to solving the issue.  At worst they end up catching us in an endless cycle of "I'm terrible, I can't do anything".

The first step is to simply acknowledge that your emotions are getting the way.  This is easier said than done, but feelings of anxiety are generally a good indication that emotion may be clouding things.  Taking time to write down how you’re feeling can also help clear out, or at least minimize emotional responses.  Having a friend or colleague at work you feel comfortable talking to is also incredibly helpful.  They can both help you identify what the actual problem is and figure out good steps forward.

Keep moving and find the positive

During a crummy day/week finding small wins, or even making tiny amounts of progress, can help turn things around.  Finding these wins gives you an anchor, something to point at and say “yeah, it’s not so bad”.  These moments can also help improve your emotional state, helping to dig yourself out of that hole as well.

I find it easiest to review the current work I have and seeing what low-hanging fruit exists.  There’s almost always something you can pick off in 15-30 minutes that will move the needle.  Maybe it's something “too small” to do normally, or something that is a passion project.  In this case it doesn’t really matter WHAT it is, just that it is something you can accomplish and feel good about.

Make a Connection

Talking through the crumminess can also be a big help.  Ideally there’s someone at your workplace that you can speak with and just go over what happened.  At the very least they can be a sounding board for you to just get everything out.  More likely they can offer some insight into what’s going on, possible steps forward and the like.

Speaking to folks outside the office can also help, although they may not be able to offer the same insight as a colleague (if only because they don’t work with you).  This, however, can be an advantage; they’re not also in the same situation and have a different perspective.  At the very least you can unload a bit with someone you trust.

Beginning Background Knowledge

I’ve found that many times I’m presented with a challenge that I don’t know the specific answer to.  It may be some complicated technical setup, or changing how a relationship operates, or some new technology.  These scenarios are a bit exciting and a bit scary since I go into them not knowing the answer.

I’ve found that in order to succeed with tasks like this background conceptual knowledge is critical.  Understanding the basics of how a system operates allows me to more easily understand new areas of it.  After all, it’s still got to follow some basic rules. (Similarly if we understand a little bit about how gravity operates that makes it much easier to understand how something will fall, even if we’ve never seen that specific object before).

This can also be applied to softer skills.  If we consider each individual we interact with as having their own underlying “rules” for how they prefer or need to communicate we can then apply those rules to future interactions.  As we meet and understand more people our toolkit expands and we can begin to apply these rules to folks we’ve never met before… and succeed.

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Find the common thread

The biggest challenge to making this work is to understand those basic rules.  This requires work.  You have to memorize and internalize terminology, where buttons are, what process flows exist.  Personally I find a three pronged approach to getting my brain up to speed; get the manual and read up, get hands on with the thing itself, and talk to others who know it already.

While reading documentation and studying documents can be tedious and boring this is a great way to understand how something works, especially when that documentation comes from the vendor or an expert in the field.  Documentation is great since you can go through it on your own time.  It doesn’t require others to be available or access to any new system.  It does, however, require time and effort.  Since it was written sometime in the past documentation can also feel disconnected from reality.  Due to this disconnection I tend to combine it with hands on discovery.

It’s hard to beat hands on experience to help drive learning, especially when combined documentation.  Being able to tinker and see things in action is an excellent reinforcement to learning.  Having the manual next to you as well lets you lookup what you’re actually doing.  This approach, however, can be frustrating if you run into a situation where you can’t progress because you’re missing something important.  This is where having someone who knows the system is very useful.

Talking to others about that system or interaction is also important.  There’s two main ways this can go - they know more about the system than you do, or they know about the general concepts (or both!).  The first will let you improve specific skillsets and learn the mechanics of that particular system.  This is great, especially when you’re first starting out since it helps increase your rate of skill gain.  The second helps you understand how to apply general concepts to different areas, which is also very important (especially if your role expands or changes).

In general you can’t really have TOO much background knowledge in any given subject.  The more you have, the more likely it is you can apply some of it to a challenge and come out on top.  It does take work to accumulate this information, but the effort is more than worth it.

Owning Mistakes

Mistakes… we all make them (citation needed), but not many of us are comfortable talking about them (or even sometimes acknowledging they happen).  I find this lack of comfort to be a very interesting cultural outcome, since discouraging talking about mistakes means we’ll be making more.  Even worse, it means the ones that do occur will end up hurting us more.

I recently had a great discussion with a colleague about how we can get more comfortable sharing mistakes (this is a fascinating topic that I’ll touch on in another post).  In essence they were asking how we can go from a state of being fearful of owning mistakes and exposing ourselves to retribution to a state of feeling OK pointing out when I screw up.  Their fear was centered around what would happen at our next performance review since we’d essentially be feeding our managers ammo on where we failed.  While I completely understand this mindset (it’s one I imagine many of us have experienced… the manager who sees a mistake as something to hammer down on vs. an opportunity to improve), it’s one that I do not ascribe to for a few reasons.

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Everyone makes mistakes

It’s a simple fact of our reality that everyone makes a mistake at some point (or several…).  Trying to ignore this fact is essentially lying to ourselves… after all, we know that at SOME point we’ll make a mistake... and that our boss will make a mistake… and that everyone else will too.  Since we know it’s going to happen, we don’t gain anything by hiding it.  The best possible outcome in that scenario is no one finds out… worst case is someone does; in this case instead of asking how they can help fix it they’ll ask why you hid it.

You could also think of it this way - your manager knows at some point you’ll make a mistake. By exposing them, instead of letting your manager find them, you show that you can be trusted, that you recognize when you need help.  This not only helps strengthen the relationship with your manager (see the third point), but also gets you in control of the conversation.  Proactively bringing it up lets you frame the discussion as a “I made a mistake and want to avoid doing it again” instead of a “You really screwed up”.

Owning our mistakes gives us strength

Hear me out on this one.

The default assumption in many places is that individuals will not call out their own mistakes (despite everyone knowing mistakes are made).  After all, it REALLY doesn’t feel good to stand up and say “I made a mistake”.  Our ego (that voice inside that pumps us up/tells us how awesome we are/etc) is threatened by this, so we avoid that internal pain by not saying anything.  This easy way out protects us in the short term, but can come back to bite us when the mistake is caught later.

Actively calling out our mistakes demonstrates to others that we’re aware of where we need help and where we can grow.  It tells others that we’re human too, and that even us as the XYZ expert can stumble.  By bringing your mistake into the open you not only make it easier to get help, you also make it easier for others to share their mistakes.  This not only enables your growth by allowing others to help you improve, but strengthens the entire team by sharing those lessons.

Owning our mistakes builds relationships

One of the biggest advantages in admitting to our mistakes is the boost it gives our various relationships.  As noted above, they also make mistakes, so knowing you’re comfortable sharing yours will make them feel better about working with you.

Being proactive and calling out when we’ve made a mistake lets our partners know we’re serious about helping them… after all, we could have just let is slide.  Now this isn’t to say I just call up someone and say “Hey, I crashed the server, good luck”.  Instead I’ll first figure out how to undo (or at least mitigate) the damage.  This further helps my credibility as not only am I proactively alerting them to issues, I’m proactively fixing tem.  This turns what could be a large escalation (imagine a situation where you don’t tell them about the mistake and they find out on their own) into a positive experience.

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Not Easy

I’m not saying any of this is easy… indeed, it can be very challenging to stand up and say “hey, I screwed something up”.  The benefits, however, outweigh that short-term discomfort.  The good news, though, is that the more we practice this skill, the more we embrace being temporarily uncomfortable, the easier it gets.

On Perseverance

Perseverance, the ability to keep going despite hardships, is a very important skill to learn, and something I recently had a chance to practice.  On Friday I took what should have been a 4 hour exam… which lasted 5.5+ hours.  Instead of starting this (stressful) exam that I’d spent 8 months preparing for immediately, I was greeted with a black screen and a spinning beach ball.  Despite figuring out how to get help, I ended up waiting on hold for tech support.  For 2.5 hours.  Talking to chat bots. In circles.  At several points I considered just calling it and rescheduling (something that would set me back another two months).  

Instead, I took a moment to breathe and figure out my options… Everything basically amounted to waiting on hold for chat support… or phone support… or chat support again… and again and again.  I figured if I could just get the RIGHT agent on the phone, I’d get in and could take my exam.  It just took my not giving up.  Eventually, 2 hours later I found that agent, and my exam started.  8 questions in it immediately broke.  Again.  This was another chance to give up.  I’d already spent half my allotted time not answering questions, and who knows how much longer it would go on for.  Instead I chose the perseverance route; apply my previous strategy of reaching out again. And again. And again.

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This was not as easy as it sounds. Whatever chat system I was tied into would automatically send me a message “from the agent” every 3 minutes. It was something like “Thanks for your patience, I’m still looking into your issue”, that just repeated. After 40 minutes of non-responses I began asking if anyone was actually there, and they could type in literally ANYTHING other than the stock message to let me know. Eventually I hung up on that chat and opened another, and kept doing that until I found someone who could help me. The same thing happened to me on the phone; after 30+ minutes on hold an agent would pickup, tell me they’d fixed the issue, then hang up. I even asked one to stay on the line until I could confirm the issue was resolved, but they said they couldn’t.

Long story short I ended up passing that exam…. But not after getting a hands-on lesson in perseverance.  In this case it expressed itself in not giving up, in not saying “I give” and quitting, in continuing to look for an answer despite every avenue being non-helpful.  This is hard stuff… it would be SO much easier to just reschedule or do it later, but it wasn’t worth it to me.  Not only would I have to go through all the anxiety of prep AGAIN, all the waiting AGAIN, I’d have wasted almost 3 hours of my life on hold.

Situations like this crop up all the time.  We’re in meetings that we’re bored stupid in.  We have to work on projects that just… never… die.  Something fails and we lose several hours of work that we have to re do.  The challenge is not to get stuck on how annoying/stupid/etc the situation is, but instead of focus on what’s important; being present, completing our work, solving the challenge.

On Negative Examples

To preface this piece - negative examples are about finding attributes, outcomes, etc. that you choose to avoid, not necessarily things that have failed.

Frequently we look around a good example of what we want to do.  We find some project, or team, or event that was insanely successful and point at it as a model to follow.  This is a great approach since we can learn from that things success, and then build on it.  It is, however, also important to find negative examples - things that didn’t go the way you want, or things you don’t want to do - to learn from.  These both teach you what can go wrong, but also help provide a better definition to the shape of what you want.

Filling in the edges

Just like how negative space in artwork can define interesting shapes (or even the artwork itself), negative examples at work help us define our outcome.  They allow us to look at another project/outcome/team/whatever and make more informed decisions on how we want to operate.  As noted above, this doesn’t necessarily mean those projects/outcomes/teams are not effective or working properly… just that you choose a different route.  Some examples:

• Methodologies - Agile project management makes a lot of sense…. In certain circumstances.  Many projects, however, will not benefit to the same degree, and some may even suffer.  Watching another project struggle with the wrong methodology can serve as an example for your work, and what to avoid.

• Team structure - How teams are setup differs widely, both between and within organizations.  Looking at other orgs will help you determine the shape of yours.  Maybe the People team has a great structure that’s super successful for them, but for some reason wouldn’t work in Engineering.  Noting that difference, and being able to point out why it wouldn’t be good for your team, will help avoid

• Documentation - While there are some more standardized ways to document material, at some point it comes down to specifically how a team operates, and choices they make in cataloging information.  Understanding why another group’s decisions wouldn’t be the best for your needs will help you better shape what would be best for you.

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When finding negative examples it is important to keep any judgement of good/bad or any blame out of your assessment.  The intention is to help identify what the best solution for your particular need, not to pass judgement on how someone else operates (which may be best for them).

Flexibility

In any given day I find myself coaching team members, managing projects, investigating bugs, being blindsided by new asks, and many many other things.  Looking back, any given day represents a crazy mix of things, and juggling them all is certainly challenging.  Despite the insanity of it all, I only really find problems when I try to control the flow things, or when I push back directly and reject doing something.  Fortunately the best approach to this isn’t to just accept ALL work that comes my way, but rather to be flexible in what (and how) I accept.

Many roles these days are anything but specific.  Job descriptions provide a rough outline of what a role is, but they can never fully capture what you’ll be doing if you get the job.  Even if they’re fairly well written, they tend to include something like “duties as assigned”, which leaves a HUGE amount of room for other responsibilities to creep in.  This craziness isn’t even touching the randomness that is smaller companies and/or startups!

Handling multiples

The wide range of randomness heading our way requires that our approach shifts from one of “I only do XYZ” to “I do a range of things”.  The trick to finding a good balance within this range isn’t to remain rigid in how we accept things, but rather to be more flexible in what we accept, and more importantly, flexible in how we reject things.  This may be further compounded by who is asking us to help out… for example if a VP is requesting help it can be a smidge harder to dodge that than someone else.

Being flexible in what work or responsibilities we accept has several benefits.  Exposure to new areas/teams/ideas helps improve our overall skill sets.  This can make our current jobs easier (by providing better context, resources, etc), and also opens doors that we may otherwise not have looked at (e.g. cultivating an interest in a new area of the company).  Flexibility also improves our relationships, either by exposing us to people we wouldn’t otherwise work with, or by giving us time to deepen existing relationships.

Being flexible in how we reject work is equally (if not more!) important.  There are times when you’ll decide you can’t/don’t want to take something on.  When asked (or “asked”), straight up saying “no”, while direct, will likely be seen negatively (e.g. “you’re not a team player”), potentially damaging your reputation but also reducing the likelihood you’ll get help in the future.  Instead you need to find a way to bend out of the way.  Suggesting alternatives (“Did you consider asking so-and-so? They’re really good at this”) and pointing out better ways to do the thing (“Instead of manually doing this, did you consider automating it?”) are great approaches that avoid the need for YOU to do the thing, while still helping ensure it can get done.

Flexibility also means being open to changing how you operate.  Especially now with many folks working from home we’ve had to change up how we work.  Resisting the need for video conferencing is basically impossible, so instead of fighting these, flex, and use them.  Sure, it requires some effort and creativity to find new ways to operate, but by making time to update team norms, meeting schedules, and other aspects of work you’ll avoid the discomfort of trying to fight the tide.

Forward Movement

“When in doubt, go forward.”

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Much of martial arts is about retraining your body.  We’re born with a huge number of instincts, reflexes and hard-coded behaviors to help us stay safe, which are great from an evolutionary perspective… but they’re not always the best approach.  For example, when we fall, we naturally extend our arms towards the ground, absorbing the impact on our palms and joints.  This is great for keeping our heads safe, but at the cost of our arms.  Retraining our body to fall differently, absorbing the impact along the side of our body, results in more safely hitting the ground.

Another example is sparring - our natural inclination is to move directly way from someone attacking us (The “Prometheus School of Running Away from Things”).  This knee-jerk response attempts to put distance between us and danger, but  we’re likely to trip, and will eventually just get run over as they continue forward.  To be successful in a fight, this instinct has to be reprogrammed to instead move in, towards the perceived danger.

Moving in

Ideally we’re able to avoid danger by avoiding it, but when needed this forward movement has a number of advantages.  Once you’re in a dangerous situation it’s usually better to be closer to the source.  This helps keep you out of a danger zone (e.g. it’s really hard to punch someone who’s only an inch away), and also allows you to take steps to neutralize the threat.  In the martial arts context this means closing the distance with your partner so you can protect yourself and attack them.

This physical concept can also be applied in non-phyiscal situations.  While the threats we experience at work at (hopefully) more metaphorical in nature, we can still benefit from moving towards then, rather than away.  Recognizing a teammate doesn’t fully understand what you’re asking them to do, for example, is a threat to your project.  They may not take the correct action, and result in a poorer outcome.  Once you’ve recognized this threat, instead of ignoring it and hoping it’ll take care of itself address it head on and have a discussion with that teammate.

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This could also take the form of actively planning future projects now instead of waiting.  The threat in this case is missing deadlines or even entire portions of the project due to no planning.  Actively engaging and moving towards this threat will at the very least help you understand the potential outcomes.

Moving TOWARDS the danger is also not something that is expected… after all, we’re hardwired to run.  In a fight this gives you the advantage of surprising the attacker (e.g. they won’t expect you to get closer to them), which gives you an opening to strike back and escape.  At work directing the challenge directly and straight on results in quicker resolutions, and helps positively improve how others perceive you.

Of course we cannot enjoy this strategy without first undoing what evolution has provided.  This is a long and uncomfortable process, but one that is wholly worth it.  Physically, we train this by standing in a corner and moving up towards someone as they punch/kick at us as we move towards and past them.  This is essentially exposure therapy, and helps your brain understand it’s not as dangerous as it seems.  Over time, you’ll get more comfortable moving in towards a threat, and eventually it will become a habit.

Comfortable being uncomfortable

Work offers similar situations.  Any time a perceived threat crops up, go to it directly.  Have someone you have challenges communicating with?  Don’t wait for them to approach you, grab some time and talk it out respectfully.  Notice an error in a system or insufficient documentation?  Don’t hope someone else will address it, proactively solve it.  The exact form this takes will vary based on the threat you find, but by practicing moving to the threat you’ll find you can resolve it significantly easier, and more quickly, than by running.

This approach definitely falls into the “get comfortable being uncomfortable” bucket.  Discomfort, I have found, is generally an indicator you have room to grow in some way, and this is no different.  The good news is that discomfort eventually disappears, and you’re just left with a good habit of forward movement, on that lets you deal with threats and exploit opportunities.

Like flipping a switch

We’ve felt the butterflies in our stomach, or the bottom drop out of our stomach as we’re given bad news, or felt a spike of terror when something unexpected / threatening happens to us.  Our bodies ability to change our energy level rapidly to match a situation is a great built-in mechanism… but this natural mechanism has at least one glaring weakness - by default we can’t consciously control it.

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This is a problem, because there are times when our energy level needs to be higher, or lower, or a different cycle than it is naturally.  Having a difficult discussion with someone you love requires keeping your energy controlled and level so you can focus on the topic at hand.  Going to the gym for a sparring session requires selectively raising and lowering your energy.  Working on a project at work requires keeping your energy stable so you can keep your focus.

Disciplines like the martial arts, yoga, meditation, etc. help train us to first be aware of our energy, and eventually control it.  This control gives us the ability to more finely control when and how our energy is used.  Going into what should be an incredibly boring meeting about financial statements?  Knowing how to raise your energy will help keep you awake.  Only have 1 hour a week to train in the gym?  Consciously raising your energy, and keeping it there despite anything else that is going on, will help you get the most out of it.  Escaping a burning building?  Putting a leash on your energy will help you from making a mistake.

All about control

Learning that your energy can be controlled, and how you can control is it an important thing we all learn.  But HOW we do it is also important.  We can’t always, for example, take half an hour to “amp up” or get control.  Sometimes you need to be ready to go NOW.  This may be due to an extreme circumstance (the burning building from before), or just because something unexpected popped up (an employee comes in with a problem).

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I’ve found this to be less of a “powering up” process, and more like switching a light switch.  The exact situation that is unfolding around me certainly impacts this (escaping from a burning building would have a much different impact than sparring, for example), but the mechanism is the same.  It’s the mental difference of “ok… so, I need to get ready for X.. deep breath.. Give me sometime” and “ok, go time”.

Flipping this switch is something we can learn through practice.  The trick is just to put yourself in situations where you need that switch “on” and get a feeling for flipping it.

Flexing your focus muscles

Focus is an interesting thing.  At times we can hold our focus on something for what seems like forever, getting lost in a flow state.  At other times, we can’t bring even the smallest amount of focus to the situation and are easily distracted.  While it seems like focus is something we cannot control, it’s exactly the opposite… focus is 100% at our command.

Choice

It’s easy to say tell yourself “oh, I just can’t focus right now” (even more true with today’s notifications, popups, etc.etc.etc.).  For me, however, this is an excuse, a choice.  We’d rather be somewhere else, with different people (or no people), doing something else than where we’re at.  Personally I find this especially true sometimes at work, there is a limit to how many times I can sit through a meeting on the same topic.

When this happens, we choose to unfocus and essentially drift.  This is something I see when teaching martial art classes with younger students.  They’d rather be at home playing video games, or hanging out with their friends, or doing anything other than working out.  This desire then leads to them making a choice to allow their focus to drift.  (As an aside I’m constantly amused at how surprised they are that their instructors notice this… it’s INCREDIBLY obvious when someone isn’t paying attention).  

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I see this in myself sometimes as well… I’d much rather not be at work grinding away at a report, so instead I allow my focus to drift to other things.  I find little “important” projects to work on, or suddenly learn that a training video really should be completed immediately.  

The trick I’ve learned is that focus isn’t something that comes and goes randomly (despite how much it feels like it sometimes).  Instead it is something we can consciously control and master.  Focus is a mental discipline that, like a muscle, can be strengthened and flexed at will.  Just like building any muscle, however, the hard part is putting in the effort and time to master its use and improve it.  The step of realizing this is possible, however, is just the beginning… actually doing it is something else entirely.

Start Small

Just like building any skill, start small.  For me, writing these articles has been great training in focus.  I put aside ten, fifteen minutes every few days and just write.  The intention of this drill isn’t to create something worth sharing, or get better at writing (although those can certainly be outcomes), it’s to practice focusing on punching the keys.  Part of this may also be put aside time to just focus on reviewing and editing my ideas.  The point isn’t that I’ve chosen writing, it’s that I’m consciously deciding to practice focusing on one thing.

This approach can be applied to anything.  In martial arts training (or any physical discipline) we may choose to focus on a single movement or step.  Working that step, and thinking through each individual part of it, no matter how small, helps build our focus.  At work we may choose to focus on one part of our job for a period of time.  I personally find that I need to do this when building project management plans, so I consciously decide on time to focus on that… and only that.

These seemingly small conscious exercises have multiple benefits.  They help us with the skill we happen to be working on (better project plans, more graceful form), but they also help train our ability to focus. 

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By stealing some concepts from weightlifting we can also work on increasing our gains while we practice.  You don’t get really strong / big arms by lifting light weights a few times, you get bigger/faster/stronger by lifting more weight, or lifting it more times, or lifting it in less time.  The same holds true for focus.  As we get better, we need to consciously work on focusing more intensely (blocking out even more distractions), in odder circumstances (try working with a toddler nearby and you’ll know what I mean) or for longer durations (set aside an hour instead of 30 minutes).  By flexing our focus muscle in more demanding situations it will get stronger.

None of this can happen, however, without our conscious effort.  We rarely get better at things we don’t bend our will to, and even those we do won’t see nearly the same level of improvement.   

Steps to improve focus

1. Remind yourself you’re in control

2. Set aside time to practice focusing on something

3. Record how it went

4. Make it more challenging (more time, different circumstance, etc)

5. Repeat 2-4

The importance of having a good stance

Every movement in the martial arts is supported by some kind of stance.  Some of these have really cool names, like Dragon Takes Flight, while others… less so (like Squat). Regardless of the creativity and color behind the name, these all essentially boil down to how you’re standing.  Some are on one leg, while others look like you’re just… well, standing.  Regardless of the precise physical form it takes, however, every martial arts movement has one.  The stance provides a foundation for movement, and they mainly providing support for the rest of the body to do something (punch, kick, dodge an attack). In addition to setting you up for success, stances also help train the body to become stronger and more flexible, making the rest of training easier.

It doesn’t take years of martial arts training to see when someone is not using a stance.  Something just looks…. Off.  Or maybe someone stumbles and falls. Or maybe there’s a hesitation before the next movement. This is especially true when you put two practitioners next to each other with one in a proper stance and the other not.  Watching someone without a good stance attempt to perform various moves also highlights the importance of having a good stance.  This individual will be less stable, stumble more, and appear to be less powerful (because they are). You can see these things even without direct experience of what it should look like (being an instructor makes me incredibly thankful for the patience of MY instructors).

Devil in the details

Understanding the importance of proper stances is something that takes time, sweat and experience to fully understand. You can easily tell someone that having a good stance is important, but it’s something entirely different to realize that concept.  Despite multiple instructors drilling it into me, it still took me ages to fully realize WHY they kept yelling “hit your stance” and other adjustments as I trained. Here the devil is truly in the details as a small adjustment to knee placement, or minor hip movement can drastically change how the foundation supports the rest of your body.

Real world stability

The concept of having a solid stance is something that can be applied across many areas of our lives.  At work, failing to have an underlying process that tells us what to do will result in shaky execution.  If the foundation of what is being done (the stance) isn’t understood team members won’t know what we’re doing, and will make mistakes (such as not communicating effectively, failing to take specific actions, etc).  Personal finances are in a similar boat - if you have a solid foundation of disciplined saving/etc.  At best you’ll deliver sub-standard results… at worst you’ll collapse completely.

The good news is you don’t have to be a super expert to improve your foundations. In the same way you can see someone’s physical stance be stronger or weaker, you can also see when your foundation in other areas is off. Be on the lookout for poor communication, missing information or confusion. Many times these can be (realtively) easily improved, but at the very least you will get a better idea of where improvements need to be made.

Play a little, train a little, work a little every day

One of the better approaches to planning/spending my day came from my martial arts training.  “Train a little, work a little, play a little every day”.  This approach has helped me stay (a bit) more balanced, and has helped keep me from going overboard in any one area.

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Work a little

In the same lens of improving ourselves physically (or my addition of upskilling), taking a little bit of time to “work” is also important.  Originally I took this to mean job-related work, taking time to write a few emails, tweaking a set of slides, or thinking through a strategy.  This helps keep moving things forward, but I’ve also found it helps relieve some mental pressure (especially over weekends!) as I get time to plan things out.  

In the same way we can combine “Train a little” with both physical and upskilling, we can do this with “Work a little”.  I frequently think through a work challenge while I”m on a run.  This double dipping gives me a bit more time to figure out what I should do, while also helping me improve in multiple areas.

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Play a Little

This is an important one… take time every day to play.  I interpret this to mean do something you enjoy solely because you enjoy doing it.  This could mean playing a video game, reading a book, gardening, or anything else you enjoy.  The point of this isn’t to improve a skill, or get something done, it’s to allow yourself to relax.  Relaxing helps us let go of stress, and more importantly helps us unpack our emotions and thoughts.  

I find this unpacking makes it much easier to re-engage with work (or something stressful) than if I haven’t had that time to unpack.  It's similar to organizing your closet - at the end of it you realize there’s a lot more space than you thought, and you can actually find things.

Train a little

In the martial arts aspect this would mean making time to go run forms, or practice fighting, or teaching.  This could be a formal class, going to the park and training by yourself, or just taking 5 minutes to meditate during the day.  As I thought about this more I also realized it covered anything related to improving myself as a martial artist.. Going for a run, putting together a training schedule, updating my notebook, etc. all contribute towards training.

As I’ve spent more time in the workforce I’ve also come to understand this from an upskilling perspective.  In addition to the physical training aspect, I also include things like learning a new skill through a platform like Udemy (shameless plug!), reading a book that relates to business or talking to others about their approach to their career.  The point isn’t to pick a specific way to improve your skillset (whether it be physical, professional or otherwise), but that you take time every day to do SOMETHING to move the needle in those areas.

There are some ways to combine these, such as listening to podcasts while running, or having in-depth philosophical discussions while sparring (let me know how that one goes if you try it!).

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All of this isn’t to say that you cannot have days that focus on just one or two of these areas.  Many of us frequently dive into work and take a lot of our time to wrangle with those challenges.  This can be a great use of time, especially when we’re in a flow state or achieve something satisfying.  The danger is we end up “stuck” in any one of these modes to our overall detriment.  By taking time to do each of these, train, work and play, we allow ourselves to trend more towards a balanced state. WE can even combine these, such as the listening to podcast while running example (improving work-related areas while also exercising).  The more balanced and stable we are, the better we will be able to react and address other things in our life.

Laid Off? Invest in Your Self

I can now claim the dubious honor of being caught up in two different layoffs at two different startups (one more for the hat trick!). Both times I have been part of a much larger group that was laid off due to dramatic reorganizations that impacted the entire company, and while they were certainly traumatic to some extent, I have viewed both as an uncommon opportunity, as space in which to improve my Self.

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Growth Takes Space

I’ve found that when I’m working at any particular job it can be hard to think of next steps.  The mental weight of having that job makes it harder to envision a better / brighter / whatever path.  This “old growth” makes it harder to see what a next step could be, or to see what I would like to improve.  After all, I already have a job, so why would I look for something else that might be a better fit for me?

Having now been laid off twice in my career I’ve found it has a similar effect on my mental state; a (relatively) brief period of trauma followed by more room to expand with new ideas and directions.  I also feel this on a much smaller scale when I get to work on a new project or have a new position… space is created by giving up something old, which allows something new to grow in its place.  The challenge I have is to guide that growth so it serves me, instead of just growing organically.

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Uncertain Direction

One of the challenges with getting laid off is it strips away some of our direction.  We no longer have a job to report to, no longer have teammates to whiteboard solutions with, no longer have systems to monitor or memes to send out.  This opens up a wide range of possibilities, but also introduces some uncertainty into what we should do.

This raises questions which lead to more questions which lead to more stress:

• “Why me?….”

• “What did I do wrong to end up here?”

• “How will I make rent in X months?”

• “Who’s hiring?”

• “What will happen to the plant I left at the office?”

While concern is warranted, worry is not a good strategy (it’s right up there with hope).  Instead of focusing on that concern, I’ve begun to view this uncertainty as a freedom (although usually not without a period of freaking out a bit…).  This is really a nice clearing to sit in comfortably for a little while, a space to help me ask slightly different questions:

• “What should I keep doing wherever I end up?”

• “What should I stop doing when I get there?”

• “What do I WANT to do?”

• “How can I do that?”

This shift in mental direction makes it easier for me to be on the lookout for opportunities that I will find of value and provide some personal growth (this blog for example).  By shifting the internal discussion from “this is only terrible” to “hmm, this is a great opportunity” I find it much easier to find new paths forward, paths that maybe I wouldn’t have seen earlier.

I’m not saying this is necessarily easy, especially as other circumstances can add further pressure (having a partner who is also out of work, children to care for, etc).  We certainly need to keep the totality of our lives in mind, but taking the time given to me by getting laid off and investing it in myself has given great results.

Time to Breathe

The space provided by being laid off generally results in some period of not-working-time.  Not-working-time is uncommon in our adult lives… we may take a week or two vacation, but rarely will get more than two weeks in a row where we’re not required to show up from 9-5 (or 8-6… or 7-7…etc).  After the initial shock wears off, this time can be spent to just…breathe.  Take stock of what you’ve got going on, cultivate your self and enjoy the time you’re not slaved to a clock to finish a project or answer tickets or follow up on some report.

Some folks take this time to travel in ways they couldn’t before (Tahiti for a month?), others use it to get into a hobby they’ve always wanted to (cross-stitch anyone?).  I’ve personally used it to meditate and better understand my self (honestly one of the most challenging, demanding, and rewarding exercises I’ve ever done).  The point isn’t to do a specific thing, but instead to not just focus 1,000% on finding the next job.  Instead use this time to step back, take a breath, and think about how we can create the life we want vs. accepting the one given to us.

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Seeing the Clearing in the Trees

Getting laid off is an incredibly stressful event, and it can be incredibly challenging to find the bright spot in losing your job.  While it’s true this is work, and may take a lot of mental energy, it is an incredibly rewarding way to spend this time between jobs.  Some ways I’ve found to help see the space and appreciate it:

• Question yourself - Ask questions to yourself about what you want to learn or do differently with your career and life instead of just how to keep it moving along the same path.

• Chat it up - Talk to friends and family about what they know about you… what they think you’d enjoy doing, or what you’ve enjoyed in the past.  Their perspective is incredibly valuable and can give you great insight into your blind spots.  Talk to (now former) coworkers about what you did well and pursue that.

• Just chill - Take time to indulge a bit more in things you enjoy.  Take a painting class, go somewhere you’ve always wanted to but “couldn’t”, workout.  This rare bit of time if yours to shape into whatever you want.

Tech Takes Empathy - Sheer Terror

There has only been one time in my life (and hopefully the last!) where I have looked into a man’s eyes and seen pure, abject terror.  This didn’t happen in (to me, anyway) a life or death situation, or a horror film, or even after eating bad shellfish. It happened when he was told he could no longer use paper forms and had to use a computer.

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The Setup

Working in the IT department of a shipyard was a lot of fun.  Not only did I get to work on and with computers (including some great experience bringing a corporate network down with a single file transfer…), I also got to see the physical thing our company made - ships.  To build them, however, you need a lot of very technically skilled individuals. This includes welders, carpenters, foremen and women, and supply managers. Building ships is really complicated (citation needed), but this was all managed with pen and paper… up until the time IT decided we needed a better system.

My role on the team was to support employees when they ran into problems with our system.  This could be anything from login problems to system errors to training. Many of our users were not computer savvy, so I spent a good deal of time going over basics (for reference many could only peck-type) and developing easy to follow documentation so they could continue to do their job.  Most folks didn’t need to use a computer, or only used it sparingly, so things were mostly OK. Our supply managers, however, were another story.

Historically, when a part or item was needed, you had to fill out a paper form (called a Purchase Requisition, or PR) and give it to their supply manager, who would then update a logbook, and if it fit specific criteria (e.g. under a certain dollar amount, or out of a specific list of things), give you the item.  If it didn’t meet criteria, the supply manager would go talk to whoever controlled the item to see if you could get it.

In the New Work of Tomorrow, however, this all had to be done on a computer.  Instead of filling out a paper form, the Supply Manager suddenly was expected to type the order into a computer, and the PR system would then follow whatever rules were in place for that item.  On a higher level this was great, since management could see in near-real time what was being asked for and by whom. On a highly localized scale, this was the End of Days.

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Sheer Terror

Frank was a supply manager who had been working at the shipyard for 20+ years, and he knew his job inside, outside and backwards.  Even better, everyone knew he knew his job, and he was good at it. Then everything changed when the computers came. Frank knew how to type, which was great since it removed one hurdle entirely… the problem was Frank didn’t understand how this computer would impact his job.  If people could put a PR into the computer, was his job still needed? Even if it was still needed, what would he do all day, just watch the screen?

This was the moment I saw true terror in another man’s eyes.  In the moment Frank wasn’t able to process how great it would be overall, he was afraid his job would disappear.

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Queue Empathy

This is one of the great tensions technological advances have to offer.  On the one hand, technology allows us to gather lots of data and be more effective at finding patterns and handling information.  On another hand, technology can be incredibly threatening to individuals who feel they may be replaced. We’ve all heard the news stories about this, but until Frank I had never experienced it first hand and it was a powerful experience.

Many of us in tech are in it for the cool stuff it can do.  Analyze millions or rows of data to find specific patterns? Magic.  Build a robot that can navigate novel environments? Witchcraft. What we need to remember, however, is there is also a very human component to it.  Tech does not exist by itself, it impacts people in many ways. As techies we need to keep this forefront in our minds as we roll out new magic and interact with folks who maybe don’t quite understand it all yet.

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Back to Frank

In Frank’s case I made a deal with him.  I had to take all his paper requisition forms away, but in return, I’d sit with him until he felt more comfortable with the system.  In addition, I gave him my (work) cell number and told him to call me any time he had a question, or, more importantly, was getting stressed by the computer.

This did result in more hours spent than I had thought, however, I got a lot out of it.  While Frank didn’t entirely lose his anxiety, he did get a LOT more comfortable using a computer which made it easier to help him learn new skills.  I also learned a ton about the supply process from him, which made it significantly easier for me to design better processes in the system (e.g. changing screen setups, routings, etc.).  Even better, while Frank wasn’t exactly an evangelist for the system, he told his coworkers it wasn’t as bad as they had thought and there was help (e.g. me) if they needed it.

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Lessons Learned

• Remember there’s people involved - While tech provides us some really cool tools, all of these tools eventually will impact a real live person.  This impact may be felt as part of their job changing (as in Franks case), or in different ways, but regardless something is changing.

• Take time to know users - It’s VERY easy in tech to become distanced from our users.  After all, they’re just the people that break our meticulously built system, right?  Taking some time to meet them offers a number of advantages though. Not only will you help put a face to these folks, you’ll pick up more about what they need from the system which will make your job easier.

• Be open - Those same users you’ve met will give you ideas on how to improve things, which is great!  Don’t shut down their ideas or problems just because they’re “not in tech”. Like any field, getting more perspective and a wide range of people involved only helps build a better end-product.

There’s always someone better...

One of the more egotistically painful lessons I’ve learned through the martial arts is that there is always someone better than you.  Someone better, faster, stronger, higher-jumping, etc. than you are. Even worse, even if all you did was focus on the training there are still folks out there who are better in those areas that you can possibly be.  I spent a good deal of time beating my head into this idea (fruitlessly) before finally accepting it.  Once I got over the hump of wanting to be the absolute best at something, I could finally focus on just doing MY best.

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It’s the Same Everywhere

Our professional lives are no different - there’s always someone who knows the tech better, is paid more, has a “better” job etc. There’s always someone who puts in more effort, gets more blind luck, etc. And while there’s no Olympics of coding (or tech… or finance…), you can bet that if there were most of us wouldn’t come close. It can be incredibly hard not to obsess over those differences. This is a very slippery slope; once we start we end up spending more and more time thinking about those things. At best this ends up sapping energy and focus from things that are actually important - work projects, family, friends, your self, etc.

The worst part about this is the energy we spend obsessing over others results in less energy to spend on becoming better ourselves. The very “problem” we are concerned with ends up taking away from a solution to that problem. While there are a great many things we can focus on in people who are “better” than us, there’s also a great many things we can focus on to get past this mental trap.

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Getting Over the Hump

The best way to move past this is to simply accept that there are others out there, somewhere, that are better. After all, it’s factually true, and you (hopefully) don’t dispute gravity, so why this? That said, this is hard… really hard. It requires giving up some portions of the self that can be really satisfying to entertain (who doesn’t love imagining what it’d be like to be the best at something?). It initially takes a LOT of mental energy to not allow those thoughts to surface (why is it NOT doing something can be harder than doing something?…).

This is a challenging skill to build, but the effort is more than worth it. Learning to first identify, then stop, then completely avoid, going down the “I’m not the best” rabbit hole takes a lot of conscious effort. There are a few tricks I’ve learned to help:

• Acknowledge when those thoughts pop up - we cannot stop something if we don’t know it’s there. Simply realizing that you’re having these thoughts is a great first step in curbing them. This might take the form of writing it down, saying it out loud, or simply telling myself mentally that it happened. Over time you’ll end up training yourself to automatically do this and save yourself the trouble.

• Redirect the thought - Instead of thinking “Sally’s so much better than me”, I ask myself “Why can I learn from Sally to get better?”. This helps convert the potentially time wasting effort into something that I can use to improve. Depending on the situation I might even go talk to Sally and pick her brain a bit (I’ve met a LOT of great people this way).

• Get external validation - I find it way too easy to convince myself I’m not doing “well”. It helps to ask others how they think I’m doing. This will either give me positive feedback to help boost me up, or give me some (hopefully) constructive feedback on how to improve.

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Just like in the martial arts, the fact there is someone better doesn’t mean that each individual can’t, or shouldn’t, do their best to be their best. While in some cases another’s success can come at the cost of our own (e.g. not getting the job opening), in most cases other’s success is, at “worst” neutral to us (e.g. we don’t get harmed in any way by it). Many times their success can actually help us (a teammate develops a better process that helps the whole team and gets promoted), so instead of focusing on “why aren’t I the best”, take time to focus on “how can I become the best me?”.

Certifications vs. Experience

There is a constant debate in the tech landscape (and in many others, I’m sure!) over training/certifications vs. experience.  Certifications, on the one hand, expose folks to a wide range of concepts and ideas, and give a bit of weight to someone as the certifying body says they know enough to be certified.  Experience, on the other hand, is an excellent (if sometimes painful) teacher that provides deep knowledge.

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The Case For Certifications / Training

Certifications give other folks some indication that you have satisfied the certifying body that you know something. These certifying bodies tend to either be an equipment manufacturer (e.g. CISCO, Google, etc.) or an independent third party (e.g. CompTIA). I find that the harder, more specific skills tend to be manufacturer based (which makes sense since CISCO likely knows the most about their own hardware), while broader, softer skills tend to be third party (e.g. PMI handles project management). Many of these groups have been around for years, and are recognized as industry-standard, which gives the certificates they issues some extra weight.

This makes certifications a great tool to demonstrate your skill set to someone who either doesn’t know you (or your work), and provides a way to validate experience.  Going through the certification process also tends to involve some amount of training and studying, providing more tools and broadening your knowledge base. This, to me, is one of the best aspects since it helps round out knowledge. This both improves my skill set, but also gives me more common ground when working with others in my field.

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The Case Against Certifications / Training

One of the weaknesses with certifications is the reliance on the certifying body.  You can, for example, buy a doctorate in your field for around $1,000 from an online university.  While you’re technically a doctor, it doesn’t mean you’ve put in the same effort as someone who went through, say, Stanford’s programs.  In a less extreme (and likely more common) case, you may end up earning a certification from a group that isn’t well known, well respected, or is so basic it doesn’t really prove anything (while I love by “Lucid Chart Expert” certification, it only took about 10 minutes to earn and covered bare basics).

A certification’s worth is entirely dependent on what the certifying body puts in the exam, and how others value the certification is dependent on what they think of that governing body.  A Cisco certification, for example, doesn’t mean you know everything about Cisco, just that you have passed the exam (many of which have low barriers to pass, like 60%). This reality makes many people wary of trusting certifications since they only prove that you’ve passed a test, not that you necessarily know the field.  Some groups mitigate this by including experiential requirements in the certification (e.g. the PMP issued by PMI required some number of project management hours verified by your manager). 

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The Case For Experience

Experience is a great teacher.  I’ve learned a ton about programming simply by trying to solve problems on my own.  The frustration of running into dead ends and the joy of (eventually) overcoming the challenge is a great journey.  As a result, I’ve worked on many interesting problems and expanded my skill set in a number of directions that may not have appeared in official training or certification.  This gives me a deeper background in some areas that I can more easily apply to the next problem that pops up.

The great part is once others see what you can do, they’ll tell others.  Even better, they’ll think of you in the future and send work your way or help recommend you for other roles or projects.  Others having personal knowledge of your experience is an incredible asset that cannot be bought or learned in a test.

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The Case Against Experience

The flip side is that unless someone knows you personally (or talks to someone who does), they have no idea what your experience actually is or what it is worth.  There’s no way for them to know if you can do what you claim without some kind of validation (e.g. a certification). This is why many companies have a coding challenge component to their hiring process - they need to know if you can walk to the walk.

Experience can also result in you missing key concepts or tools that someone who went through training would know about (a huge problem for me!).  This results in blind spots that may make things hard to figure out since you are missing key information. This is one of the challenges I’ve personally run into learning how to code, although it has led to some great “I could’ve just done THAT this whole time??” moments. At best this helps you learn how to find information (but takes a LONG time), at worst you are unable to continue.

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My Approach

While I do really enjoy earning certifications (admittedly I enjoy the ego boost, but I also enjoy learning more about what I’m involved with), I do also recognize the value of raw experience.  Over the years I’ve tried to take pieces from both sides of the debate. I’ll use both personal exploration to build experience, and studying/certifications to build general knowledge. This is especially true when I’m given a new piece of tech to work with - I’ll take time to play around with it, while also digging into the general training. I’ve found this approach is great since these approaches compliment each other (the hands-on stuff gives context to the training, and the training guides the hands-on).

One area this has been very useful is in project management.  There are many different concepts/tools/ideas that may be applied, and it’s challenging to get those any way other than training.  Since it’s such a soft skill though, I cannot rely just on the textbooks, I have to get out there and experience it to see what else there is to it.  By having both the hands on experience, and the background concepts I’m able to be a much more effective project manger.

I also find both sides very useful for hard skills, particularly when I was learning Google Apps Scripting (GAS).  I had no background in programming, which meant basically a vertical learning curve. I did learn a lot about programming by experiencing it, but this was best described as smashing my head into the keyboard until it worked, I was missing out on some really basic concepts (data mapping blew my mind… until someone showed me that I was running several nested FOR loops).

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Parting Thoughts

There’s arguments on both sides, but in the end it is up to each individual’s preference.  This may also be influenced by our working environment (e.g. some jobs may prefer or require specific certifications, many for good reason!  I wouldn’t want to go to a medical doctor that only learned by experience…) Some folks get by great on experience alone, others knock it out of the park with training.  It’s up to each of us to determine the best approach for ourselves, and then to apply ourselves to it.

I Rock

One of the first things I do any time I start a new job is make a folder called “I Rock”.  As time goes on I add anything to that folder that makes me remember that I do, in fact, rock.  This might be something as simple as a thank-you from a business partner, to a screenshot of someone’s positive feedback, to a list of the projects I’ve successfully launched.  The intention is to give me a solid library of positive things that I can look at any time I’m feeling less than 100%, but it’s got a great upside during performance reviews as well.

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Remembering what you do well

Humans are, unfortunately, a bit hardwired to remember mistakes, or things that maybe didn’t go as well as we hope (take a second to think of something you didn’t do well back in, say, middle school…. now try it with something you did well. Which was easier?).  This makes complete sense, since we need to remember something that might hurt us (don’t go over there, the tiger will eat you). Unfortunately, this ability generally ends up in us only remembering the negative experiences (like that one email I sent without proofing).  While yes, it is useful to remember the things NOT to do, it is even more important to remember all the things that go well.  While these memories are always great to think about, these snippets of positivity are a great counter to those times when we screw up.  They allow us to blunt the impact of the error, or even erase the emotional negativity entirely.

We’ve all been stuck in those downward spirals of “I screwed that up real bad”. Personally, I find it challenging to break out of these since everything feels like failure. I also find these states make it easier to keep screwing up (or at least I perceive it that way) since everything is already tinted poorly. Having a life-line of stored positive things is a great way to help pull myself out of those holes, or at least stop me from sinking deeper.

In Practice

Personally I take a two pronged approach to building up my stockpile. I create a folder on my desktop or in gDrive and I make an email label.  I’m sure there are other ways to keep track of these - printing off hard copies into a binder, setting up an auto-reminder every week with a random sample of a positive message, etc. I’ve found that these two options play into my laziness.

I use the label the most frequently since most of my work happens to be in email. Finding positive messages is as simple as clicking on “I Rock”.  It’s incredibly easy to add something I want to remember, and it makes for instant gratification when I search for it.  It is also really nice seeing EVERYTHING that pops up.  I get to both see the individual emails, but also the total, which has a huge impact on how I’m feeling.

I use the folder for screenshots or downloads of positivity. This might be a Slack message from someone thanking me for sometimes, or a bit of feedback from a performance management system I don’t want to lose.  I save everything with a short name and the date (“Thanks from integrations - 10 1 2019”) so I can figure out what It’s for, and I make sure the sender’s name is included in the screen cap so I remember who sent it. I tend to use whatever built-in screen-cap solution is available on my computer (again, laziness wins).

I do get the occasional laugh when I’m in meetings and someone spies my folder or label. This tends to kickoff a great discussion about what it is and why I have it (I’m surprised more folks don’t have a similar bucket to capture their awesomeness).  I get chuckle too, since it is a bit odd to keep these snippets, but I’ve caught a few of my coworkers adopting this approach.

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Performance Bump

While I mainly use these tools to help boost my mental-health they can help when performance reviews come around. Many places I’ve worked have had some kind of performance management system that is intended to capture feedback/kudos/etc as time goes on. Despite this, I find that many places do not have a culture that provides prompt feedback (or frequently any feedback at all).  While the intention behind these tools is to collect or send real-time feedback, they are seldomly used in practice.  This makes it especially frustrating when called out for doing something incorrectly (or, depending on the situation, “incorrectly”), while never getting called out for doing positive things.  It does take some effort to keep a personal list of the good feedback, I’ve found that in addition immensely useful when looking for a pick-me up it can help when being reviewed.

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You Rock

We all do great things on a regular basis, the challenge is recognizing them and remembering them later. These things don’t have to be big, they can be small wins, a quick thank you from a teammate, or something you feel you did well. The point to keep these artifacts of success readily at hand to help keep driving you upwards and onwards.

Know what to cut

When I was in 5th grade I remember a classmate telling me how excited he was that the teacher was cutting everyone’s lowest quiz score. I got excited because my lowest score was…. low, but I was entirely confused that he was dropping his lowest score, a 92%. To me that was a great grade, so why would he want to not keep it?

Now despite my younger-selfs math-related challenges I find the approach of dropping the things that are holding us back very beneficial. Not only do we better understand what we are doing every day, but we can also hone our skills and improve our outcomes. I’m not suggesting we simply stop answering tickets, or stop doing chores, but I am suggesting that can find creative ways to get rid of the work that holds us back from becoming something greater.

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What’s holding you back?

The first step is to figure out what, specifically, is keeping you stuck. This might be having to run a specific report, or manage a specific system, or deal with specific client group. I find it helpful to go through my calendar and emails and see what I would procrastinate on, or what I have a poor knee-jerk reaction to. That meeting on Tuesday mornings with auditors that I always dread? That one email from accounting I keep snoozing? Both great examples of things that maybe I could find a way to drop.

Just write down anything that falls into that bucket (I’m focusing mainly on work, but this can apply to anything), and, ideally, a quick reason WHY you’re putting it on The List. You don’t have to make The List all at once (I keep a rolling one going), so don’t feel like you need to cram in everything. The List may also change as time goes on. Maybe the guy in Accounting you don’t like working with leaves, or maybe you’re given the opportunity to improve the report that you hate running. Don’t think of this as being set-in-stone, but rather something that grows and changes with you.

Our example list:

Audit Report

Accounting Meeting

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Now What?

Once your List is up and running make time to better understand what about each item makes you want to cut it. This could be a one word reminder, or a longer description of why it’s holding you back, but the intention is to better understand both why and how its holding you back. In my math example it would be “A 92 is my lowest score, and it’s lowering my overall grade”. For running a report it might be “The audit report can be run by anyone and it takes 3 hours every week”. Understanding your knee-jerk response to the item will help you better understand what you can do to get rid of it later.

Unless we get REALLY lucky it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get rid of everything on The List, so after you understand WHY it’s bugging you, stack rank everything. I find it helpful to quantify things a big with the following dimensions, both are on a subjective 1-5 scale of 1 being low and 5 being high.

• Frequency - How frequently does this thing come up? Is it a standing weekly meeting, or only once a year?

• Annoyance - How much does this item bug me? Will I complain about it to my spouse daily, or only gripe about it to myself once in a while?

This makes it a bit easier to more “objectively” (in quotes since the scales are entirely subjective) determine which item should be jettisoned before others. Once I’ve rated everything I just add the scores together and look for the highest number.

Our updated list:

Item	Frequency	Annoyance	Total
Audit Report	5	2	7
Accounting Mtg	3	5	8

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And Then?….

Now comes the tricky part. We’ve done the work of figuring out what we want to get rid of, and in what order… now we have to actually get rid of it. Exactly how this happens depends a lot on your environment, what is available at the time and your company’s culture. Some of my favorites:

Shift the work to a more junior co-worker

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. This can hold true for work as well. Many times a task that I find boring or mundane is something a more junior co-worker will jump on. Instead of being an onerous task I have to deal with, it morphs into a coaching opportunity that helps upskill my team. This is beneficial to me, since I both get rid of the task, beneficial to my teammate who gets exposure to something new, and beneficial to the greater team since skills are being improved overall.

Automate the task

While this doesn’t work in all cases (e.g. meetings), this is one of my favorites. Many tasks, especially those in a tech environment, can be automated away. In addition to getting rid of the work, I find this a fun technical exercise, almost like a mini-project. In the past I’ve done things like automating reports, auto-forwarded emails, written google scripts to automate badging into classes, and tapped into APIs to grab workday data. Any given solution will be unique (which is half the fun), but I really enjoy this approach since I both get to remove work from my plate, and explore new methods of automating stuff.

Delete the work

In some (usually rare) cases, the task can simply be deleted. I’ve found this to be true with some reports, especially ones that are more historic, as well as some access-related tasks (simply stop sending it or remove access and see what happens). You need to be careful with this particular approach, however, since the thing you delete might actually be needed. To help curb this instead of outright deleting something I tend to disable or hide it for a while. If no one notices after a month or two I’ll straight up remove it.

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I was told there would be no math

While this exercise does take time, it is incredibly helpful, even if you can’t actually get rid of anything immediately. A better understanding of what you want to get rid of will help you start to find ways of improving. You’ll also get a list of things you can talk to your team or manager about, which may lead to some interesting solutions (maybe other folks have the same things on their List, or have creative ways of dealing with it). It helps me to remember that when I’m looking over what I do. At the very least I’ll get a better understanding of my work, at best I’ll be able to better focus on what is really important.

Make it work

About half way to the store the other day one of my slippers (the right one) decided it had enough and tried to kill me (unsuccessfully).  Stranded, I was left with little option on how to finish my grocery run - I certainly didn’t want to walk half-bare-foot back home, get shoes, and go back… but I also didn’t want to walk half-bare-foot to the store and back.

Instead of losing my cool, I took a moment to assess what I had, examine options and weigh risks. Looking around I found a piece of twine, and figured I could jerry-rig a fix that would hold for one last store run. I took a few moments to tie it through the hole in my slipper, put it back on, and finished out my chores.

Very frequently I find myself in similar positions at work - something breaks (frequently at the last possible second on some Really Important Thing), and I’m asked to help fix things. When it does, I take the same approach as I did with my slipper:

• Step back and breath

• Look around

• Examine Options & weigh risks

• Execute

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Step back and breathe

It’s really common for adrenaline to spike when something goes wrong. I tend to feel this as a quick pulse of energy and the jitters, and it can make it harder to make good decisions. Luckily almost nothing I do in tech (hopefully the vast majority of us in tech) has life-or-death consequences in the next few minutes (hopefully not ever!), so I can take the time breathe and calm down (or calm down my partner). This allows me to figure out what the problem actually is, and to help set me up for success in the next steps.

In the case of my poor slipper - This took the form of recovering my balance, kneeling down and taking a few breaths (and hope no one saw my inelegant stumbling).

In the case of a system - This takes the form of taken a few breaths and remembering the world isn’t ending (assuming you’re not a missile command officer). This includes helping your partners, who are likely feeling a lot of heat, take a breath and get perspective.

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Look around

Once I calm down a bit, I look a round and see whats REALLY going on. Many times I get reports that XYZ system is entirely offline, or that ALL users are having a problem. Now why these things are certainly possible, it would require a large system failure (which are hopefully very unlikely!). Due to the less-than-likely nature of these problems I take the time to quickly investigate. I keep a list of everything I see, including items that are working properly, so I can make the best assessment possible.

It can certainly be hard to do this, especially if your partner teams are screaming that everything is broken and the company’s going under (it’s not). You should always ask for as much information as they can provide (e.g. screenshots, what error message, how many reports, etc), but if they do come at you in a panic, help them take a breath (step #1). Having a calm business partner will effectively give you two (or more) sets of eyes, making it easier to isolate the real challenge.

In the case of my slipper - I dug through my backpack and looked around on the ground for anything that might help.

In the case of systems

• Can you open the website that is “entirely down”?

• Can you find any examples that contradict the reports? e.g. if ALL paychecks are wrong, can you find any that are?

• Can you replicate the problem? if not, can you connect directly with who experienced it?

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Examine Options & Weigh Risks

Taking the time to look around and really see what’s going on helps set up some options. You’ll get a good feel for what resources there are, who’s around, and (if you’re lucky) that cause of whatever happened. These options may be good, or they may be terrible, but the important thing is to sit down and list them out. Even better, if you have some team members around enlist their help. Their differing experience and outlook can help find solutions you cannot currently see.

While you’re listing out possible solutions, also take time to consider the risks to those options. Yes, a manual adjustment may fix things, but what down stream impacts are there? Sure, having a partner team in Japan do something while you’re asleep might help, but will they have enough context/info to execute? This process may also help uncover other options, or help other ideas shake out of your overall process.

In the case of my slipper - I dug through my backpack for anything that could help (sadly no extra shoes), and looked around on the ground for string or something similar. Another option would be to call an Uber.

In the case of systems:

• Are there other teams / individuals who can help shoulder the load temporarily?

  • Do they have enough info to be truly helpful?

• Is there a manual workaround that can be used until the problem is fixed?

  • What problems can come up if it is used?

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Execute

Once you’ve determined what options are available it’s time to act. Depending on the situation execution can result in a lot of fast movement, or single simple change. For me this is the most nerve-wrecking part, but since you’ve already taken the time to determine your options and risks just stick to the plan! That said, remember that no plan survives contact with the enemy, so you may need to quickly adjust or modify pieces of it. This can require rapid iterations of the plan, so ensure your partners know what’s going on and make it happen.

In the case of my slipper - I tied the twine through the hole in my slipper and made two loops. It was awkward, and I had to stop every so often to adjust, but it worked!

In the case of systems - Every situation is different, but this can take the form of building reports to monitor progress, double checking UATs, and (always!) over-communicating how things are going with stakeholders.

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Making it happen

These short-cycle situations are always nerve-wrecking. Someone is usually very animated and likely putting pressure on you to get things done. Even though it takes a bit longer, this approach will not only help get better results, it will show your partners you know what to do. Over time this helps build trust, and will make everyone’s lives a little bit better.

Getting into tech

Many people I speak to who aren’t “in tech” express a desire to be “in tech”. There seems to be a certain glamour surrounding being 'in tech', that being able to say you're 'in tech’ is a Good Thing. I always get a kick out of this since being 'in tech' can mean many thing (also the reason I use the quotes for 'in tech’). Do you want to become a product manager? A programmer? Network Engineer? There’s a huge range of opportunities “in tech”, the trick (after determining you want to make a switch) is to pick which branch you want to look into.

Once you do though, be open to a change of pace/leveling/etc. Depending on your background you may essentially be starting from scratch, so make sure you’re OK with a more junior position than you have now (not saying it’s guaranteed, just be prepared!). Once you’re OK with all that there’s a whole lot more work to do!

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What do you mean by tech?

When we think of tech most of us tend to think of a programmer locked in her basement making the Next Big Thing. While I feel this stereotype is damaging to programmers (sometimes they’re locked in their bedrooms), it certainly isn’t the only kind of technical role a company requires. Indeed, the types of technical roles available will vary based on industry. Laboratory technicians are likely not needed at a financial firm, and programmers are less likely to be found in factories.

Have an honest discussion with yourself about what you mean when you say you want to get into a technical role. Reach out to folks you know on LinkedIn who you are in a similar field to see what they think, and grab time with trusted friends/mentors/role models to talk through your thoughts. This will help you better target a good role, and, more importantly, better understand where your thoughts are coming from.

To go with the stereotype, if you’re thinking of becoming a Software Engineer (coder), it is a very available skill (throw a digital rock online and you’ll hit a dozen code academies). It still, however, takes time, discipline and a lot of elbow-grease to pick up (especially at any level that will result in a job at a big company). That said, there are many other technical roles available (by no means an exhaustive list!):

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Technical Project Management

This role blends technical knowledge with project management. Technical Project Managers (TPMs) are essentially project managers for tech. Unlike a “non technical' Project Manager (PM), TPMs tend to require a deeper understanding of the systems or concepts they have manage. For example, a TPM implementing a new SQL database would highly benefit from understanding basic SQL commands, server requirements etc. They also serve as translators between the technical teams and the business partner they’re working with.

Good For - People with project management experience, individuals who want to be around tech without necessarily being IN tech.

Less good for - Wanting to get hands-on with tech. TPMs tend to work tightly with tech teams, but are not generally doing the technical work directly.

Quality Testing

Quality Testers (also called Quality Assurance) are responsible for ensuring products don’t get released with bugs or defects. Frequently this involves developing and executing test plans (which can be incredibly tedious!) that run through every combination of actions or inputs. While they work with software engineering teams they generally do not need the same depth of expertise in coding. They can, however, work on/write testing scripts to help automate the more boring parts of the role.

Good for - Folks who want to get hands-on with tech and do not have an in-depth background

Less good for - Folks who cannot handle monotony. Imagine having to look at the same website for a week and clicking each link repeatedly.

Sales engineering

Sales Engineers work with (you guessed it) sales teams to help sell products. Generally they’re brought in to help demonstrate specific use-cases, features or to find new ways to demonstrate how a product works. Not necessarily a role you’ll find at a smaller company, but larger ones (e..g Salesforce) will certainly have these folks around. Most of the time they know what they’re walking into on a call, but depending on how things go they may have to apply some quick-thinking trouble shooting if an unexpected question comes up.

Good for - Someone with sales experience and interested in working with multiple client groups

Less good for - Someone who doesn’t like sales, or someone or who wants to work with the same customer (internal or otherwise) over longer periods of time.

Data Analyst

Data analysts analyze data (shock!). Contrary to popularly held beliefs there is a huge amount of knowledge needed to be a good Analyst (not just how to use Excel). Fortunately the skills are readily available online and at schools. I personally find this discipline fascinating since it allows us to put order to data and help others draw conclusions from that. Data Analysts almost always need to learn some type of coding language in order to pull and manipulate data (e.g. SQL).

Good for - Someone good at finding and explaining patterns, or good at translating raw data into actionable insights.

Less good for - Folks who don’t like numbers, or folks who don’t like presenting insights to groups.

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Taking the plunge

Once you’ve got a rough idea of what flavor of tech you’re interested in go learn more about it. See if your company has someone who has that role (or a similar one). Ask your friends if they know anyone who’d be willing to chat about it. Take the time to come up with some questions to ask everyone you speak with. This will not only make the best use of your time, but help you get a better handle on WHY you want to get into tech.

While you’re lining up folk to talk to take a look at job postings for the types of jobs you’re interested in. This will help give you a good feel of what types of things company’s look for. For me this really helped line up supplemental training/education (the whole experience vs. training question is out there, but more knowledge never hurts!).

One other thing you can do is look into volunteer opportunities. Many NPOs and community organizations are looking for help and have some interesting projects. At the very least these will help you better understand what you’re getting into and help focus your thinking. Also, they tend to not require 100% of your time, allowing you to stay at your “real” job while you feel things out.

Above all keep a good eye on WHY you want change, and while it may not happen overnight, eventually you’ll find a spot that makes the best sense for you.

YOU are the expert now

One of the first big IT projects I ever worked on was updating and replacing an ERP system called IFS. At the start of the project I was just an IT help desk tech (the guy who replaces your monitor or installs a printer). I was asked if I wanted to become the IFS Project Management Module expert, to which I readily said “sure, that sounds fun” (not to mention more interesting than installing printers).

Problem was I didn’t know anything about IFS…. or about Project Management….

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I’m the expert?…

I have a two-pronged approach to solving challenges like this. The first is to have faith in others. In this case my job would involve traveling to multiple sites and standing in front of a room of professional Project Managers as the IFS Project Management expert, despite knowing basically nothing about either. The enormity of this (and the rather large knowledge gaps!) required me to have faith in my manager (who clearly thought I could handle things), my team (who supported me immensely) and myself (who learned to step up)… and this helped me not panic.

The second prong I use is to have faith in my myself. We’re all aware of our own capabilities, as well as our own limitations (be honest with yourself on these!). Once I really understand the challenge, I can map out possible gaps and determine solutions to those… generally this requires learning more about various topics (in this case IFS fundamentals and project management concepts) and boils down to doing my homework.

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Don’t Panic - aka Have Faith in Others

Trusting those around you is hard. It requires giving up some amount of control and allowing others to dictate some aspects of your life. In most situations, I have enough faith and trust in the people I work with to make the best possible decisions for me in situations like these. This is doubly so once I have a working relationship with them and understand more about how they work.

When asked to take on incredible challenging , generally unknown, requests, I always remind myself that I wouldn’t be asked to do it if someone didn’t think I was capable. In most cases the person asking has more experience in the area than I do, further giving me confidence that I can do the thing (otherwise why would they ask?).

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Do Your Homework - aka Have Faith in Yourself

Having faith in others is great, but it’s not enough. In order to succeed at this big asks, you also have to have faith in yourself. This includes faith in your abilities, but also in your potential. Over the years I’ve come to enjoy trusting in that potential since it has allowed me to flex and grow in ways I would not have without that opportunity.

For me, this frequently takes the form of (literal) homework. I’ve found myself enrolled in community college courses, teaching data analytics courses (teaching is a great way to help reinforce and learn new skills), reading stacks of books, and getting lost in the guts of a new system (one of the best ways to learn them, but always be sure you have a sandbox!). Since I also had a job, all of that had to be done on my “free” time.

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I am the expert

It takes time, but eventually you’ll begin to accept these opportunities as pathways to growth instead of something to fear. For me the cycle of insane ask, not freaking out, working the problem and growing has become somewhat of an addiction. Not only have I built technical skills, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some very smart people (and made some great friends).

If we’re not being pushed by ourselves or others, we’re not growing, so grab every opportunity you can and enjoy the ride.