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Isn’t it neat that there are so many ways to get great content from many sites automatically? I love the efficiency of the web.
Some backstory. Like many other bloggers, I previously used Feedburner to manage my RSS feed. Service has been shaky and rumors of its demise have been rampant. (See these posts by Schmutzie and Cecily for more context.) I’ve opted to stay with WordPress’ built-in RSS feed rather than move to a paid service for now. If I decide I want more data about my feed (everyone loves stats right?), I may move it again, but for now, this is where it’s staying.
I’d love to tell you that I’ve been having crazy awesome adventures and that’s why I haven’t written here in the last six weeks. While we had a good summer, it hasn’t been anything extraordinary. No big trips, no life-changing events. Just an ordinary life. And that’s okay.
No big stories, just lots of little ones.
Family life is so routine-based that anything new feels weird and hard. Then we adapt and the change becomes normal.
I’m in the headspace where I’ve got so much to say, but I’m not sure how to articulate it. I have loads of ideas jumbled together in my head and no time to figure them out. Then when the time does show up, I waste it by trying to get everything perfect to Express That Thought. By the time I get my act together, the thought is gone and I’m left disappointed in myself and full of doubt.
I can do better than this. I need to reset my routine too. What do you do when you feel like this?
I snapped this picture this morning on my way to Warden subway station. In case you can’t read it, the graffiti says “All TTC Workers Suck Ass”.
(For folks who don’t live in Toronto, the TTC is the Toronto Transit Commission. They operate our public transit system.)
This makes me angry for lots of reasons but here are two:
1) All TTC workers *do not* suck ass. Most TTC workers I’ve dealt with are good folks. You get what you give so the Golden Rule is a good rule to live by.
2) It’s demoralizing for both TTC employees and riders. When people are demoralized, they don’t do their best work. This applies to TTC riders just as much as TTC employees.
I hope this gets cleaned up soon.
I snapped this picture this morning on my way to Warden subway station. In case you can’t read it, the graffiti says “All TTC Workers Suck Ass”.
(For folks who don’t live in Toronto, the TTC is the Toronto Transit Commission. They operate our public transit system.)
This makes me angry for lots of reasons but here are two:
1) All TTC workers *do not* suck ass. Most TTC workers I’ve dealt with are good folks. You get what you give so the Golden Rule is a good rule to live by.
2) It’s demoralizing for both TTC employees and riders. When people are demoralized, they don’t do their best work. This applies to TTC riders just as much as TTC employees.
I hope this gets cleaned up soon.
Update: On my way to work this morning (January 5th), I saw that this graffiti was gone. The window looked to be badly scratched up due to the cleaner, which is an unfortunate, but understandable side effect. I hope that doesn’t block people’s view of the buses too much, especially when the weather gets worse.
Sean went out last night. After I put Flora to bed, I had the evening to myself. There were a million things I could have done. Should have done. Instead I sat in my chair, had my dinner, watched TV, and played around online. A typical evening, productivity be damned.
I feel like I’m barely holding on to my life. Most nights after Flora goes to bed, I just want to sit and relax. Those few hours after her bedtime and before mine are the only hours I have complete control over my time. The only time in my day where no one wants anything significant from me.
My house looks like a bomb went off most of the time. Since we’re considering selling it in the next few months, I feel worse about the state of my home than I usually do. Sean has started decluttering his stuff (something he’s needed to do for years) and has begun organizing some general repairs we’ve been putting off. I’ve packed my books for storage in my mum’s basement but I’m having a hard time keeping up momentum to work through my decluttering.
There’s just so much to do. Going through our life’s accumulations to decide what comes with us and what gets passed on. Getting rid of enough stuff to make a trip to my local second-time-around shop worth the effort of packing it. I joke sometimes that I should just set the house on fire (with everyone out of it and safe of course). I know that is a horrible, irresponsible, hateful idea, but sometimes disaster feels better than actually doing the work.
Sean is the catalyst of this project. I am grateful that he doesn’t go into overwhelm like I do, but his methods are making me crazy. He has several half-finished decluttering jobs in progress throughout the house. I can’t work like that. I need to make a list, prioritize it and check the tasks off as I complete them one by one. The problem is I feel too overwhelmed to even make that list. My mental list is somewhat formulated, but I need to commit it to paper (or screen) so I can get the satisfaction of checking those tasks off when they are done.
My mum (bless her) has offered to come up and help us. It embarrasses me that I need that help. I know if I did a little bit each night, I’d make progress. I’m just so depleted by 8pm that I need to just decompress for a bit. Then when I’m finally relaxed, I don’t want to get up and start working again. I want to keep relaxing.
I need to figure something out because stuff needs to get done. What do you do?
This video features Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook talking about “why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions — and offers 3 powerful pieces of advice to women aiming for the C-suite”. (Quote taken from TED page.)
You should take the time to watch this whether you’re a woman who works “outside the home”, if you’re home with your family, or if you’re somewhere in between. It’s about fifteen minutes in length.
This video really resonated with me. The three points she talks about are really good career (and life) advice for women at any stage in their career.
It seems that in some circles, there are training programs, mentors and coaching to women (and men) who are on their way up in the business world. These are good things.
What I’d like to know: where are the programs for people (women and men) who are high performers, but not quite management material. The ones who aren’t ready, or (heaven forbid!) don’t have the desire to be in management but want to be high-level individual contributors. What about the people who don’t realize that they would be great business leaders because they are too busy handling their regular job? And because their company is stretched so tight, the powers that be can’t let that high performer stretch beyond their role because they need someone to turn that cog or push that pixel.
How do we develop those people so they feel like they could even climb the next step of that ever-lengthening ladder? Or is the only option that we develop those people so they eventually move into jobs at other companies as the current company simply cannot see that person outside of their current role? How can those high performers help themselves move forward, if being a high performer isn’t enough?
Sorry, I’m getting a little off-topic here.
Another facet of this presentation that impressed me was that Ms Sandberg admitted that she didn’t know the answers and that she was struggling with a lot of the same issues. As a person who has worked as a high-level executive at both Facebook and Google (among other places), I wrongly assumed that she was childless. That she had to sacrifice her personal life to achieve professional success. When she spoke about her children, it reminded me that all parents have the same problems balancing their family, professional and personal lives no matter what their title and salary are. (EDIT: It bothers me that I made that assumption – that the only way to get to the top at work is to sacrifice the rest of your life to your job. It’s unfair to the people at the top and sets unrealistic expectations for those at the bottom.)
I believe a lot of things about the modern workplace are wrong. I’m very intrigued by the ROWE concept. What I’m not sure of is how to fix the workplace to ensure that more people are engaged in their work and producing great things for their companies. I believe that taking the time to think about the points Ms Sandberg makes: staying at the table, owning your success and not checking out before you leave will make me – and anyone else – a happier worker. That will lead to higher engagement and productivity. That benefits company and worker alike.
