Work ON Your Life
Published in November 2019 by Don Anderson @ Legato
All of us work IN our lives managing interests, talents, creativity, charity, parenthood and much, much more. On the other hand, we often hesitate to work ON our lives. Important decisions are delayed as we get caught up in the daily grind of short-run responsibilities. What would it look like if each of us spent more time planning, say, in a helicopter up over our lives, instead of just running up the next hill?
"You can design anything now," says Gautam Lohia, co-founder of the Vancouver-based design firm Apply Digital. "Everything you need is readily available - skills, technology, funding, assistance and more. It's now just up to you".
What do you want to accomplish in the near term in order to shape a better future?
There is an anecdote that says if you change the direction of a ship even one degree where it ends up over the course of hundreds of kilometres will be vastly different than if it just stayed on its current course. Are there small changes you can make now that could have a big impact later in life?
More than a decade ago, a tech startup introduced a motherboard the size of your index finger. The first version resembled a stick of gum, which naturally led to the company name: Gumstix.
By integrating this new technology, an engineer no longer needed to deal with the complexity of designing and testing a custom motherboard for their prototype. The simplified process shortened the development time and lowered the cost of each new solution by a wide margin.
Many of the initial reactions were negative because they resisted change. By contrast, a consulting company saw the potential and grew their company from 25 engineers to 350 in just three years by bidding with Gumstix. By accepting the new innovation and taking action, the leaders of that firm built a highly successful enterprise.
Frank Partnoy, author of Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, argues that by putting off decisions to the last possible second there’s more time available to gather information, analyze and strategize. This belief is that the strategy of delaying final action ensures that the whole decision-making process always works to one’s best advantage. But is that really true?
It's natural to work in our lives rather than taking a relatively small amount of time to work on them, especially when planning the future for ourselves, our business and our families. Most of us would have to plead guilty to letting some key decisions slip.
Few people plan well and look ahead to set their priorities on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. Do you?
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward." - Amelia Earhart. American aviation pioneer.
Take the time to act. You can do anything that you decide to do. We can help you change and take control of your life.
Don
"You can design anything now," says Gautam Lohia, co-founder of the Vancouver-based design firm Apply Digital. "Everything you need is readily available - skills, technology, funding, assistance and more. It's now just up to you".
What do you want to accomplish in the near term in order to shape a better future?
There is an anecdote that says if you change the direction of a ship even one degree where it ends up over the course of hundreds of kilometres will be vastly different than if it just stayed on its current course. Are there small changes you can make now that could have a big impact later in life?
More than a decade ago, a tech startup introduced a motherboard the size of your index finger. The first version resembled a stick of gum, which naturally led to the company name: Gumstix.
By integrating this new technology, an engineer no longer needed to deal with the complexity of designing and testing a custom motherboard for their prototype. The simplified process shortened the development time and lowered the cost of each new solution by a wide margin.
Many of the initial reactions were negative because they resisted change. By contrast, a consulting company saw the potential and grew their company from 25 engineers to 350 in just three years by bidding with Gumstix. By accepting the new innovation and taking action, the leaders of that firm built a highly successful enterprise.
Frank Partnoy, author of Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, argues that by putting off decisions to the last possible second there’s more time available to gather information, analyze and strategize. This belief is that the strategy of delaying final action ensures that the whole decision-making process always works to one’s best advantage. But is that really true?
It's natural to work in our lives rather than taking a relatively small amount of time to work on them, especially when planning the future for ourselves, our business and our families. Most of us would have to plead guilty to letting some key decisions slip.
Few people plan well and look ahead to set their priorities on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. Do you?
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward." - Amelia Earhart. American aviation pioneer.
Take the time to act. You can do anything that you decide to do. We can help you change and take control of your life.
Don