I had a 1966 Ford Mustang fastback in college. The car was in need of quite a bit of work, but I loved that car. And I could do minor maintenance if needed. Here’s a picture of a 1962 Ford Falcon, but the straight six engine was essentially the same for the Falcon and the Mustang.
(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
See those red wires? Those are spark plug ignition wires. They connect to a distributor and they deliver a spark to the spark plugs that are directly below them. Spark plugs, like any part of a car, get old and need to occasionally be replaced. Replacing the spark plugs in my old Mustang was about a 30 minute job.
My Mustang took a one-way trip to California a long time ago.
Today I drive a 1996 Lexus ES300. It also has a six cylinder engine. Last week the engine started running rough and my mechanic/neighbor suggested we start by replacing the spark plugs. The car has 250,000 miles and who knows when the spark plugs were last replaced.
When I went to buy the new plugs the guy at the parts store said that they range in price from $4.99 to $25.99. That’ s per plug. I bought plugs that were about $7.00 each. $42.00 in parts. We decided the wires were probably okay.
I checked to see how much it would cost to have this work done at a Lexus dealership. According to repairpal.com the cost to replace spark plugs on a Lexus is $108 – $674.
That’s outrageous, you might say. Less than fifty bucks in parts and up to 20 times that much in labor? No thanks, we’ll do it ourselves!
Saturday we decided to replace the plugs. I did the front three. Here’s a picture of where the front three spark plugs are in the Lexus.
The spark plugs are underneath those little black boxes. Well, the front three. . .also known as “the easy three.” I did it myself and it took about 15 minutes. But, this is a six cylinder car. Where are the other three? They are right here.
Well, you have to take off the air filter. . .and loosen the wiring harness. . .and remove the exhaust manifold . . .and remove the throttle. . .and unhook a whole bunch of hoses. My neighbor’s 21 year old son is a very good mechanic. It took him from noon until 7:00PM. He tore the engine apart just to get access to the spark plugs.
In fairness the 7 hours included replacing the rear valve cover gasket because no way we want to pull this apart again just for the valve cover gasket.
What’s my point?
It shouldn’t be this hard. Back in college, my old ’66 Mustang had plenty of room. My Lexus engine compartment is so full of computers and chips and sensors that doing nearly anything is difficult.
I started working in computers and IT around the same time I had that old ’66 fastback. And I got my first job in computers because I could type. (Back Where It All Began.) Seriously, in 1988 that was one of the defining job skills to be a WordPerfect Support Operator.
During training on WordPerfect 4.2 word processor we had to download soft fonts to a laser printer. If you are younger than about 35, you have probably never even heard of this task, let alone attempted it. But, the fact is that way back in the dawn of the PC computer age, there was no Windows, there was no internet, there was no remote assistance where the support person watches your screen.
And if you wanted cool proportional fonts, you had to download the fonts yourself. You might ask, with there being no internet where were you downloading them from? They actually shipped with the WordPerfect product. The process was long and complicated and if you missed a single step you had to start all over. It was a bit of a “final exam” for our training.
A few months after I started, WordPerfect 5.0 was released. The big deal with WP 5.0 was WYSIWYG (wizzee wig), or “What You See Is What You Get.” You could actually see on the screen what the printed document was going to look like.
I know some of you are laughing at us grandpa folks, but it was very cutting edge in 1990. One other thing that WP 5.0 introduced was a better printer feature. The program was able to automatically download soft fonts to a laser printer as needed. The entire agonizing process that we had committed to memory a few short months earlier was nwo obsolete.
And from what I can see, that’s the difference between working on cars and computers. With cars, simple tasks have become increasingly complex. Many of my friends don’t even attempt to do any work on their own cars anymore. And if I didn’t have my neighbors, I wouldn’t either.
Computers on the other hand, get less complicated to work on. More of the hard parts are automated and moved away from the user. That’s why today, we can have a product as advanced as the iPad ship with no documentation. Apple expects you to open it and start using it. And you can.
To Program Managers and developers, remember that the goal should be to increase features while decreasing complexity.
If only the cars guys could figure that out.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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My neighbor has beautiful mature maple trees. This is a picture of one of them. My maple trees, by comparison are tiny. They are basically big twigs sticking out of the ground. True, his are about 6 years older than mine. Hopefully mine will look this nice in a few years.
However, my neighbor has a problem with his trees, this one in particular. It’s currently December. All the other trees have long since dropped their leaves. The leaves have been raked and turned into mulch in the garden, or escaped on a gust of wind to make their way across Utah’s desert landscape.
But, this tree stands alone. It has refused to give up its leaves. It continues to hold on even through the first snow and a series of below freezing nights. Noble? Heroic? Or pathetic and sad?
I once worked for Microsoft. It was a long time ago and I was young. I had some great jobs. I was a corporate trainer for years, a job I loved. I worked for two of the greatest leaders I had ever known. But, I also had some terrible positions and managers. And that’s what got me fired.
I was in a position that didn’t fit. I should have walked away. But, I was convinced that if I just hung on for a few more months, if I worked a little harder, I could make it work. I was wrong. In the words of James Collins, author of Good To Great, I was in the wrong seat on the bus. I should have walked away. I didn’t. And then I got fired. Over a decade later it still makes me cringe.
I held on too long. Because since it was the wrong position, I wasn’t going to make it anyway. Had I walked away, I would have set myself up better for my next job.
“I wanted to try something new” is a much better explanation than, “I got shown the door.”
We all have things in our life that we hang on to for too long. A job? A relationship? Cheese?
My neighbor is kind of annoyed about his tree, although in fairness it does this every year. As you can see he’s got quite the Christmas light setup. The tree is blocking the Christmas lights. When we hold on for too long it prevents us from making the necessary changes to move on.
We’re stuck. And that’s kind of sad.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Clint, you’re a comic, right?
Yeah.
Tell us a joke.
What do you do?
I’m a carpenter.
Build me a chair
I have a lot of friends that are comics and comedians. This request annoys them. Most of them work very hard at their craft. Stand up comedy is the one of the few professions where the only way to practice is to get in front of a live audience. It’s why big name comics, the guys we call headliners still go to clubs. Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, even Conan O’Brian will hit the clubs to work on new material. The late, great Robin Williams would show up at clubs unannounced. (Robin was known as a joke stealer, so you always wanted to be careful what material you used.
So, why should a comic be annoyed when someone asks for a joke?
The same reason any professional is frustrated with people wanting free services. I have many friends who are editors. I wouldn’t ask them but many aquantences will ask them,
Hey, could you just take a look at this thing I wrote and tell me what you think?
That’s what an editor gets paid to do. Don’t ask them to do it for free.
I have lawyer friends who struggle with the same thing. Everyone wants free law advice, when often all a lawyer has to sell if her advice.
My family members were CPAs. I haven’t done my own taxes since the 20th Century. Am I a hypocrite because I get my brother to do my taxes? I don’t think so. I have at times when I lived closer, been his technical support. I have access to less expensive copies of software. (Yes, they’re legal. But, when you’ve been in the industry as long as I have, you learn how to get into discount programs.) We never keep track of how much the favors we do for each other cost. But, I’m guessing I did better on the deal.
But, that’s the thing. It’s a mutual agreement. I don’t help all my family with software, and my brother doesn’t do all family taxes for free.
Back to our comedian friends, a comic on stage is working. When you approach him on at a party or on the street and say, “Tell me a joke,” you are really asking him to go back to work . . .for you. . .for free. If you are a family member, or a close friend, maybe he’s fine with that. But, if you’re just someone he met at a social gathering, you probably aren’t going to get a joke.
We deal with a similar issue in IT. I used to hear it when I worked for Microsoft.
You work for Microsoft? Really? Awesome. Hey, I’ve had this problem with Windows can I tell you about it and see if you know what’s wrong?
No, please just shoot me instead.
Again, friends? Family? You’ll get a different response. But, for other people try rebooting with out saving your data. Dogbert Technical Support suggests that one all the time.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Like a lot of people, I worry about not getting enough done. My TODO list gets longer not shorter. Having ADHD, I’m a big fan of lists. They help me stay focused. A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was working on some new things. Here are are a few. They aren’t monumental change-the-world type actions.
But, they are sort of change-MY-world actions.
What I’m reading
My American Journey by Colin Powell. This was a gift from my mother. She met General Powell a few years ago and got an autographed copy of his book. I collect autographed books and I’m a big fan of Powell. I wish he would have run for president. I think he would have pulled the country together in a way that few others could. I don’t have as much time to read as I would like, but I get to it when I can. Unfortunately, at 600+ pages it’s really too big to take on a plane.
Look for a book review when I’m done.
What I’m listening to
The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey
I’m continuing my books on CD habit. I tried to read this book in paperback several times and couldn’t get into it. I’m about 3 hours into a 13 hour audio version narrated by Covey. I should be done in the next week.
Look for a review of this on Christmas day.
What I’m writing
Of course, I’m still writing here every day M-F. I’m also writing a column for Timpanogos Times, our local paper.
In addition, I’m starting to write articles. There will be in the next edition about our local state representative Brian Greene. I did about a two hour interview. That should appear in January’s edition.
I’m also regularly writing and giving speeches to my Toastmasters club. Next week on Tuesday I have a 20-40 minute seminar on my 16 Management Rules that Make No Sense. I’m about 1/3 of the way through creating the materials.
What I’m studying
A+ Certification exam
This is part of my continuing education. I’m taking a class through Western Governors University. The IT Foundations class uses the A+ Cert as both it’s content and it’s exam. Later today I sit down and take the exam. I’ve done well on the practice exams. It’s been fun to learn more about computer hardware, an area I never really had a good grasp of.
I’ll be taking classes continuously for the next couple of years.
What I’m watching
We don’t have TV at my house.
Not satellite.
Not cable.
Not local channels.
Not Netflix.
Not Hulu.
We have thousands of DVD’s and videos, but my kids are completely ignorant of modern TV shows. So, I’m not watching much of anything.
So why am I not getting more done?
That’s the question I ask myself. And then I create a list like this and realize that while I might not be accomplishing as many of my goals as I want, I’m making really good time. Activity doesn’t always equate to progress and I constantly check myself to make sure I’m not just being busy for busy sake.
So, what are you reading?
What are you studying?
What are you watching?
Listening to?
Writing?
I would imagine that I’m not particularly unique in my activity level, although I may be able to articulate it more clearly.
What are y’all up to?
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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I can’t tell you where I was.
I can’t tell you who I was with.
I can’t even tell you how many security gates I had to go through to get there.
But, the place was AWESOME.
Sometime in the my travels over the past months, I got a chance to peek inside one of the largest data centers in the world. More than a peek, really. I got to stroll the halls and wander from building to building. I’ve been in computers my entire career. I’ve worked for Microsoft, WordPerfect, and a large non-profit that spanned the globe. I’m kind of jaded.
I was awed.
I’m going to take you on a mini tour and explain why I felt like I was walking through someone else’s brain. First, I have to blindfold you, put you on an airplane to an undisclosed location, bundled you into a waiting SUV with the windows blacked out, and drive you to a non descript building that looks like a big warehouse with a fence around it.
And that’s where our tour will end, since we didn’t send your name in a day ahead of time. But, you can ride with me.
I was struck by the fact that I didn’t see another person until I had been through 3 security gates. The first was to get into the parking lot. I had to speak to an unseen security guard. She was unseen to me, I’m sure that she had a great view of me, my car and my license plate number before I even pressed the intercom.
After verifying that I was on the list, a gate lifted and I drove over spikes that were designed to shred my tires if I backed up. From the parking lot, there was a metal turnstile to get to the sidewalk. Another buzz on the intercom. Another verification that I was the same guy who drove in.
Then, a man-trap to enter the building.
A man-trap is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a sort of trap for people. If you’ve ever had to buzz through two doors, that area after the first door, but before the second is a man-trap. It prevents anyone from tailgating in behind you.
Once in the lobby I finally got to see another person. She was behind bulletproof glass. I passed in my ID and she passed me back a security badge.
ESCORT REQUIRED
I might be an invited guest, but I wasn’t going to be allowed to wander around and check the medicine cabinets and closets unattended.
Through another security door and I met my guide. He’s also my friend. That’s how I got this tour. They don’t open these rides up to the public. Let’s call my friend Fred.
Fred took us, (another person who actually worked for the company had joined the tour) and we got to go see the data center. There were many more security gates before we got to the good stuff.
Finally, we were in a broad hallway with 15 foot ceilings, a concrete floor and every 60 feet or so a locked door with a badge reader and an iris scanner. Fred would stare into the light until the computer was sure that his eyeballs were allowed in. Then, he would badge in and open the door. As we entered the room an alarm sounded for the second and third person. Anti-tailgating devices.
The rooms were equipped with sensors that counted how many people came in. Only one badged in so the other two set of alarms. Fred explained what would normally happen
This alarm is ringing in security. Normally, they would send a guard to investigate, but they know we are doing a tour so they’ll ignore it.
Here’s where the brain mapping comes in. The room we were standing in was 25,000 square feet. I cannot even imagine how many racked computers it had. This was only one of many rooms that supported the work this company did. Millions of transaction per second. Xenobytes or Zettabytes worth of data. They had rooms devoted just to the databases. Other rooms dedicated to just the web servers. Still other rooms devoted just to the network switching.
It reminded me of a huge brain, with memories stored in parts, and neurons shooting back and forth at blazing speed. I pictured the crew of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek when they beamed to the Borg ship. The Borg didn’t see them as threats, so they simply walked around. It had that feel to it.
Interior Borg Cube
But, what was really fascinating was when Fred started to explain the innovations and cutting edge technology they were using. There are parts that I barely understood let alone could remember, but a couple of things stuck out.
First was the color of their server racks. You probably don’t give much thought to what color a computer is. I’ve worked in data centers and some of the coolest hardware comes in futuristic looking black cabinets. But, the racks that the servers actually get bolted to are normally black or grey. At Fred’s company they were white. He explained,
White reflects light better. In a room this size I can cut my light bill significantly with white racks and a lower wattage bulb.
The white racks were custom and cost more, but the energy savings more than made up for it.
Data centers are noisy places. It because they require huge fans and air conditioning units to keep the data center cool. Fred took us into one room that was eerily quiet. He showed us a piece of equipment and explained
The servers on this rack are water cooled. We run water through this device here and it cools the servers. We then use the hot water elsewhere on the campus. I can nearly double the amount of servers I put in a rack when it’s water cooled. Saves a ton on energy costs.
Finally, he took us to an observation deck where we could look out and see row upon row of short black boxes. They were fuel cells. They used natural gas, but not by burning it.
We run the gas over an ionized plate and it separates it chemically. We get energy, water and heat. We use the water in our liquid cooling racks. We are working on a method to capture the heat and reuse it. Still some work to do on that.
Eventually, the tour was over and I made my way back out the multiple layers of security. I came away with two thoughts.
First, I’ve never really worked in a secure environment. I thought I did. My current job has 4 badge readers that I have to go through to get to my desk. I had to go through four security gates to even get in the building.
Second, we have no idea what innovations other people and companies might be implementing. I toured the datacenter for a technology company, but the work they were doing in energy conservation was truly impressive.
And finally, I thought, “Yeah, this is a REALLY big brain.”
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Oh wow! It looks like some very small people here in the Salt Lake Comedy scene took an unflattering still from a video, wrote some bogus statement pretending it’s my words…and posted it to all the comedians they could in a private message. LOL… I’m so glad that you feel the need to be so hateful. That I bug you THAT much by my existence.
And if you’re in the scene here, and aren’t standing up for what’s right…then I am deeply sorry I ever met you.
I have a friend who is very active in the Salt Lake City comedy scene. I normally use pseudonyms, but CiCi is a public figure. Last week she posted the above on her facebook status.
It got me thinking about how we deal with negative people. In the words of the Arbinger Institute (Anatomy Of Peace), I put them in a box. The teaching of the Arbinger folks is that boxes are bad. Typically we see people as
An obstacle
Someone to be used
Irrelevant
The point of the Arbinger teaching is to not put people in boxes. It’s excellent training and advice. But, when you are dealing with someone who is simply trying to bring you down, the box is the best place for them.
Obstacle
The negative person might be a coworker, a boss, or a client. If they are an obstacle, you have two choices, remove their power, or remove yourself. I have a friend who realized after getting a professor position that the department dean hated Mormons. There was nothing my friend was able to do. The opposition wasn’t overt, but he knew that he would never get promoted, or get a good review. He
Sometimes we simply need to move. My friend moved.
Other times, you can take away the power the negative person has. For example, I once had a coworker who actively stole my ideas and passed them off as his own. I loved my job at Microsoft so I opted to remove his ability to negatively impact me. We were writing courseware. He was the Program manager responsible for the curriculum map. I was responsible for the creating the content. I simply created my own curriculum map. It was a great map. Good enough that it became the basis for a three year development project. Since I had created the map, it had all the elements that I needed. I didn’t have to worry about my coworker withholding information or playing silly office politics games.
Someone to be used
This might sound odd. How are you going to use a negative person for your own purposes? Look back at CiCi’s comment above. She took the criticism and made it her own. She promoted her facebook post pretty heavily. Many of her friends, like me, hadn’t heard about the criticism. By owning the negative comments, she literally turned a negative into a positive.
Irrelevant
The final option is to just ignore the negative person. If they have no power over you and if their negativity isn’t affecting your life or career, why give them the satisfaction?
Several years ago a country music group called the Dixie Chicks made some negative comments about the president. One of the country music artists that took exception to it was Toby Keith. It turned into quite a fight, the tabloids loved it. It culminated when Natalie Raines, the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks walked on stage at an awards show with a t-shirt that said FUTK.
That night Toby Keith won entertainer of the year. He realized that the opinion of the Dixie Chicks didn’t really matter to him. He quit the feud. The Dixie Chicks are out of country music and Toby Keith is a big a star as ever.
Sometimes, just ignore them. I have a note that a friend wrote me nearly 20 years ago. I pull it out and read when I’m feeling brought down by people or circumstances.
It’s started to fade a little, but it says,
Keep your eyes on the horizon. . .The rest is just temporary traffic.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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No, that’s not quite right. I sold my Rock & Roll for gas money. I’m a huge music fan. I still like CD’s. I’m one of the few, I know. But, I drive older vehicles and they have CD players.
Of course, I have an iPad and an iPod and a phone, although I never listen to music on my phone. My point is that I own over 500 CD’s in virtually every music category. My tastes mostly run to Country.
We have both kinds of music here, Country AND Western. – Blues Brothers Movie
But, I own classic rock, heavy metal, Rap, classical; 6,000 songs on my iPad.
But, I miss some. A few years ago I went through a very rough patch. (Starting Over At 40.) I was doing whatever I could to make money. I delivered newspapers. I took a job that paid me gas money.
In addition, I started selling my CD collection.
It was like parting with a beloved family pet. No, it was like selling a beloved family pet.
Do you know how much you get for a used CD?
It depends on the CD of course. The most I got was for The Beatles 1962-1966. You can buy it on Amazon for $25. I got $7 for it. Most of the CD’s that I’d bought for $20 I sold for $1. The cheapest CD was Lionel Richie’s Back to Front. You can get it on Amazon for $10. I got $0.25 at a pawn shop.
But, worse were the CD’s that the pawn shop wouldn’t even take. If you don’t think you can be more humiliated than having to sell your CD collection for gas money, just be in a position where the store says, “Nope, it’s not even worth a quarter.”
The reason I share this episode is to talk a little about what’s important and what we value. The lesson is true whether we are talking about CD’s or relationships, or job offers.
I’m currently digitizing my CD collection.
As I was going through the large CD cases that hold my current collection, I came across the following receipts.
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These are the record of about 70 of the CD’s I sold. I know there were more. I saved these with the idea that someday I’d replace them. . .I haven’t.
When we look back on our lives and indulge in a bit of nostalgia, it’s not the opportunities we took that we regret. . (Mostly. . .see the link above to Starting over at 40.) It’s Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” It’s the girls that we never got the courage to ask out that we reminisce and ask “What if?”
Later this month I’m attending the wedding of a friend from high school. We were nearly inseparable. After graduation we went our separate ways. He married and then divorced. Last summer was our 30th high school reunion. My friend got reacquainted with a woman who had taken to the Junior Prom. She was also divorced. Well, 30 years later they are getting married.
But, that’s the exception. Rarely do we get to go back and try again.
We face similar choices in business. There are many people in their 50’s putting in their time waiting for retirement, wondering why they never took the chance on starting their own business, or writing a novel, or bought a Harley Davidson.
Here’s the reason I keep those old receipts. I’m never going to replace those CDs. But, When I look at those receipts and realize that I got pennies on the dollar for cherished albums, I’m reminded of what is truly important. I may never again own the complete Beatles collection, but I know that I was willing to sacrifice for my family. The “stuff” wasn’t as important as getting $7 or even $0.25 to help put gas in my car to get through one more day.
I might have sold my Rock & Roll, but in hindsight, it was worth it.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Have you ever wondered how writers think up the things they do? Where does their inspiration come from? How do they come up with new ideas every day? I’ll explain.
I appreciate your taking the time to read my ramblings. I’ve been writing this blog for over two years now, for the last year and a half it’s been every weekday posting at 7:00 AM.
I wanted to take just a minute and explain a little about the writing process, at least my writing process. First, the format. I write in the evenings, sometimes late into the night. WordPress, my hosting site, lets me schedule the post time. I’ve been late, and early a few times. I write when I’m traveling and then forget to convert from East Coast Time to Mountain Time and the post goes up two hours early. Or, I mess up the AM/PM settings and I can’t figure out why it hasn’t posted by 9:00 AM.
Every entry is typed on my iPad. I have an external keyboard, but I’ve written a few with the onscreen keyboard as well.
Each entry is about 800 words. That’s what I aim for. Some go long, occasionally one goes short. I try to reference my own prior posts. Partly I do this to provide additional insight into whatever point I’m making. But, often I’m trying to pump up the numbers on my previous post. Okay, maybe it’s just to provide more insight. Today is the 460th blog post on this blog.
Yesterday, I posted a book review of the excellent book “Influencer.” I do these reviews occasionally. It might appear the schedule is random, but it’s not. I post a book review on every holiday.
That might seem odd at first glance. But, I’ve tried to build this blog with business people in mind. I envision you guys and gals, going to work, turning on your computer and seeing my blog. Almost like you would read the morning paper. That presented a problem for holidays. You aren’t firing up your computer, you’re probably sleeping in and then going off to do stuff with family and friends. My compromise was the book reviews. They aren’t exactly content in the classic sense. But, they still add value for those of you who have to work holidays.
The holiday schedule also explains today’s post. Yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States. Many people take today (Friday) off as well. I figured I would take this pseudo-holiday to explain a little about my process.
I tend to group my posts in one of 5 broad categories. Personal Development, Professional Development, Book Reviews, Team Building and Training. Today’s post for example goes under Personal Development.
This blog posts to my Facebook account, My twitter feed, my LinkedIn! account and it gets emailed to people.
Lets talk a little about the question I opened with; inspiration. I’ve had people ask me if I’m in danger of running out of ideas. I’m reminded of something my friend Howard told me.
Rodney, never be afraid of sharing an idea for a story. It’s not the idea that is valuable it’s the execution.
His point was that ideas are cheap. For me, It’s often a matter of choosing which idea to write about. I keep a folder with my ideas in it. The folder has about 100 ideas that are various stages of development.
I have zero buffer. I write every day Sunday – Thursday. But, if I had to sit down and come up with a new idea on the spot, I don’t think I could do that every day. However, if I don’t have a topic in mind, I go to the folder and find one. The problem is not that I’m worried about running out of ideas. The problem is that I have an abundance of ideas. I have to try and pick one that will be valuable or at least entertaining to you, the reader. I worry a lot about picking wrong.
As for the origin of the ideas, inspiration comes in many forms. I’ve gotten blog ideas while sitting in church. I’ve come up with ideas while talking to my kids. I’ve thought of business applications while camping.
I do try to avoid relying too heavily on current events. It’s for a selfish reason. I don’t want someone stumbling onto a blog post 6 months from now and realizing that the post was all about Thanksgiving. Everything is new on the internet. I don’t want to remind the reader that some of the content is old.
I’ll close with the things I don’t write about. I don’t write about the company I work for. This is my own blog and in no way represents the views or opinions of my employer. I would hate for something I posted here, or a comment someone made to reflect poorly on my employer. That’s a good way to become UNemployed.
I also don’t use real names. Some of the stories I tell have a “villein, someone who acted stupidly or maliciously. I don’t want to hurt that person. That’s not why I’m telling the story. It’s easier to just give them a different name. . .That includes when I’m writing about my kids. The only real names I use are public figures, or people who have given me carte blanche to use their names.
I’m thrilled with the chance to write everyday. It’s something I enjoy. I’m constantly slightly astonished that there are people who seem to enjoy reading my ramblings as much as I enjoy putting them down on paper. . .more or less.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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I enjoyed this book a lot. I’ve read it twice now. Well, actually, I read it once and I listened to it once. I’m continuing my trend of listening to books on CD. (Book Review: Primal Leadership) Spending 90 minutes in the car every day gives me plenty of time to listen. Ironically, my crazy travel schedule meant that it took me about a month to listen to the entire book.
Influencer is subtitled “The Power To Change Anything.” And the book lives up to the title. The collection of authors, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler range literally across the world to draw on examples of influencers. These are men and women who are literally changing the world. From eradicating the Guinea worm parasite in Africa to reducing incidents of HIV/AIDS in the Himalayas to rehabilitating career criminals in the United States. The influencers that the authors cite are an impressive group. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes said, give me a big enough lever and I will move the world. These people have found that lever.
At the heart of Influencer are six influence strategies, any one of which can exert influence, but the combination of some or all of which literally changes lives, countries and continents.
The six strategies are:
Make the Undesirable Desirable
Harness Peer Pressure
Design Rewards and Demand Accountability
Surpass Your Limits
Find Strength in Numbers
Change the Environment
Part of the reason this book resonated with me is that several of the areas of influence matched up nicely with my own 16 Management Rules that Make No Sense.
For example I believe that Money Is A Lousy Motivator and rewards can be both an incentive or a detriment. (They Switched To A Cash Prize and Totally Blew It.) But, where I had only my own experience to draw on, the authors of Influencer range far afield to find people of influence.
Listening to the book this past month, the ideas were as fresh as they were years ago when I read the book the first time. I appreciated the fact that the content didn’t seem dated.
I rate this book as one of the five best business books I’ve ever read. I cannot recommend this book to you highly enough.
What it means to you
We are all influencers, parents, bosses, employees, church group members. I literally cannot think of anyone who does not exert influence. And this book will help you do it better.
What I liked
The flow was very engaging. The authors opened multiple threads and kept them active throughout the book. The examples were relatable. Even though I may not travel to Africa, the story of the Guinea Worm made perfect sense to me. The challenges and the methods for overcoming them were easily understandable and realistic. The authors return to certain concepts multiple times over the course of the book. Each time they build on the principals already established. Like building a house, they first lay the foundation, then add framing, electrical, plumbing, siding, roofing, lights, etc.
What I didn’t
I really had to search for something to put here. While the authors described situations where failed influence methods were attempted, I would have liked to see more. For example, how did Dr Mimi Silbert figure out her method for rehabilitating convicts. She must have had some setbacks in the beginning. When we meet her, she is a master influencer who evidently has it all figured out. But, honestly the book is great without these examples. It’s not a deficiency, simply something additional I’d like to see.
Rating 5 out of 5 stars
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com
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I don’t think we are going to use the gay marriage article.
Okay. . .
It just doesn’t fit the personality of our paper.
Well, I knew it would be controversial when I wrote it.
Actually, the editing staff had a discussion on it. My thought was that we should print it even if we don’t agree. The editor and the board felt differently.
This is a discussion I had with my publisher about two weeks ago. As many of the readers of this space know, I write for my local newspaper, The Timpanogos Times. I can’t link to their website because they don’t have one. It’s that old school.
The paper is in the process of turning from a quarterly into a monthly. It’s really a labor of love for the publisher. I’m sure he loses money on it every month, but he’s an old fashioned newspaper man who believes that a community needs a local paper.
I approached him last year while looking for work and decided that writing for a newspaper could help bolster my resume.
Hey Calvin, do you know any paper that I might be able to write for?
You can write for us.
Oh?
Sure, I’ll give you a regular column. Just write about whatever you choose to.
My column is called “Bliss Bits.” My lovely wife came up with the name. I write about topics with a local connection. My “gay adoption” column wasn’t my first controversial column. last month I wrote about race relations in Utah. Being the father of seven black children, the topic is very personal to me. (An Uncomfortable Conversation about Race) I had to convince the publisher and editor to run it. It generated a letter to the editor.
Who writes letters anymore?
Of course, he didn’t agree with my take and accused me of harming race relations in Utah. I wrote him back.
Amazingly he wrote again. My publisher handed me the letter with a kind of amused look on his face.
He still thinks you’re wrong. He wants us to print his letter as a rebuttal.
Do you do that sort of thing?
No. And we don’t intend to start now.
I admit that the reaction to that column a month ago gave me the courage to write one even more provocative, my “gay adoption” column. I’m not going to reproduce it here, because the contents are more political than business oriented. But there’s a link at the bottom to a blog where I post more personal information.
The point I wanted to make in this is the power of writing. We’ve all heard “the pen is mightier than the sword.” And It’s a testament to the power of words that whenever a power seeks to control a population, the first thing they do is limit communication.
So why not write everything provocatively? Why not seek to inspire revolution, even just in thought, in every post? Don’t writers want to change the world? Or do we only care to document it?
Every post cannot be a change the world post for two reasons.
First, as a writer, it takes a lot of work for me to write a manifesto. I researched my “gay adoption” story for weeks on social media. I gathered quotes and comments. I engaged in discussions. I spent way more time on it than a have to devote to every post in a five day a week blog. There’s just not time to do that for every post or column.
Second, as readers it can be emotionally taxing to read a change the world piece. Movies, even action movies have a rhythm to them. You cannot offer up non stop action. The audience becomes weary of being kept on the peak of an emotional mountain. The best movies give readers, I mean viewers, a chance to catch their breaths, a chance to digest and think about what they’ve just seen, a chance to anticipate the coming conflict and in the anticipation, emotionally prepare for it.
To wrap up with a business application, if every email you send is TYPED IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE YOU ARE REALLY UPSET OR ANGRY, pretty soon, people will start ignoring your email. They will assume that you are just one of those angry people and typically we want to avoid angry people. Likewise, if every email is full of weeping and emotional land mines, people are going to tend to skip over those emails as well.
But, if you have a reputation as a pretty even keeled person, when you do send an angry email, or an emotional one, it will resonate far better with your audience.
Feel free to write with passion, but give your readers a chance to catch their breath as well.
Here’s a link to the “gay adoption” column that was rejected by my editor.
Should Gay Couple Be Allowed To Adopt?
And here are some of my previous columns for the Timpanogos Times.
November 20, 2014 My Year Long Job Search
October 8, 2014 An Uncomfortable Conversation About Race
June 21, 2014 Doing It The Hard Way. . .Sometimes On Purpose
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com