Feeling the Crunch
The first month of 2010 is past us. It was a good month, filled with activity and fun. As February begins I am beginning to fill a little overwhelmed. I have agreed to take on a LOT of items at work and as I look at my list I see 9 major deliverable this month alone.
When I say major, I mean that they are all goin to be either highly visible, strategic, or both.
To top all that off, the baby is coming.
"Pointer finger scratch"
It all started as an innocent foot rub when I began to put Jerry to sleep in place of Eriko. She had been nursing him at night, but that wasn't working as effectively and I wanted to give her a break. Before long, I added the back scratch to the foot rub, as the foot rub wasn't quite enough to keep him pacified.
Almost overnight (pun intended), the list grew extensively (in no particular order):
- Back scratch
- Foot rub
- Booty scratch
- Under-the-arm scratch
- Leg scratch
- Foot scratch
- Side scratch
- Nipple scratch
- Head scratch
- Chin scratch
- Ear scratch
- Shoulder scratch
- Neck scratch
- Chest scratch
- Arm scratch
- Elbow scratch
- In-between-the-toes scratch
Not only does Jerry request a particular area to be scratched, but he also provides specific directions as well: "left", "right", "up", "hard", "harder", "super-duper hard", "not suuuuper duper hard." He also switches very rapidly between locations, giving instructions faster than one can comply.
When I heard "pointer-finger scratch", I knew I had to record this - finally it dawned on me that this had become ridiculous. On a good day, this ritual lasts about 10 minutes - but on a bad night it can not only occur several times but also last up to 45 minutes. Let the weaning begin.
2010 - Diligence
My goals page has been relatively unchanged for several years. As I reflect on it, these goals continue to be the most relevant near-term objectives that I have. I do tweak them slightly at times as my specific interests wax and wane. The ones that I tweak tend to be less specific and more theme-oriented, such as “stay technical” or “get back into science and mathematics.” Those should be more specific - but for now, just consider them placeholders.
All this said, a goal is only a destination - and dreams are cheap. The real task is conceiving measurable steps which advance oneself, continuously, towards that destination. These steps have to be flexible enough to deal with the vagaries of life, but rewarding enough that the mere completion encourages diligence - a virtuous cycle of progress.
Diligence - this is my theme for 2010.
2010 will be yet another fast-paced year - perhaps the most I have experienced yet.
The responsibilities and demands at work should continue to increase, congruent with our success (which I can only hope exceeds my wildest expectations.) Needless to say (and I won’t blog much about work here) I consider myself currently involved in the opportunity of a lifetime.
My second child should arrive late February (hopefully healthy and happy.) Everyone that I have spoken to says that the second child is more than double the effort of the first. Jerry keeps us on our toes so much that is difficult to imagine being pushed even harder - but “a burden of one’s choice is not felt."
Through all of this, I cannot lose sight of myself. This certainly happened, or nearly happened, for the first year or two with Jerry. I am only beginning to understand how to put all the appropriate emotional and mental boundaries that give the best that I can to my family and work while still leaving time for myself - and not feeling guilty about it. In the absence of these boundaries, my efforts begin to have diminishing returns. If taking 5 minutes to relax means that I can play with Jerry for an extra hour, that is 5 minutes well spent.
In the last 3 months of 2009 I adopted Remember the Milk, which is a task management system. I clearly have much more to improve upon, but developing a system for getting things done has paid off tremendously - I accomplish more, in a shorter period of time, and feel better doing it - all of which leaves more time for me and my priorities. This is yet another virtuous cycle, where I’m driven to higher levels of productivity and efficiency for the greater amount of time it affords me to do what I prefer.
As with each New Year, I am flush with the promise and possibility of change and hope is strong. I must now factor in diligence - the year will move quickly - I must strive for constant progress, no matter how incremental.
My goals for 2010 are:
Swimming - I have wanted to learn to lap swim (not just doggie-paddle) for a lonnnng time. In 2009 I started running but quickly found that this was very hard on my knees. I had custom orthotics made (and perhaps they will help) but long-term, the sustainable exercise will be swimming. I signed myself up for lessons at Queen Anne Pool starting in January (and signed up Jerry for another round of lessons as well.)
Reading - 2009 was a wonderful year for reading blogs. I follow over 50 blogs on a weekly basis and read hundreds of posts; as Zack said, I read “too much.” I would alter that statement slightly and say that I don’t read enough compelling/relevant material and I’m not selective enough with my time. Bloggers are great - but there is a lot of chaff with the wheat. I will read one good book every three months.
Writing - this blog did not see a lot of love in 2009. I found it very difficult, between the chaos at home and at work (and more accurately, inside myself) to be diligent about personal introspection. I think that reflecting upon oneself and the world is the only thing that takes us out of the routine, allows us to see ourselves more clearly, and improve. I did more blogging for my company’s site than I did for my own! I will generate a good blog post once every two weeks.
Health - I did a good job losing weight and eating better in 2009 - but there is still much room for improvement. While my weekly running campaign was a good start, if Zach is busy or I’ve had a long night I will typically skip the exercise. I need to find some way to make this more consistent. I would like to move beyond just cardiovascular and into strength training as well. I will exercise at least twice a week, once which will include some form of strength training.
Japanese - Of course, Eriko continues to speak to Jerry in Japanese - and this helps my listening comprehension. That said, my speaking, my writing, my vocabulary, and my reading have all dropped off precipitously. There is no good excuse for this - I want Jerry to learn to write and read and I can certainly put in at least that much effort. I found a great iPhone app, iKanji, and I have wanted a mobile study platform for a long time - this may help. I will learn at least one new Kanji per month.
Some of these steps are more aggressive than others - and rightfully so. As I grow more confident in a particular area, more efficient in others, I hope that new opportunities for accelerating my progress will emerge. At times, I will fail - but “the real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."
Diligence.
Happy New Year!
Jerry loves his new remote-controlled race car!
Look at him go!
Look at those doughnuts!
7 Heavenly Virtues
The theme of diligence has been strong for me. I consider it key to our company’s success and key to my own personal success. As I created my 2010 “New Year” post and clarified my specific goals, I looked at the definition of Diligence per Wikipedia. The definition affirmed my understanding and I proceeded with my post.
What caught my eye, however, was the reference to the 7 heavenly virtues in Catholic catechism - and thus I wanted to revisit the topic. Disclosure: I am a baptized, confirmed Catholic who has, for all practical intents and purposes, rejected the Church. That said, I have always identified with many of the philosophical and moral values that many religions preach, even if I utterly reject the apparent hypocrisy and corruption that undoubtedly exists in any formal institution.
It is these moral and philosophical points that I wish to consider.
2009 - Year in Review ...
2009 was a great year for me.
I don’t know that it started out that way - I came into this year struggling with my new career - while I was enjoying myself to some degree, I didn’t feel as if I was excelling or accelerating. Some of that was likely due to my newfound distraction/obsession - the economic crisis. Some of it was due to my beloved Jerry growing up and demanding more of my time and attention, not less - and that was a struggle too.
Right around mid-year, things began to change. I started a running program with my co-worker, Zach. In retrospect, that helped a lot - not only did I lose about 7 pounds (and thus it helped my self-esteem) but I feel healthier too. I also went to my boss and asked for more - more clarity on the role, more clarity on what I needed to do to exceed, and most of all - more responsibility. With Jerry, I resolved myself to spend as much time with him as possible - which firmed up my priorities.
At work, the change has been very clear. I became an active blogger on our corporate website, an active spokesperson at conferences, headed up a new horizontal push, and spent more time on the road helping sales and customers. These things snowballed and I became more involved, it became more enjoyable, and I became more involved. Of course, then my co-worker’s told me I was working too much. I thought things were balanced, but I’ll take that into consideration.
Jerry has also begun to mature - around mid-year, he began to play constructively. Instead of destroying everything, we could build things together. That sort of play makes it so much easier for me to stay engaged (and not get distracted by silly things, like our economy.) I did find a better way to stay engaged in the news and I got myself an iPhone - both of which made my walk to and from work more productive and allowed me to claw-back a few moments of the day for myself.
It might not be coincidental that mid-year Eriko announced that she was pregnant. The expectant joy of another child will do wonders for snapping one out of a funk.
The last two weeks here are a vacation for me and although we won’t be spending time with Kevin and Melissa’s family this year, I will get to spend it with my parents, my brother, and my sister. That’s as good of a consolation prize as one can get it.
Enough rambling - Jerry is up and ready to play.
Happy Holidays to All!