Transitions

Life is full of them, mine more than many others. A highly productive, very satisfying trip to Asia is winding down. Laundry, packing, sorting, last stops at the noodle shops, kind of day. Now a long two day transition back to Eastern Europe, with lots and lots of long hours of sitting, people watching, reading, flying, and hopefully some sleeping too.

It feels like flying is a full time job and that airports are my second office/home. But since I am flying West this time, it won't interrupt my daily fitness routine nearly as much as flying East does. It won't even interrupt my work routines either, in fact, will give me a chance to catch up on some thinking, and writing as well.

The only downsides are monotony and limited geography (the confines of the airport) to walk around and explore, and the lack of decent high quality food at a normal price . . . and some physical stiffness from enforced sitting for hours on end. But since I am only going a quarter of the way around the world, rather than half way around the world, it won't be too bad I hope.

Asia has been good to me as usual, I feel 10 years younger here, my blood pressure drops into a completely normal range, the super spicy food is just so yummy, the temperature is sweaty hot, and the prices for just about everything are super low. Good indeed.

Saying no 1000 times

Steve Jobs in 1997 stated that "Innovation is saying no 1000 times." He also went on to say that he was as proud of what they did not do, as he was of what they did accomplish. Even though he said it 18 years ago, I think it is more true today than it was back then.

It is really difficult to have a perspective that is so self-aware that you are just as proud of the "no's" as you are the "yes's" and that is when you know you should be saying no 1000 times more often than yes. Before you just completely dismiss that thought as so outrageous as to not be important, think hard about it.

There are several equally important issues at stake here. First of all is opportunity. I was recently re-reading a book that my mother wrote about "Growing up on the farm" before Alzheimer's started wrecking her mind. The shear volume of hourly choices in today's world versus "Growing up on the farm" is mind-boggling. It is such a severe contrast, that it is almost like talking about aliens from outer space. You and I have so many amazing possibilities and opportunities, that we must say no 1000 times! Part of the problem is that people of my generation have been brought up to say yes all the time, because our parents did not have any of these opportunities. We gotta get over that right now, and realize that Jobs had it right for the most part, Innovation (uniqueness, meaning, significance) is in saying no to the 1000 BSO's that want to capture us (Bright Shiny Objects).

Second of all is clarity. Every single time we carefully say no, we sharpen and refine our clarity about where we want to go and are aiming. If you don't know where you are going and you don't know what you are aiming for, you are sure to reach it. Clarity is that critical awareness that I am spending more and more of my significant thinking time developing. Clarity is a J curve, the more I get, the more I want and need, and it just keeps going . . . I haven't found its end yet.

Thirdly is focus. All of this begins to funnel me down a brilliant path toward what I can best do, that few others can do as well, to that which is my best contribution to making the world a better place for all of to live, an easier place to discover the Creator and His love for us. Focus is a wonderful terrifying place, where what you need to be doing well is clear, and there is no longer any place to hide from that responsibility.

Saying no is the very best possible path to the right yes. It is the right synergy of opportunity, clarity and focus to give you the best leverage to change the world.

You don't need permission to make the world better

You really don't. No you can't change everything. And no you can't do everything, but you can do something. I am so tired of people talking about the need for change, and who fail to every DO one single thing to make that change happen.

Take human trafficking for example. I speak about it when I am out trying to gather resources, financial, human, intelligence, commitment. EVERYBODY thinks trafficking is horrible. Dozens tell me with tears in their eyes that they want to come and help, people write me afterwards and tell me they feel God is calling them to come and help, and to date (more than three YEARS of talking about this) and not one, not a single one has bought the freaking airline ticket and even come to SEE what is going on, much less "helped." What a crock of s**t!

People do what they want every single time. They have time and money for all their toys, TV's, phones, cars, cats, cable, facebook, surfing, music, American Idol, etc etc etc etc.. You do what you want every single time.

You want to know what I want? I want to be able to tell more stories like this: that one week ago two little girls, sisters, were being terribly abuse, and today they aren't. Period. You go have a great time on your facebook hour! You do what you want, I did what I wanted.

But I can't tell enough stories like that one, because we don't have enough resources to do more. Yes we will continue to rescue every single one we can, but please stop telling me you want to help! I know you are too tired and too busy and too extended and too stretched and too everything. You do exactly what you want to do every time. So do I.

And I picked this make-you-feel-extra-guilty-subject of human trafficking on purpose so that you might pay attention. You do what you want every single time. But this principle is at play in church development, church planting, leadership development, discipleship, having foster kids, micro-business development, clean water, market place ministry, community transformation, sanitation, urban housing, ethnic tensions, political abuse, democracy, pick your place and choose your goal, but do something. You do exactly what you want every time.

You can do something. You can. You make choices all day long every day. Its your turn as Seth Godin says. You don't need permission to make the world a better place for someone other than yourself. Do it. Talk is optional.

I woke up

I woke up

Feeling super shitty this morning, like a train had rolled over me slowly all night long. Achy sore pain everywhere, and so I took the Aderholdt cure all; a spoonful of Skippy's extra crunchy peanut butter, along with a spoonful of Nutella, along with four ibuprofen tablets, and then walked my sorry ass out the door and got on my bicycle and headed up the mountain! 10 miles later, all uphill, I was feeling human again.  I know you probably don't believe me, but that is precisely what happened and what I did and how I handled it. Life is too short for lying around.

As I assess people as potential new clients, this is one of the primary reasons I reject them. They want a developer who will make life easier. I want a client who shows up. 

A client who does not show up everyday, mentally, emotionally and physically, can rarely be helped by a developer. And the kind of help I give people is the cold hard honest truth most of the time, and that doesn't make life easier. Instead it opens the door for scale and a bigger and deeper impact. That is more. Not less. I think Seth Godin said it, but showing up is about 85% of success.

Pinned down

Pinned down

I have been pinned down or pinned in, however you chose to look at it, for most of the day. It is rainy season here in SE Asia and currently it is living up to its moniker. Usually at this time of year, they are regular isolated showers, kinda like what you have in Florida, where it rains every day, just not all the time. In the past, my normal wait time until a shower passes is about 15-20 minutes max. Today it has been more like an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, with little break before the next one comes along. As I look over my shoulder, I see yet another one coming. (break here, so that I don't get my gear wet)

OK, where was I . . . pinned down. You can be pinned down by almost anything, if you let yourself. You can be pinned down by finances, an ecosystem of thinking or technology or study, by geography, by the past, by the future, by distance, by assumptions, by ethnicity, by education, by lust, by expectations, by character, by your family, by the Shoulds in your life, you can even be pinned down by the desire to stay dry. And on and on I could easily go seriously!

However, if you reframe it, anticipate, plan, expect, create, turn around, view it another way, rethink it, recreate it, refuse to accept it, exert your will to chose another, expand your mental gymnastics and deny the common accepted responses, then you are free.

Free to choose a different path, a different solution, a different payment, a different future, and a different today. You may not be pinned down at all.

They know

They know

Your customer knows when you don't have their best interest at heart. Your kids know when you are bullshitting them. Your client knows when you are not giving your best effort. Your spouse knows when your mind is somewhere else. Your boss knows when they don't have all of your attention. Your team knows when you are less than fully engaged. Your friends know when they are no longer your top priority. Your pastor knows when you are just going through the motions. You know when you aren't getting it done. And they know too.

When you gonna stop living a divided, unfocused life? When are you going to start focusing on now, and doing it right? When?

Done!

Is it all done? Are you all caught up? Do you feel guilty? Like you aren't working hard enough, or you are wasting precious moments of life or some other dire thing like that?

Well stop. This is the result of you working precisely enough. That there is an end, a stopping point, a place where you can say, "I am all caught up!" And it is a place you haven't been at in YEARS! So stop. Quit beating yourself up and feeling guilty or lazy. 

Enjoy this very cool moment, that you have been working toward, in all its glory. More emails will come. There are other tasks that will have to be done soon enough. You may have finally found that super illusive balance that you have been trying to get right forever.

A techblog

A tech blog

This is purely a tech geek blog, about my experience traveling for four days while working in rural Asia with nothing more than an iPhone 6 plus and a Zagg bluetooth keyboard (http://www.gottabemobile.com/2015/01/05/zagg-pocket-keyboard-for-iphone-6-plus-note-4-more/). 

Obviously, the first trade off comes in screen real estate. There is simply no way around that. The up side of course is the tiny-ness of what I am lugging around all day in 100 plus degree temperatures. However, the screen did not prevent me from accomplishing a single working task over the four days. It did require me to make some adjustments, take some additional steps, and it did slow me down in searching for specific emails or Evernote files or anything that results in screen/visual complexity. 

However the majority of my time at the "computer" on this trip involved answering emails, reading RSS feeds, saving those feeds to Pocket or Evernote, writing blogs like this one (I write them in Drafts), typing notes in meetings and consultations, sharing information with clients - and I usually did that by sending it to them than showing them something on my screen like I would have done with an iPad or with my computer.

I also found that using this setup encouraged me to massively tweak the mobile apps that I was using, to better utilize them, finding ways to do things more simply or better, since jumping to my MacBook Pro wasn't an option. Perhaps inconvenience is the mother of creativity and full utilization? I am really pleased with the tweaks that I made in Drafts, Day One, and my Squarespace Blog.

There was also a discernible adjustment period, . . . and when it finally kicked in all the way, I found myself no longer longing for more screen real estate, nor minding the fact that I was in uber-mobile-mode. Unfortunately that took the majority of this trip. But somewhere today, I completely made a mental jump into the void of ONLY having an iPhone 6 plus and Zagg keyboard, and at the moment that feels like it would always be enough. However, I did not attempt the entire month's log of work on this set up, and when I get to the third week's work of sending out client emails and logging them in both Evernote and Numbers, that is most often when I use TWO computers at home. Yet for the hell of it, I might try to do the whole thing from this set up just to see how difficult, or extra-time consuming it actually is . . . although the thought I doing it this way, sounds complicated to me. 

Finally it should be noted that when I arrived at the airport here in Siem Reap Cambodia, I grabbed a $5 sim card (Yes you read that correctly, with 1.5 gig of mobile data!) for my phone so that I had text and internet ability for the duration of the trip, maximizing the reach and capability of my single work tool. You CAN do more with LESS, but the trade-off seems to be primarily one of simplicity for size/weight, once your brain gets accustom to having this size screen all the time. (The most annoying trade-off was iOS mail in landscape mode! Uuuurrgghhh!)

Twists of fate

As I argued in my last post, when faced with conflicting information, you have to keep moving forward until all things play out, even though uncertainty is higher than before, less is sure than before, and all your plans hang in some unknown and unknowable balance that you have no control over.

The conflicting information that I was specifically writing about in the last post was that one (usually highly dependable) tool of information informed me that my final flight of the day had been canceled by the airline for unstated reasons. And honestly, who can control that?

However, I STILL went to the airport. I still took for first legs of the trip, because who knows how this would play out? No one. The airline assured me that they were planning to fly to my final destination. On the other hand, my experience in Asia has long since taught me that the true-ness of a matter is far less important than maintaining face - usually what you hear when you ask a question is the answer that the person thinks you most want to hear. So the true-ness of whether my flight was going to actually occur was in question until I was seated on the flight.

And in the long run, I was actually able to catch an EARLIER flight than the one I had originally scheduled, and that was canceled (well they changed the departure time and the flight number which lead the whole conflicting information to begin with). If you don't press forward, if you don't continue to take steps toward your goal, then you have already failed. And who knows, sometimes in the end, conflicting information can lead you to take initiatives that you otherwise would not, and the payoff can be an early arrival!

When the data doesn't agree

Today is a day to make the most harden traveler flinch. One source of data is telling me that my final flight is canceled and that I won't reach my destination tonight, another source of data is telling me that all is well, and things will progress as scheduled. The implications to this day and to the work in multiple countries are heavy. I will lose far too much money and even more time, if the first source is correct. I will only suffering an amazing amount of stress and have heartburn for the next three days if the second source is correct.

When the data doesn't agree and throws your well planned and highly organized work structures into ambiguity hell, what do you do? 

Well first of all you have to keep moving toward the goal. Even though you are far less sure that you will get there now, and you have no real and viable contingency plans, you have to continue to take every possible step forward. Yes you have conflicting data, no you can't cancel the hotel room on the same day of scheduled arrival, yes you are gonna lose money, no you don't have a plan B. But maybe, just maybe the second source of data will actually play out. You simply cannot take the risk and stay home. That is not an option. Because if you do that, you WILL lose everything you have sunk up to this point, as well as the future results.

Second of all, you need to start spinning some mental alternatives to perhaps implement along the way. I know your options are limited. I know you already have tons of sunk cost into the product or project. But this is out of your control, you have conflicting data, you don't have nearly as much hope that things will work the way you had planned, as you did yesterday. Uncertainty is high, predictability is low, start spinning some mental alternatives.

Finally, go with the flow. Learn. Make the very best of all those unexpected bits of data and conflict and uncertainty and issues. What is being forced upon you can still bear some gifts especially if you set your attitude and mental framework in the right modes. Relax and enjoy the moments along the way, then you gain something valuableregardless. 

Air Conditioning wont cut it

After a long absence I am back in Asia. And it is hot. Really hot! And since I came here from a much cooler place, the sudden spike in temperature (think double overnight literally), the great temptation is to sit in the air conditioning all day and night. This is a deadly temptation, because who likes to sweat and sweat and sweat? I mean it is totally seriously three showers a day kind of hot.

Yet the only way to live, to experience, to BE in Asia is the stay in the heat. It is the only way you will acclimate to the temperatures. It is the only way that you will see the sights. It is the only way that you can taste the exotic dishes. It is the only way to truly enjoy Asia . . . you have to walk through the heat, sit in the heat, eat in the heat, work in the heat . . . and soon, most folks realize that their baseline temperature adjusts, as they become accustomed to hot hot hot. Hot is relative after all, to whatever you are comparing it to. (Note: I do use the AC at night, but lightly, mostly for the white noise, and at a much higher temp setting than most foreigners)

This has multiple life applications, regardless of the kind of work you produce and generally applies to most industries in my opinion - you gotta get out into the heat in order to understand your world - whatever your world may be. If you want to be doing something meaningful, you can't sit in your room or at the hotel or at the expensive restaurants that have air conditioning, because you cannot possibly experience what the real world is like in those places. Air conditioning won't cut it. Get a sweat on!

Shot!

I got shot today. There was no reason for it that I could discern, but nevertheless. At first I thought that something had fallen off the roof and banged hard against the post next to me. The second shot beaned the post a bit away from me. The third shot hit the glass next to me, then I knew for sure that someone was shooting, a BB gun or a slingshot perhaps, because the glass did not break, I knew it was not a pistol or something deadlier. 

So I immediately closed the computer, so that the screen would not get hit and broken, and at the same time started watching the neighboring building for the shooter, or some movement which would let me know, where to focus my attention. I never saw anyone ever, so that did not work. And the fourth shot hit the drain pipe behind me. The fifth shot hit me in the hand.

I am pleased I did not get it in the eye, and at that point it became clear that I was at a great disadvantage, not being able to find the shooter nor protect myself in any way, so being a prudent person, I left the balcony. Since I am scheduled to be here for another three weeks I am at loss about what to do . . . other than stay off the balcony, however that was one of the main selling points on choosing this place to stay.

There are multiple parallels in this story to life. We often get shot at, for no discernible reason, in unexpected places, which forces an intelligent person to alter their course of action. Then to not lose momentum or be forced to take actions that prevents you from reaching your goals, you have to mitigate the frustration, pain and discomfort of being forced off your original plan. It is in situations like this, that you can shine. You might even find a better alternative than your first path.

Trade off's

Life is filled with trade off's. Navigating these in a clear and wise manner is more difficult than you realize. I think it comes down to having clarity about the long term and the short term transactions, and that requires a perspective of the bigger picture of our lives than we acquire easily.

The worst trade off I ever made was in Russia 20 years ago, and it taught me a very important lesson about this subject that has helped me many many times over the years.

We had been in-country only about three or four months, when we took a required trip down South. Upon our returm at nearly midnight, with three very small children, none of the transportation that we had acclimated to, trams, buses and the like, were availible. We were under the impression (perspective) that we were too poor to afford a taxi. I am not joking. I am completely serious. Our leaders, who had drilled this perspective into us, disappeared without a word when we returned, you guessed it right, in a taxi. We waited in the cold and dark in a dangerous part of the city for over an hour before we caught the last tram of the day. With three babies. In Russia! Not one of my brighter moments in life, that is for sure. And not a memory I like to revisit, but it has served a great purpose in my life.

Yet I see churches and businesses and people do this all the time, with equal or great potential consequences, because they don't have clarity, they don't have perspective, to choose the right trade off. Clarity or perspective is worth 80 IQ points in my opinion, at least, and Alan Kay said it and I am agreeing with him. It is the most valuable gift I can give my clients, it is the most valuable commodity you can seek. It is a gift that only gives the best returns. Make certain you are choosing the right trade off. And if in doubt, get some outside perspective.

Memories?

There are always favorite memories about places you have been and things you have experienced. And often when you get back to those favorites, the renewed experience can often be . . . less than you remember. I have had this happen to me many times in five plus decades of life.

But I am getting better at accurately rendering what happened in one place or another and I have spend most of today, renewing favorite experiences. And so far I am batting a 1000! One technic I believe has helped me tremendously with this, is living in the moments better. I enjoy what is, without trying to make it be something else. About three years ago I started practicing this for a very particular reason, and that may become the topic of another post, but I can see now that it has helped me return to a place I was over one year ago, and successfully and fully navigate the memory experience conundrum.

You will find this to be a significant part of your skill set if you live anything like I do, in a suitcase more than anything else, moving from one client to the next, or from one country to the next, or from one problem to address to the next. May the memory, as you enjoy the moment, be with you. Sent to you from one of my favorite places, on a rooftop in Asia with a good cigar and a nice breeze on a 100 degree day.

hope against hope

Hope against hope

You know how it is when you are wishing for the unlikely, the very "lucky" or the unheard of, or the fanciful? That is hope against hope. The one I am wishing for today is no seat mates, to have some space to sleep and stretch out my legs a bit on the flight to Bangkok. Like I said unlikely. The numbers are simply against you, the odds don't lend it a likely probability.

It is not just stupid, this hope, that would be doing something like playing the lottery, or driving the wrong way on the interstate and expecting to avoid an accident. But in this case, it is "low season" in Asia, meaning that is not the time of year when most people are heading that way for a holiday (nor am I), and so I may have a better than usual hope.

In work and life though, this is a poor way to plan, strategize and execute. It is far better to bank on reality, what is, what can be reasonably expected, what the current norms are for culture, or business, or whatever field you are working in these days.

My clients who most consistently produce something valuable, something beautiful, something innovative, are those most willing to face the music of real opportunities, or at least willing to work hard and make those opportunities happen. Hope against hope, no seat mate today . . . excellent, but it was just a hope, not a reality that I shaped and designed and work toward diligently. I will still take it though!

Sometimes you have to go to the source

I am learning that sometimes you have to go to the source to get what you need. Habanero sauce in Macedonia for instance. There is a great sauce that we experienced at the local Mexican restaurant. But we haven't been able to find in the local grocery stores for about a year now. So on a free/open day like today I took the chance to return to that restaurant to see if they were still serving it and to ask them where they get it. 

We don't particularly like this restaurant because 1. The music is too loud, 2. The food is expensive and 3. Marginal taste as a general rule though my wife feels this much more strongly than do I. But compared to the other excellent restaurants and dives we have available to us, it does have some shortcomings in this particular market. Through I would argue that they also have one overwhelming strength- that they serve food unlike all the others at our disposal.

So when you want something really different from the regular fare available, this is a viable option. However I digress from my primary point. So I came here today because Brenda is out of town (so I am eating alone) and because we are almost completely out of Habanero sauce at home :-). Bingo!! Boom!! Good pork chops and you can purchase the Habanero sauce right here - in fact ONLY here.

Sometimes you have to go to the source to get what you are looking for. I would say that is true concerning Habanero sauce in Eastern Europe as well as: 1. The Truth of a matter in your personal life  2. The understanding of the nuances of a situation. (What is apparent rarely is) 3. The tools you need to lead many situations and 4. Spiritual direction.