Tis the Season...

December is here, and if you’re operating to the calendar year, it’s a time when all your efforts for the past eleven months are coming to an end — a time of final pressures and final celebrations, and a time to prepare for new beginnings.

Without fail, no matter what I’m juggling, whenever I see a father and his daughter navigating the season I’m overwhelmed with a stream of cherished memories —

“What do you mean you don’t want to have your picture taken? But Sarah, we’ve been in line for thirty minutes. No please don’t cry; he’s really jolly, and he’ll give you a candy cane. Ok, ok… please just stop crying. Up you go”. Excuse us, sorry about that.”

“Yes, Santa Claus is coming soon. Want to go back and see him. No, please don’t cry. Ok, get down, you are getting too heavy.”

“Yes it is very pretty. Please don’t touch. Don’t touch. Ok, put it back”.

“He’s a holiday helper — no really. Here, take this and put it in the kettle. Ok, let me help, up you go. It’s the season for giving, say Happy Holidays.”

“I have no idea what to get your mom, we’ll figure it out later. Let’s get home and turn on the lights. Yes, they are very pretty — Tis the season.”

By my count there is twenty-eight days left to accomplish everything still needed to be done before a new year resets the clock — make sure it’s memorable.

iamgpe

There is a reason why they call it work...

work [wərk] NOUN: activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

The past couple of weeks have had me a "little" busy (as well as a little sick), and during all of it I was reminded about the definition of work — that sometimes it isn't much fun (although I suppose by definition that's what makes it work and not fun). I will say I'm a big advocate of finding something that you love to do so it doesn't feel like work, but in the end it is work and it'll feel very much like it sometimes.

My reminder came in the form of 41,000 rows on an excel spreadsheet which required a yes or no decision to be made for each row. Without getting into the detail, I saw no other way of approaching it other than line by line — if there is another way or some AI trick that would've made it easier I'm still a little raw to hear about it quite yet.

There is no intention to debate what work is or what work holds the gold, silver and bronze medals for being the most difficult — although for the sake of getting to the point let's just define work as something that involves mental or physical effort, and my excel spreadsheet leans more towards the mental type of effort (although I was sitting a lot and we all know that's really bad for you). On a more pithy note, I'd say work is the period of time between when you want to stop whatever you are doing and when it's accomplished — and the longer that period of time, the harder the work becomes.

You get tired (physically or mentally), your concentration fails as your mind wanders, and your "will to finish" waivers — all of this influencing how long it takes to accomplish what you need to accomplish (which in turn makes you all the more tired). It becomes a vicious circle that requires even more energy to fight through something that seems to have no end in sight. In this dynamic, work is ultimately resolved in a very binary way — you either accomplish what you set out to accomplish, or you quit. 

It does become that simple — Accomplish or Quit.

There is no real accomplishment that comes without work and sometimes it comes down to four simple words,

"I will not quit"

iamgpe

Moments — accomplishments

Without fail it occurs repeatedly.

I will be working away on my computer and a backup message will appear that indicates it's been 11 days since my last back up; I close the message knowing I just backed it up.

I will be working away and a backup message will appear that indicates it's been 92 says since my last back up; I close the message and ultimately backup my computer.

Deja vu washes over me as I wonder where the time has gone and ask myself what I've done over the past three months — it's a constant reminder that time tirelessly marches on. I take stock of my accomplishments, and although I don't always like the answer, at least I can take some comfort in knowing. I'm also reminded that if you want to look back on a life of accomplishment, it must be acknowledged that time is a finite consideration to be used wisely. This is about what you want to accomplish and the "Key Performance Indicators" you use to understand if you are on your way to achieving your goals.

It's been 29,200 days since you backed up your computer.

iamgpe