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I am currently nearly done reading ‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’ by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, and I may blog about that after I’m done, but there was a paragraph I read today that bought a few things to mind.
It went
“Because work is so universal, yet so varied, it makes a tremendous difference to one’s overall contentment whether what one does for a living is enjoyable or not.”

Considering we spend most of our lives at work, it always surprises me when people say “I work to live, not live to work”. What does that even mean !? When is this living part of your life going to happen ?

There is an old story about a mexican fisherman which tells of a boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs…I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!

“You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.

“Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?”

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends!”

Excellent video from the always intersting Mr Shirky, answering the “how do people find the time ?” question, whether its lolcats or wikipedia. Spare yourself the 15 mins or so it takes to watch this.

Just back from three weeks in Argentina and Brazil, and back to work tommorrow.

Preparing all the usual back to work stuff, I was reminded of this fabulous piece from the financial times by John Lancaster titled “Can money set you free” that I read back in January.
Lifting a quote from the piece, Lancaster says :
“Money isn’t automatically freedom. You need to look carefully at what you’re doing to earn the money before you can conclude that you are, in practice, free. This is a cost-benefit analysis we should all perform on our own lives. Don’t listen to what people say about freedom and security and money but, instead, look at the specific, actual bargains they are making with their lives.”

It also contains this great quote from the Irish poet Seamus Heaney
“The way we are living,
timorous or bold,
will have been our life.”
(timorous = fearful)

Now where did I leave my pass ?

I have been reading Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson which is a fast and inspiring read that I can heartily recommend. One chapter that struck a chord with me was entitled “Meetings are Toxic”.
Meetings are described as “The worst interruptions of all” for the following reasons

• They’re usually about words and abstract concepts, not real things.
• They usually convey an abysmally small amount of information per minute.
• They drift off- subject easier than a Chicago cabin a snowstorm.
• They require thorough preparation that most people don’t have time for.
• They frequently have agendas so vague that nobody is really sure of the goal.
• They often include at least one moron who inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone’s time with nonsense.
• Meetings procreate. One meeting leads to another meeting leads to another . .

They suggest that:

• Invite as few people as possible.
• Begin with a specific problem. Meet at the site of the problem instead of a conference room. Point to real things and suggest real changes.
• End with a solution and make someone responsible for implementing it.

As someone who has sat in more than one meeting, wondering whether I really need to be there, and having watched my colleagues happily surfing away on their laptop/Iphone I can testify to the accuracy of their observations.

If you’re thinking of booking a meeting with your colleagues ask yourself the following :

• Is everybody I have invited involved or just interested ?
• Would a quick chat over a cup of tea achieve just as much ?
• Do I need the minutes to document what we have agreed or would an email be enough ?

The philosopher Alain de Botton summed this up on twitter when he wrote “There are meetings which, when cancelled at the last minute, give one an ecstatic feeling of having cheated death for a little longer.”

Gold.