Category: Personal Reflections

Lessons learned about life; pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned through pain, failure and honest reflection

Defining “Grown Up”

Carl Setzer
I love this comic from xkcd.

It sums up a key idea I’ve been meditating on lately: that we get to define our lives. We get to choose what “success” means to us. We don’t need to be stuck in the destructive loops of our culture’s history. We can find a new way forward. That’s a key beauty of life today.

When I consider Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain’s suicides, I think that there’s something inherently wrong with our culture’s definitions about success. We need to work to define “success” so that we’re feeling fulfilled as we progress. I can’t imagine anything more miserable to achieve everything we’d dreamt of, and feeling empty and miserable.

 

How many tabs do you have open?

Carl Setzer

Tabs

Yeah, I’m a chronic tab opener. It’s one of my ways of managing work. For example, I’ll open an email in a new tab to ensure I don’t forget to response today. Or, right now, I’m checking on the status of several projects I have in permitting at the County. As I’m crafting one report, having all of them open at one time is helpful.

I know that having gobs of windows open in Chrome can impact performance. That is countered by efficiency, in my opinion.

But, well, I’m a certain kind of geek.

Moving Forward

Carl Setzer

Easy to look back

Yet that sucks our energy

That we need to grow

The Perils Of Writing

Carl Setzer

This writer’s journey
Fraught with perils of the heart
Facing down my fear

As I write, my mind drags out random, destructive talk. The act of posting challenges sensations of inadequacy. Thus I post, refusing to let the destructive voices within me win.

Reflections on the Day 

Carl Setzer

I spent part of the evening watching the Google IO keynote. Seeing the diversity delighted me. Men, women, Whites, Asians, but I was solidly struck by lack of black people. Now, I was multitasking while watching, and I didn’t watch the full two hour one, opting for an abridged one. So, I might have missed the them. But that’s my big takeaway.

I’ve wondered how to increase diversity in tech. Deliberate action would the best. There’s a wide range of subjectivity to the phrase, which I’ll explore later.

One thing I love about tech: accessibility. I love the tools to bring more people to work, to have access to a living wage.

I’m delighted at the ever-increasing number of folks who are working. Thus is a key promise of tech. And though we’ve come a long way, there’s so much more.
Let’s get to work! Well, in the morning, perhaps.

Oh, I’m Definitely A Geek!

Carl Setzer

Some fun geek imagery.

Ah, what a great infographic. An oldie but goodie!

 

 

Them’s fighting words?

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Lastly, just a random image on the internet I found delightful.

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Things I wonder about

Carl Setzer

Why is it that the older I get, the harder it is to open child proof containers?

Oh, the great imponderables of life!

Good Ol’ Dilbert and To-Do Lists

Carl Setzer

Well, I still like making to-do lists. To be more specific, I like checking the boxes off as “complete”.

 

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Quote Of The Day: Steven Hawkings

Carl Setzer

Hawking - Imperfection

Om Malik tweeted this today, noting the passing of Stephen Hawking.

I struggle with perfectionism. A focus on quality is good. Focusing on accuracy is also good. Yet there comes a point where it shifts to paralysis. Because Dr. Hawking is right: perfection doesn’t exist. And if I can’t start working because my plan isn’t perfect, or not stop something because the final product isn’t perfect, nothing gets done, nothing is created, the world is empty.

Effectiveness requires us to abandon “perfection”. Requires me. ME! Accept imperfection, move forward. Move!

And that is good.

Endings and Such

Carl Setzer

A business I helped form, build a website for, manage social media…Well, it’s gone out of business. The doors locked,  website shut down, and now, adding a weird  sense of finality, we’re shutting down the Facebook page. I guess I should deactivate the google business page, but I digress.

Facebook was the business’s best performing community engagement tool. Well over a thousand likes. Lots of liveliness, vibrancy and connected people.

But the project is done, and it’s time to let go, sad or not. Letting these sorts of things go, and moving forward; tis quite the challenge. I’ve given so much of myself. But, the past needs to be laid to rest so that the future has room to move. No matter my ego’s misty eyes

There’s always something new my give attention too.