Categories
Words

35 Lessons

35 Lessons in 35 Years

She wants you to listen, not to offer a solution to what she’s venting about.

Guilty. But I can’t help myself!

Get on the wagon every once in a while. If only to appreciate that first sip a little bit more than the last.

And to save yourself a shitload of money.

I think the most interesting one for me is:

No one gives a damn about the size of your to-do list.

I think if the point is that it doesn’t matter how much you have to do more will still be expected of you then I guess it’s true, but as someone with a perpetually hefty (and growing) to do list I find that actually everyone I work with is very aware of it and doesn’t want to add to it but they still do. I would have the life lesson as: everyone thinks they are an exception.

If you sit everyone down in a room to agree on a standard across the board and you reach a consensus as soon as one of those people has an individual project it will require something different. The agreed standard will even be referenced but will be shortly followed by a ‘but’. People will always see their project as an exception to the rule even if they set the rule (often especially so in that case) and in terms of a to do list someone may try their hardest to stop others from adding to your to do list but when it comes to them the situation is different – which ultimately leads to the same outcome when everyone thinks that way – but as a rule I think it can be applied to a wider range of situations.

(thx to Justin)

2 replies on “35 Lessons”

The trick I learned fairly early on was to ensure nobody knew the length of my to-do list

By doing that you only have to accept the projects or tasks you want to take on as you can lengthen and shorten the list during ‘negotiation’ of taking on the project.

If somebody ‘important’ has something for you to do, just say no problem I’ll get on to it as soon as I can. (Just be sure never to specify a date. Ever.)

Oh, and have a whiteboard that’s full of tasks that people will recognise as at least mildly important so you can reference it and say that their project is ahead of all these whiteboarded ones, even when it isn’t.

Leave a Reply to Justin Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *