Work

Mercenary Work is a Limp Woman

Have you ever given everything you had, vast numbers of hours, to hell with lunch and breaks and going for a soda, only to have someone say it’s no big deal, because you’re getting paid? The mercenary view of work, otherwise known as wage prostitution. Sure, you’re being paid because you work, but is that […]

Asynchronous Communication - The Time Has Come

You’re a busy professional. What you’re doing is in demand. You’ve got lots of clients and lots of work. What kind of communications technology do you use - synchronous or asynchronous? Probably some of both, but probably not enough of the latter. Synchronous communication, of course, is talking back and forth live (phone calls, chatting) […]

Unpopular Comments on Unpopular People

One of the things that a business can do is sustain the very notion of what work means. It can use its resources to uphold the meaning of work itself, and so its own meaning, and the meaning of the myriad of endeavours on which its participants spend the vital years of their lives.
Almost every […]

Lead from the Front, not your Rear

Who hasn’t had the opportunity to either experience leadership (good or bad) in action, or to exert leadership in some setting? Some basic observations from both sides of that experience can translate into effective rules for successful leadership.
A leader motivates through encouragement rather than ridicule or intimidation: Motivation involves the personal goals of the participants, […]

Faith in a Blog about Work

Look, here’s the point: I have more than a couple of jobs, but I limit what I discuss to two, so we don’t have to waste time with the “you’re a freak” discussion. I often hear people talk of: “putting in long hours”. As opposed to what? I was going to work anyway. If it’s […]

When it has to be there Tomorrow

You’re filling a sudden order to bang out a Powerpoint presentation for 500 people by morning, and need to walk in looking rested and in control. You need to launch a web site yesterday, because your new client already mailed out their secondary marketing, and their own servers just died. The mobile headquarters of your […]

47 Lawnmowers

Office environments can spawn an odd kind of possessiveness. “Why did you throw that away in my trashcan, not yours?” (One was closer than another). “Those are my paperclips. Why don’t you get your own?” (They all come from the same place). You could attribute it to the personalization of space, but I personalize and […]

I Know How

Never market your own services by saying “I’ve been trained to…”. It makes you sound like a terrier. It might be a simple mistake, but it could also mean that you still are thinking of your work as a job. What will a client be more interested in - someone who makes his success relying […]

Working beyond the Void

Working into the Precipice

There’s an exhilaration from work that feels a bit like going fast on a 4-wheeler. Skiing, if that’s you. It surpasses exhaustion. It surpasses mere tedium - tedium just makes it go faster. There’s a kind of desire wrapped up in work, a euphoria in the work of one’s life, that takes […]

I wanna be a cowboy, baby…

Hallmarks of the Entrepreneur

Breaks rules
Continually steps (or stays) off the prescribed path
Challenges or questions authority
Sees a world outside the usual definitions
Has a minority of peers
Is accustomed to risk
Is open to failure (indeed, successful entrepreneurs are typified by significant past failures)
Invests and believes primarily in himself - his brand is himself
Blends experimental and analytical approaches to […]

The Rules of Work

Daniel DiGriz
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If I’m awake, I’m working.
Power-shakes beat carbs; they take less time, and don’t turn you into a slut for food.
If it fits in a pocket or an office, it’s a tool, not a master.
If a thing doesn’t cooperate, switch tasks; come back when it’s ready to be nice.
Nice, means it’s helping me work.
Being effective […]

The Rules of Authorship

Daniel DiGriz
There are lots of rules for writing, just as there are lots of writers and ways of writing. This is what works for me.

Write what’s driving you right now. Cut through the fakery of subjects you’re only peripherally interested in. The key to it is self-knowledge, being healthy (i.e. on the right path in […]