A friend attempted to offer me a compliment the other day. She didn’t mean to. She said, “You’re a natural writer. It comes so easy to you.” I said, “Thank you for thinking so. That means I’m writing well. But I have worked for 20 years to become a ‘natural’ writer.” She meant well. But, […]
What Are You “Natural” At? Read More »
I bet you have a person like this in your life: Person says, “I’ve got a problem.” Your ears perk up. A problem! You can help. “Tell me more,” you say. Person explains problem. You start to ask questions, “Have you considered this?” Person turns to you and says, “I didn’t ask for help. I want
When Do You Inflict Help? Read More »
I’m participating in several different writing projects: books with colleagues, shepherding experience reports, and a group book effort. We are all working to make the writing and eventual product better. We are playing the perfection game. Here’s how you play the game. You ask this question, “What would make this even better, even more perfect?”
When Can You Play the Perfection Game? Read More »
It’s Olympics time. And yes, it’s time again for “the thrill of victory and agony of defeat.” I watched that agony as an ice dancing couple fell during their performance. One second, they’re gliding along, looking as if they’re going to medal. The next second, they fell to the ice. They got to their feet—gracefully, I
Who Is in Your Corner? Read More »
I rented a car last week for a 2+ hour drive from Portland to the Oregon coast for a workshop. I used a GPS app on my phone to get the directions. I expected the phone to tell me when to turn. It didn’t. No noise, no directions, nothing. I had no reason to disagree
What Clues Did You Miss? Read More »
I like being independent. Throughout my life, I have said, “I can do it myself.” (They weren’t my first words, but they were close.) I feel a sense of accomplishment when I master something. When I was younger, it was piano lessons, then swimming, then bicycling. In school, it was reading, and then math, and
CAL Tip #6: Practice Asking for Help Read More »
I’m on my way to Agile Prague, transiting through JFK. JFK is an older airport and the way you move from a domestic terminal to the international terminal is to take a bus, aka jitney. Yes, they call it a jitney. The jitney has a ramp so it’s easy for me to get on and
When is “Let’s Not” the Right Answer? Read More »
My town is replacing water meters (I think all the water meters, but certainly ours). They had records of what kind of water meter they expected—the size of the pipes in and out, etc. The water meter guy got here yesterday, took one look at our meter, and called the foreman. Our water meter didn’t
How Do You Prepare? Read More »
I have a high rate of throughput. In addition to my writing, I offer online and in-person workshops. Plus, I have coaching and consulting clients. I’m busy, just like you. One of my clients asked, “How do you get it all done?” He paused. “I bet you have rules for getting it all done. Care
What Are Your Rules for Getting It All Done? Read More »
I’m working on a writing project with a geographically distributed team. We all have full-time paying jobs and this is a professional project with no monetary compensation. We worked as an agile team, in iterations, pairing, helping each other write the best expression of our ideas. We turned over our draft and waited for copyediting
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