What Have You Made Today?(WHYMT)
Goal: Discuss the labels we call ourselves and the actions behind them
One of the labels I place upon myself is creative. I am very creative and can not be bored easily.
Whatever the industrial role I have been in I always find something new to bring to it. How? By asking myself how I can do that role more creatively. This unleashes all kind of ideas. Ideas on how to improve my team, our knowledge, my knowledge, our processes, our products, etc.
When I used to teach in front of groups I would bring that same level of creativity. I loved teaching a class more than once. Other instructors like teaching the same course because they don’t have to prepare for it. It is easy money since all the prep time is done the first time.
For me teaching a course multiple times forces me to take it to another level. The first time might be just to make sure I cover all of the material. Second time might be to make sure I emphasize the most important ideas more. Third time might be to add additional examples. Fourth time might be to have everything typed. Etc.
So now lets get back to now…
If I label myself as creative than I should be creating. Planning is not creating. Thinking is not creating. Procrastinating while looking at clouds is not creating.
Some would say that creating is just intelligence having fun. I do not say that.
To me, the act of imagining without execution is not creativity. Creativity is when that imagination results in a product that did not exist prior to the thinking. This could be a document, an article, a painting, program, chart, sketch, a new course, or anything concrete.
Often it is easier to come up with an excuse instead of a shippable product. But as Seth Godin wisely teaches us that excuses are good for a piece a mind. Twenty years ago we could default to excuses about time, money or energy. Today all of the world knowledge is within reach. Today resource needed to create products have be reduced to the point of not being a barrier. The only excuse now is laziness.
What!!! That seems pretty harsh.
Yup you do not make things because you are lazy. It is not that you don’t have time because no one is asking for your time at 4:30 in the morning. It is not that you don’t have money because you can crowd fund it or scrape the few dollars. It is not that you have no energy because you can eat better and get fitter through exercise.
Maybe you can come up with another excuse but for me that is true. I can justify it but in the end it boils down to simple laziness.
And what is the solution for laziness?
Motion before emotion… do something before you feel like doing it.
I believe that the question, “What have I made today?” is a wonderful question to ask in the evening. If you have not build something, then get up and do it before you go to sleep.
My two cents….(this is what I earned from Medium.com in October 2020)
I got to go…my future self alarm went off
Robert Trajkovski is professional with experience in leading people and projects in Steel/ Power, Refining, Chemicals, Industrial Gasses, Software, Consulting and Academia. He has worked for both owners and engineering companies. In addition, he has instructed 73+ courses at several institutions and often offers his courses for free on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttrajkovski/
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