Scott Brightwell dot Org

“It is not a mandate for a party or ideology but a mandate for change,” said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Said Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California: “Tonight the American people have called for a new direction. They have called for change in America.”

Well, we have a new President-elect.  The platform by which this President will take a leadership position of the most powerful nation in the world, is Change.  Change.  Just Change.  Change from what?  Change to what?  Pish posh.  The Democrats seem to be telling us not to get caught up in the details.  You hate the current policies.  We’ll change them.  Everything will get better.  Trust us.

America is now vulnerable to be dragged into any half-baked policy decisions our Change Agents want to set.  (I’ve decided to stop calling them leaders, I’m calling them “Change Agents”.)  Capitalism?  We can change that.  Military superiority?  We can change that.  World Democratic leadership?  We can change that.  Healthcare?  Low taxes?  Family Values?  Definition of marriage?  Constitutional limitations of the federal government?  “We the People” in direct oposition to centralized socialist power.

It’s all up for grabs now.  It can all be changed, because that’s apparently what America wants.  Unspecified, indeterminate, unbounded Change.  It’s frightening.

I’m really disappointed in the direction we the people are allowing this country to head.

A few points to ponder:

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.  ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves.

Liberty has never come from the government.  Liberty has always come from the subjects of it.  The history of liberty is a history of resistance.  ~Woodrow Wilson

If you DON’T believe in God, then you’ll believe in anything.

A brother [monk] said to an old man, “I see no warfare in my heart.”  [Which is the indicator of healthy spiritual struggle with the influences of the world.]  The old man said to him, “You are a building open on all sides, and whoever wishes can pass through you and you are unaware of it. If you have a door, you should shut it, and not allow evil thoughts to enter through it; for then you will see them standing outside, banging on the door, and attacking you.”

I just heard a very good sales tip. From a salesperson’s perspective, “I always get worried when the deal stops pulling, and I start pushing.” That’s a very insightful statement. It does suggest a lack of interest in the customer, and lack of interest means they’re less likely to ultimately make a purchase.

Trying to win friends and influence people, I can imagine a strategy of creating desire in the customer that “pulls the rope taught.” Imagine a lead dog on the sled with desire to move the project along, pulling on everyone else to get it done.

When the lead dog (the customer) stops pulling, it’s very hard to push with a rope. Rather, additional desire needs to be created to start the pull again.

On a non-sales note, I’m wondering if procrastination has anything to do with “feeling needed.” If there are people asking things of you, you feel needed and wanted. If you accomplish whatever it is, you’re no longer needed (at least you may feel this way). So you “string people along” to keep the rope taught, and the people that need you, even though they may get angry with you, keep needing you.

This is a floral arrangement for Kristin Tocher and Matt Spoon’s wedding.

Desktop Tower Defense

http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/game.asp

This is best viewed with a group of people. There’s a punch line at the end if you can make it all the way through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus

Watch it about 5 times, and it’ll get funnier and funnier. (or your standards will get lower and lower)

I’m looking for the Grand Unified Theory of Personal Organization (GUTOPO). I’ve been experimenting (hasn’t everyone) with Getting Things Done by David Allen. It’s a great framework for controlling “stuff” as Dave puts it. I’m coming up short with his system though, and have been pondering a convergence of GTD with the Seven Habits book by Steven Covey. I’ll explore the benefits of each approach, the shortcomings of GTD, and how to combine them to achieve “GUTOPO-ia.”

We all have too much “stuff” in our minds, and the focus of GTD is to get all that “stuff” out of our heads, and into a Trusted System to get it done as efficiently as possible. Dave focuses on not losing track of “stuff” so that our brains relax and begin the natural creative processes they do so well. He calls this clear headedness having a “mind like water.” GTD offers a comprehensive system for getting the stuff out of our heads and into our system. It’s realistic, achievable, imminently practical, and applicable to many forms of organizational technologies, since at it’s heart it’s about keeping lists.

The problem with GTD is there’s not enough discussion on how to insert your own “stuff” into your life. It seems like a reactionary system to me. It’s all about processing those inboxes of our lives. My issue is, that’s not how I want to live my life! Sure, I have inboxes into which other people are constantly putting things, but when do I get to insert my own next actions!? How do I think about what I want and prioritize my own goals!? It’s not fulfilling to keep processing my inbox over and over and over. I might have a day job, but I AM NOT MY DAY JOB. I have inboxes that need processing, sure, but I’m more than a processor of inboxes, and I need help knowing what to do with a clear head and new and creative thinking.

There’s nothing within the GTD model that teaches how to dream, and make those dreams materialize into reality. To be fair to Dave though, he tells us as much in his book. He’s not here to teach us how to do that, he’s here to bring us to the threshold of being able to do that. He’s going to enable us to have a “mind like water” that flows and is creative and is unstoppable, but he’s not here telling us what happens next.

Steven Covey tells us how to bring our own vision into focus, achieve balance in the activities of our lives, behave attempting to find synergies with those around us, and distance ourselves from the busywork so that we can focus on the “Important but not Urgent” aspects of our lives.

Since my blog is getting hit with spam comments.Or maybe I’m just anybody, because everybody gets spam?  Or am I a nobody for not standing out from the crowd?

I’ve had a fairly intense spiritual weekend this weekend. I watched a couple of movies that (regardless of how good the movies are) got me to thinking about deep topics. I watched “United 93″ and “Artificial Intelligence. ” Both have their good and bad points. The movies aren’t the point. The point is I came to realize the Meaning of Life this weekend. Seriously. I’ll tell you, just keep reading.

There are two aspects to the answer. They’re the answers to the questions “Why was I created,” and “What is my purpose?”

The first question is one of existence itself. What sustains us as living, real, vital persons? What defines me as being? What, if it were taken away, would cause me to not exist? I’ll give you a clue, it’s not “I think therefore I am.”

The second question has to do with the purpose of my existence. What am I here to do? What should I be working for? Why keep going?

And the Meaning of Life is… (more…)

Let us not render evil for evil, and we shall not receive our due for our sins. For we find the forgiveness of our trespasses in the forgiving of our brothers; and the mercy of God is hidden in mercifulness to our neighbor. Therefore the Lord said, “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven,” and, “With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.” See how the Lord bestowed on us the method of salvation and has given us eternal power to become sons of God! St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662)

One of the fathers went off to the city to sell his manual work, and seeing a naked beggar, he was moved by compassion and gave him his own habit.  The poor man went and sold it.  When he heard what he had done, the old man was very annoyed and repented of having given him the habit.  That night Christ appeared to the old man in a dream: He was wearing the habit and said to the old man, "Do not grieve, for see, I am still wearing that which you have given me."