Mr. Hyam - my Grade 6 teacher - was not a fan of Rube Goldberg machines. Hours spent at home with odd bits and pieces from the junk drawer, various found treasures, a sloped board about the size of a school desk and a small ball bearing resulted in marvellous "contraptions". Carefully dismantling and transporting it all to school, a buddy and I would set them up on my desk.
Tis the season. Top 10 Innovators under 30. Top 35 Young Entrepreneurs under 35. So to see an article that celebrated growing old was a wonderful lift to my day. The editor of the MIT Technology review celebrated 7 inventors over 70. In fact most of them were over 80!
Is it possible to over plan? The simple answer is yes. For a freelance web business this is a critical issue. Clients expect us to give them fair and reasonable estimates of how long a project should take. and so we should. Somewhere there is a line between dealing with everything as urgent crisis and so finely planned that there is no room for spontaneity. Haphazardness creates its own problems. And we often set deadlines for ourselves that become very difficult to meet. How does it happen? Do we deliberately lie or is there something more fundamental going on?
Several months ago my brother-in-law showed up at a celebration with a musicbox for his mother. What a wonderful whimsical gift. A modern version with no key just a small electrical motor still the simple tunes bring a smile to our faces each time we hear it.
Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.
