Jack, The Fire Putter-Outer

My friend Jack popped by a few nights ago. He's a pretty intense guy, sweats a lot, speaks in a rushed, urgent, raspy voice and, to tell the truth; could use a shower and a change of clothes. It's always nice to see him, even if it means cleaning up the odd blown up thing and Polyfilla-ing the bullet holes after he leaves. All that is to be expected when dealing with a fictional action hero.

He is, after all, single-handedly fighting a battle that no one realizes has to be fought and saving people who don't know they have to be saved; all at the expense of personal safety, a healthy bank balance, pleasant conversations about nothing in particular and the loss of those stress-relieving lazy afternoons at the day spa with wine and cucumber slices on his eyes. No time for that. That's what happens when there are fires to be put out before they become catastrophic.

It seems not everyone is appreciative of Jack's role. Some people of opinion say his story reflects the unhappiness that people have, that it is a strong reflection of their collective persona; rife with torture, violations of human rights, and very representative of the times we live in. They also say most of the drama comes directly from current policies. And they proclaim that reports of his actions exploits people's worst fears to the hilt for entertainment value and profit. (Seems there are haters everywhere these days.)

Maybe one day Jack will finally be able to stop spending all his time putting out fires and lead a little more of a well organized, healthier, less reactive and more proactive life. Until then, it's conventional wisdom that recognizes the fact we all have fires to put out every now and then.

And, like in Jack's case, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

The Tao Of E-Mail

They cause hand cramps, eye strain, spam-based indigestion and hold the tainted smell of false inheritances from strangers in foreign countries. They arrive in hordes like marauding Mongols demanding your time, attention and surrender. And just when you think you're all caught up; more arrive. Practically everyone in business e-mails multiple times a day (it's in the contract) – sometimes to the point of e-mail fatigue. To lessen the chances of becoming victims, there are a few things we can do to protect our sanity and maximize the positive benefits (yes, there are some) of this form of communication:

1) Be brief. On and on they go.... Most people prefer not to read long messages on their screen. If you have a lot of words to send (say over two paragraphs), put them in a file attachment so people can print them out and recycle bin them at their leisure. If others keep on doing this to you I have found sending them a reply containing a copy of War and Peace in the body of the message to work very well

2) Be clear. Making sure you are stating your message as clearly as possible will lessen chances of the reader misunderstanding your intentions. Check your punctuation, spell check, proofread your message, send it to the Legal Department for approval and, if possible, translate it into English before sending. Also double check your recipient list prior to hitting send and delete those who can fire you

3) Don't bullhorn. Some hit reply to all every time they respond to a group email but, really, ask yourself if everyone really needs to hear your opinion or if it's sufficient for only the original sender to receive and ignore your opinion. There's nothing people hate more than receiving reply after reply to something they've dealt with and moved on. (Unless you're the boss, in which case, whatever you do is okay with everyone)

4) Get real. Marking all of your outgoing messages "Important" (or equivalent) may be cute at first but quickly turns ugly. Stop the attention-seeking histrionics and begin by not marking any of your emails. Put the emphasis on coming up with a subject heading that is informative enough to allow the reader to prioritize the importance of the message themselves. Assume they have intelligence (even if it's not really true and never could be in this lifetime). And finally

5) Don't e-mail. Unless you're abnormally ugly, haven't showered in a while or are infested with some kind of transferable parasite, make a point to get together every once in a while for a communication that you would normally e-mail. Bring coffee and go over things together. Let them put a face to an e-mail address and name. Electronic communications, while convenient and time effective, are, after all, about furthering a cause and achieving results. They are not the be-all and end-all. The old fashioned methods can help as you travel further on down the electronic highway.

Your comments, additions and wise reflections are welcome, of course. Either here, or you can shoot me an e-mail... (haha)

And So It Begins Again...

"Don't let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out!" ~ Robert Tew

Last year, with the announcement of the new Batman, the world of super hero worshipers and comic-com affectionados became very worried. Angry even. They said it wouldn't work. That he couldn't possibly pull it off. The naysayers were stumbling over themselves to pipe in with their condemnations and two cents worth. In this age of instant experts and internet sniping nerdships, trolls banded together to condemn the casting even before the production began.

It was deemed the worst casting choice since Mickey Rooney played a Chinese landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Or maybe Madonna as a missionary nurse in Shanghai Surprise, or okay Keanu Reeves starring in Buddha in 1993's Little Buddha.

This week, Director Zack Snyder has given fans their first glimpse of Ben Affleck as Batman and it seems to have passed muster. The film, unofficially titled Batman vs. Superman, won't be released until May of 2016 but it seems the defense has begun in earnest.

It's not a new thing. People have been prejudging the plans of others since time began. It has happened to all of us. Or those of us that try to accomplish new things. Our reputation precedes us and determines whether we're therefore suitable. But estimations like these could simply be underestimations.

JK Rowling was a single mother and unemployed. She moved to Scotland to be near her sister and saw herself as "the biggest failure I knew" but she had a daughter who she adored, an old typewriter, and a big idea. "And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

In the early '70s, Dr. Judah Folkman proposed an idea in cancer research that did not fit what scientists thought at the time. “You’re studying dirt,” they said. For two decades, he met with disinterest or hostility as he pursued his work in the study of the growth of new blood vessels that might help stop the growth of tumors. Folkman discovered the first angiogenesis inhibitors in the 1980s. Today more than 100,000 cancer patients are benefiting from the research he pioneered.

Amy Tan was partners in a technical-writing business but wanted to do something more creative with words. So she made her pitch to her partner but her partner insisted that writing was her weakest skill and added, “You’ll never make a dime writing.” She quit and set out to prove him wrong. Being on her own was tough but she set out to try her hand at fiction. The Joy Luck Club was born. And the manager who couldn’t write became one of America’s bestselling, best-loved authors.

So go, Ben Affleck and Zack Snyder. Go. Prove the naysayers wrong. 

6 Ways To Lighten Up In A Professional World

Workplaces today are pressure tanks, especially for those in private industry, and that goes double for those who produce creative products under tight deadlines. Work weeks can easily become 120 hours long because of deadlines, juggling multiple jobs and the fact that billable hours pay the rent (and your salary). Stress builds up over time to take a toll on us. So it's important to do things to counterbalance the stress – and to do these things on a daily basis. Here are a few ideas for you, drudged from personal experience (and cleaned up for the censors).

1) Share a laugh. With a client. With a colleague. With the guy who goes around emptying garbage cans. It's good for your relationship and lets them know you've got a sense of humor (which can come in handy when things get sticky or you happen to generate an inordinate amount of garbage one day). Give yourself a break. Know when to not take yourself too seriously and be something of a clown at times. Make yourself smile and risk doing silly stuff to make others smile. Trust they won't think you're a complete goof.

2) Stop torturing yourself with high fashion. It's easier to lighten up if you wear clothing that is comfortable, especially shoes. Cumfy shoes are important because they make point 3) below easier. (Personally, I had to stop wearing my 6" stilettos a few years ago for this very reason.) Tight underwear that binds and jeans so skinny they cut off circulation to your feet so they go numb are also no-no's.

3) Here's something you've probably already heard from others but is worth repeating. Leave the work behind every now and then. Regularly. Take a break. Get up and go for a walk. Outside is good, as long as you work in a safe neighborhood and it's not night when there are muggers lurking in the shadows or if it's raining cats and dogs. Think about nothing. If it is unsafe or inclement outside, do something you enjoy, as long as it involves getting up, moving around and decompressing. Note: DO NOT watch the news or read a newspaper or listen to the office gossip as these acts are counterproductive to levity.

4) If you're personally into it, work up a rapport with a coworker to share gross and inappropriate comments with. Keep this down to a trusted few because not everyone can understand sardonicism because they like being uptight and therefore don't qualify for the benefits of offbeat. Also it's important to only share these moments verbally and in low tones and NOT emailed or in any written form or voice mails as these can be used against you by that no-talent little twerp of a jerk who thinks they can do your job (not that I'm bitter).

5) I know I'm going to seem a bit puritan for saying this, but stay away from doing the liquid lunch thing (unless it's with a client and you don't have to return to work and have a ride home). Add mind altering "designer" drugs to that. Because what you produce after may seem to be genius at the time but when you sober up chances are you'll realize you have to do all that stuff over again. Because it's stupid.

6) Finally, if you are in the position to set deadlines, make sure that you pad the final days of the project timeline. For instance, if you need to deliver the product on a certain date, make up a critical path for the project that allows you to deliver a few days early (and for deliverables from others to come to you early during the process as well) so that when things go wrong or are delayed (and they will) you have that built-in padding of time there to take the pressure off. And if things go smoothly and you deliver a few days early – hey, take a bow.

If you're young and with lots of energy, please realize you're not indestructible. Take steps to protect your health down the road and tailor those steps to your personality, likes and situational limitations. Above all, realize that stress may be a good motivator for you now, but if excessive over a long period of time it can hurt you.

Have fun. Be good to yourself. Hope this helps.

The Perfectly Imperfect Spotlight

Since graduating from diapers we're taught not to brag, to mind our manners, and try to be good boys and girls. We're told a lot of stuff by a lot of people through our sorry lives but not too many tell us to feel good about ourselves just the way we are. After all, nobody's perfect. Only clowns, fools, the Kardashians and the mentally challenged are happy with themselves. Normal people have to strive to do better, make more money, buy more stuff, get smarter and prettier. And so, we find ourselves concentrating on our shortcomings rather than our strengths. In doing so, we learn to keep our heads down because we live in a Whack-A-Mole world and we, friends, are the whackees.

Some of us go through our entire lives yearning to be a better person because we've been conditioned to believe that we're lacking. A work in progress. Unfinished. Inachevé. Simpleminded idiots with halitosis in need of some serious plastic surgery. And there appears to be an ample supply of people around to reinforce that fact. It's a shame, but (as they say) life's a bitch, then you die and someone wears your clothes.

Sure there are layabouts and welfare freeloaders... but for those of us that aren't, I recently came across some top secret research. Don't ask me how I got it. And don't tell anyone. It's: Imperfect is perfectly okay. If we somehow beat the odds and find a way to feel good about who we are now, at this moment, the repercussions are surprising. Instantly, we gain the stature of small "g" gods, that nasty rash becomes just another opportunity to scratch, we are our perfect weight and our outlook is much more conducive to becoming the sex symbol we all know we are. Plus, if we're not constantly looking down on ourselves it's much easier to help others feel better about not being perfect too. Laughter, wasting time and enjoying life is no longer frivolous but an extremely integral part of our day. Mistakes are not the end of the world but a necessary part of becoming our own superhero. Life becomes a better place to be.

So we all might try allowing ourselves into the perfectly imperfect spotlight. By doing so we'll be demonstrating to others that they can do it too.

Here's Peggy (who, by the way, was practically imperfect)... let's keep dancing...