• WOWOW: The Death and Underachievement Edition [Links of the Week]

    by Alexander Becker

    Underachieving and resolutions and social objects and modest change. Let's see where we end up.

    Discovering Personal Excellence

    There is a difference between corporate and personal achievement. Of course, excellence is about working as good as you can, always and without excuses but the point here is that personal endeavours have to be committed to with at least a comparable amount of excellence.

    There is no such thing as corporate passion. It is your personal thing. It is you who makes the dent in the universe, not your company. If it seems like it is the other way around, run. Make one yourself. A dent and a company, that is.

    Resolutions

    Death and Underachievement: A Guide to Happiness in Work by Ryan Norbauer pretty much sums it up --

    But we'll deal in a moment with what to do with our newfound perspective; for now it's enough just to note the facts. And all the facts point to a universe that is utterly indifferent to your body-mass index, your latest promotion, or how well-organized your reference filing system is.

    ... and...

    We do the best work we can, but we don't fret when we fail, nor do we jeopardize the quality of our work -- or the happiness of our days—by bowing to the pressure to take on more than we can handle.

    ... and...

    As The Underachiever's Manifesto has it: striving is suffering. It is only by accepting the illusory nature of achievement that we can hope to transcend it. Would it be mawkish of me to invoke Steve Jobs?: our time is limited, so don't waste time living someone else's life.

    ... and...

    There are also more sublunary and practical reasons why the pressure for extraordinary achievement is counterproductive. The diet that permits the occasional bucket of french fries is the one more likely to be adhered to, and the exercise regime that demands only a gentle stroll every day rather than a heart-pounding decathlon is the one more likely actually to be followed. Extreme expectations apply extreme stress and create extreme resistance and procrastination. In so doing, they undermine our ability to get anything we want. We forfeit perfectly serviceable rewards in the pursuit of enormous and unattainable ones.

    Yes and no. Sure, Ryan is perfectly right, but even better to do the decathlon if you actually follow it.

    ... and...

    The hard part of life is done: you are here and alive to read these words. As the Manifesto commands, stop worrying about being perfect. Dedicate yourself to the pleasures and benefits of mediocrity.

    Social Objects

    Hugh explains Social Objects for Beginners --

    The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

    ... where the social object is a "neutral third party", something that isn't part of neither mine nor your privacy. It is some safe haven. A clutch for you and me to hold onto until we think to know each other and start "connecting" for real.

    ... and he goes on with...

    Why The "Social Object" is the Future of Marketing --

    ... She'll only talk about it if it serves as a Social Object. A "hook" to move the conversation along. A hook she can use it as a way to relate to her fellow human beings.

    The trick to have people talk about you, then, is to become a social object. This makes it less interesting to talk to you, though.

    Presence of Mind

    Another one from 43f --

    Beginning the Year with Fresh Starts & Modest Changes

    Don't miss this little gem --

    Have you ever put up with a squeaky door for years and then one day, for whatever reason, suddenly found yourself grabbing the WD-40 and lubricating that particular nuisance out of your life? I have, and I'm here to tell you, it's awesome. You actually stand there wondering why you never had the presence of mind to affect such an improvement -- ridiculously trivial though its solution may be.

    Other than that, time does in fact matter, ask Steve Jobs.

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