This is the concept that an action can be prevented by the doubt of consequences. Not a new idea, nuclear deterrence has been the de facto one for half a century – it’s how North Korea manages to have any semblance of power despite no economic/social structure.

It’s been typically viewed at the global level, between countries. In fact, it applies to our day to day lives. Prison is a pretty effective deterrent, not too many people want to end up there. There’s likely a laundry list of things you don’t do because of the potential consequences, and for the most part, the actions before the consequences are likely amoral or unethical anyhow.

But we’re in a place now where the consequences of an action are not proportionate to the action itself. You steal $10m and get fined $1m. You’re ahead by 9. Or better yet, get fined and increase your bottom line. You want to express your right to vote, but your employer warns you’ll be fired if you miss work. You want to get a health test but it will cost you 2 days pay or more.

It’s really an interesting conundrum. People who want to do the “right thing” are actually disadvantaged to do so. Either they put their own health or their livelihoods at risk. If the only way you’re able to put bread on the table requires you to look the other way from time to time, that is not a choice – it’s an abuse of power. How many people can barely get out of bed with the flu, but still go into work because they aren’t allowed sick leave? Or send their kids to school ‘cause they can’t take time to care for them?

I’m conscious that I live in one of the most liberal countries in the world, where individuals have rights that are only dreamed of. It’s folly to say that we’re good enough and we won’t improve until others catch up. There are plenty of pockets where people barely get by, and there are no options to get out. A homeless person doesn’t just magically stop being homeless – nor was it magic that made them so. Nearly all of the “startup millionaires” had their parents give them money, or connections through angel investors. There’s a good reason they are mostly white males.

Hats off to those who push back. To those who draw that line and say it’s enough. That come up with innovative idea to bypass the systematic deterrence. That find a way to value everyone. That take the time to listen to other points of view, that grow as a community, that are willing to accept they are wrong and grow from it.

We’re all people at the end of the day. We all deserved to be treated as such.

I had a long rant about the insanity of denying global warming. But it doesn’t really matter because in my mind, anyone who actually does deny it is not capable of rational thought. There’s more than enough evidence and experts. And if for some reason they are wrong, then we end up with a cleaner/healthier planet.

I had another rant about social media and it’s poisonous effects on the mental state. Your information is being collected, packaged, and sold to as many buyers as possible. You get nothing out of it but cat memes, and crazy uncles with news stories from some weirdo’s basement. Frankly, there’s not much to say about this other than delete Facebook (and others) and go for a walk.

Others on the state of global politics. Some are killing dissenters, others are rather evidently committing genocide. Somehow we’re cool with that, cause we need out dollar store merchandise and our oil. Or on the youth’s view of cancelling everything in an act of rebellion.

I like to think there’s some good news here. We’re conscious there are problems, and the younger population is educated to a degree that makes rational thought possible. There’s major progress in health care, in renewable energy, and in nutrition. It sucks for my generation, as I’ll be worse off than my parents. But I take some solace knowing that it’s surely going to be better for my kids. No rants needed.

My gaming laptop is in for repairs (4 unresponsive keys) so nothing on that front this week. I will state that finding replacement parts for any laptop is a hell of an adventure – most ship out of China. Anyhoot, should be fixed in the next couple days. I still have my tablet which currently hosts Stardew Valley. Still very zen.

In my part of the world, today is the first day of school for my girls. My wife is also a teacher, but in high school which starts next week. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to a certain amount of anxiety. I know teachers are going to do their best, with the tools they have at hand. I also know they are not first responders, they are caretakers. Nurses don’t apply discipline. Firefighters don’t help kids that fall and get a scraped knee.

I also know that my level of understanding on medical issues is not the same as others. In the limited exposure I’ve set myself for, I’ve not yet experienced people who don’t want to wear a mask, or who are challenged with keeping a social distance. I’ve heard of it though friends, that’s for sure. And it’s going to be an interesting event if a parent is given the choice between a kid with sniffles going to school vs. an un-paid day of work.

Let alone a child’s ability to respect distancing. No monkey bars. No basketball. No street hockey. I’ve seen the classrooms, it’s not possible for them to keep this distant when there’s 25 in a room that fits 15.

But my kids are happy to see their friends again. They are looking forward to meeting their new teachers. They want to learn. They were all smiles today when I dropped them off at school. Who am I to break that? So I do my best to not bring up my worries around them, just some conversations with the wife instead. And when they come home tonight, we’ll focus on all the good/cool stuff they did today. Need to make the best out of the situation and find some positive in uncertain times.

I really try to keep away from politics, it rarely ends well.  Sweet igloo, there’s a dumpster fire going on with our neighbours down south.

185,000 people are dead, which is the equivalent of having a 9/11 event every 3 days.  9/11 being the most defining US moment in the past 50 years, where everyone came together.   Not saying the counterpunch was relevant, or on target, but the country at least was unified.  And the whole world is impacted, the US decides to go it alone.

There have been escalating protests, with everything being put under a lens.  Things people did 20+ years ago are being measured against today’s standards.  And no one is actually doing anything about it, just posting blogs/tweets.  People are still being shot for no reason other than the colour of their skin, and there’s no consequences.

This seems more like Lord of the Flies, where the adults have simply left the room.  It’s us vs them, which is exactly how fascist states run.  But it’s cool, cause the stock market went up a couple points.

It’s not like we don’t have challenges here in Canada, we most certainly do.  Big ones.  But they are such small potatoes to the insanity south of the border.  It would be sad if it wasn’t so god darn scary.  To witness the fall of a modern empire in such a small time frame is beyond comprehension.

I am reminded of two pertinent quotes.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

Tomorrow I want to post something good.  I need to.

No, not Dodgeball. Time management. And since I am often starved for time, I need to do this all too often. This applies when you’re presented with a choice of competing events for time.

I say 5, when the larger view is that there are only 4. I’ll explain the 4 first.

DO

The act of doing the task. Most people time this at the 2 minute mark, if you can get it done in that time, then do it. Being a good writer helps tremendously on this, as you can do more in 2 minutes. My personal bar is closer to 5 minutes, given the types of decisions I need to make and associated actions.

DEFER

Things that take longer to do but you don’t have time to do them. Work-related, this is a rather big pile. I have a fully booked schedule to track piles of activities, and a tracking sheet for outstanding items. Woooo is this a big pile.

DELETE

Most people struggle with this one. We are inundated with requests and many of them can be ignored. If I’m not in the TO field, I don’t need to do the work and I move on. I get dozens of requests from vendors to meet them, I ignore most of those too. I tend to hoard information though, so while I may ignore it, I don’t necessarily delete it.

DELEGATE

This doesn’t only apply to management roles. Let’s say I have repairs to do, I can do most of them myself but I know that the finishing work takes a PILE of time and I’d look at my mistakes for years. So I’ll end up paying someone to do that work for me. In group games, there’s a ton of delegation. Raid leaders know this all too well.

The Fifth

This is where people get stuck, and it’s the ability to decide. Too often people get paralyzed with a decision to make and end up not making one at all. There’s the flip side where people make decisions too hastily and come to regret the outcomes. The act itself is a skill, rather than an outcome, and everyone needs their own practice and set of rules. What I may delegate, another may do.

Back from vacation, I have ~750 emails to get through, which isn’t too bad at all compared to a normal work week. A lot of them are more of the FYI type, but there are a couple in there where I was tasked with work in the future. In a lot of cases, I will delete those actions because the folks can’t understand how an Out of Office / delegate system works. They will ask for a status update and I will just say “did you send it to my clearly indicated delegate?”. A small but important amount will be generic tasks, like performance target updates that are for a larger group, including me.

Over time I’ve become better at time management. Maybe a tad too good at times, and managing expectations becomes complicated. What I can do in 2 hours may take a team member a week to follow through. I know a guy who can put baseboards on an entire floor faster than a team of 5 amateurs can do it. The larger challenge them becomes in delegating, and ensuring the people who do need to do the work are trained/coached along so they get better over time. It takes time, but the payoff is immense. Less work for me, more experience for them, and we get to build a relationship from it.

And that’s my work goal for the rest of this calendar. In the personal space… that’s a really open question. More of a team game there.