Monthly Archive for April, 2009

When to Just Do It

Published
by
admin
on April 21, 2009
in Newsletters
. 0 Comments

I’m a big fan of planning. I like to consider the options, spend some time looking at pros and cons, do some research, write out a flow chart, and then start doing things.

Of course, sometimes once I start, the whole plan goes out the window. That’s life for you.

There are costs to overplanning - just like there are costs to not planning at all. Planning takes time. Sometimes, planning can fall into a loop of indecision, that acting would quickly resolve.

So here are some guidelines to when it’s better to just do it.

First of all, I like David Allen’s two minute rule, from Getting Things Done - if you think of something that needs doing, and it would take less than two minutes, do it now. Not sure if it will take more than two minutes? Start a timer, then do it - since you’re not sure, it must be close - and next time you will know.

Next, if you begin to feel like thinking about a project or decision isn’t getting anywhere, pick an action and go try it. That feeling of not-getting-anywhere is a good clue to overplanning. Engage with reality, get some feedback, and everything may become clear. And if not, you’ll have had a nice break, and you can always go back to planning later.

Also just do it if you would enjoy the process of finding out what happens. Would you like to explore a new part of town? Does that seem intriguing, enjoyable, exciting? Then don’t delay the fun by looking for a map and setting a timeline and making a bullet list of what you want to accomplish. Just go.

To recap, just do it when it would take longer to think about it than to get it done, when the planning isn’t going anywhere, and when you would enjoy discovering what happens as you do it.

Our heads can make our lives a lot easier - and it is in action that we live.

I’d be glad to help you balance action and thought. In about two weeks, I’ll have a space for another client. Give me a call if you’d like to reserve the place.

And may both your planning and your acting be part of your living well.

Anna

Small Steps

Published
by
admin
on April 21, 2009
in Small Steps
. 0 Comments

“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Neil Armstrong, as he placed the first footprint on the Moon.

This issue’s Small Step for Space:  Join a rocket club.

Check local newspapers, schools, and bulletin boards, and of course the Internet.  A rocket club is fun, educational, and social.

Book Recommendation

Published
by
admin
on April 21, 2009
in Book Reviews
. 0 Comments

An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe

There are aliens and space travel in this book.  There are also dark, mysterious strangers, dames of uncertain virtue, and Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.  Although at times it reminded me of both a Cary Grant romantic comedy and a Philip Marlowe mystery, Gene Wolfe is too much in control of his language for it ever to devolve into parody.  I enjoyed the smart, witty dialogue, and felt it was true to the characters.  This is a fantastic, stylish, entertaining book that fits naturally between science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as so many books used to.  It’s both well-plotted and well-written.

Are We Islands?

Published
by
admin
on April 7, 2009
in Newsletters
. 0 Comments

“No man is an island.” John Donne
“Each one of us is an island, floating free.” Mervyn Peake

To be an island means to be essentially separate.  Islands develop their own ecologies.  They have rich, individual lives - and yet they cannot share them.

Comparing people to islands has become a shorthand for the gap that exists between one person’s experience and the next.  In some ways, we cannot know what someone else thinks and feels.

To what degree do we connect?  Can we build bridges?

A large part of my professional work is listening.  I prepare myself to be as transparent a channel as I can be, and then I place myself in relationship with a client.  I work to see that individual; to hear precisely that person, and no one else; to be fully present so that together we can find the client’s true self, essential goals, and best path to reach those goals.

They don’t hire me for the listening.  They hire me for the results.  They hire me to help them reach those goals, whether it is to change careers, feel better, improve their business, or, most often - now that I specialize in writers - to write a book.

The trick is, I want them to have what is exactly right for them.  Which means the listening comes first.  Before I can suggest a course of action, I try to know them.  That way, I can help them find the solutions that are uniquely right for them.

So, I have had practical experience in seeing to what level we can connect, one with another.  Judging by the results, I say connection is possible, and more important than the gap.

I currently have one opening for a client.  If you’d like it, please give me a call at 575-640-0979.

And may you enjoy both individuality and connection.

Anna Paradox

P.S. I pulled the opening quotes from an essay by Paul Kincaid on the literary website Bookslut. I enjoyed his discussion of how science fiction helps us prepare to meet others, whether they are aliens or our neighbors.  Check out his column, Science Fiction Skeptic, here: http://www.bookslut.com/science_fiction_skeptic/2009_04_014310.php

Small Steps

Published
by
admin
on April 7, 2009
in Small Steps
. 0 Comments

“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Neil Armstrong, as he placed the first footprint on the Moon.

This issue’s Small Step for Space:  Do citizen science.

You can contribute science from your backyard or desktop.  There is a long tradition of amateur astronomers discovering important bodies in space.  Here is a useful guide on confirming the discovery of a comet: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/CometDiscovery.html

The National Weather Service uses home monitoring to improve weather forecasting - necessary for safe launches - here: http://www.wxqa.com/

SETI at Home is the long-running project to use private computers to analyze radio telescope data for evidence of extra-terrestrial intelligence.  Learn more here: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

And here is a general clearinghouse for citizen science, including a couple NASA projects: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit

Book Recommendation

Published
by
admin
on April 7, 2009
in Book Reviews
. 0 Comments

Dread Empire’s Fall by Walter Jon Williams, a trilogy composed of The Praxis, The Sundering, and Conventions of War

I really enjoyed this tale of a galactic empire falling into war after the death of the race that built it.  Walter Jon Williams cleverly sets the scene by imagining that for twelve thousand years, the Shaa have suppressed technical innovation and political freedom.  When the last Shaa dies, the first species they conquered plans a swift coup to grab the reins of power.  Two humans find themselves at the center of the resistance.  The story alternates between the viewpoints of Lady Sula, a resourceful pilot whose past holds a secret, and Gareth Martinez, a brilliant tactician hampered by an unfashionable accent.  I found myself reading longer than I’d intended.  I also admired Williams’ clever sleight-of-hand - the Shaa’s prohibitions eliminated the technologies that could have caused a singularity, so he could plausibly write an old-fashioned space empire story.