Changing the narrative...

A recent event has had me reflecting and wondering if it all could have played out any differently — alas, I think I simply had no choice but to change the narrative, and I suppose I had to do it in a dramatic way.

Have you ever come around the corner to find yourself faced with "mischief" that suddenly increases your immediate possibilities exponentially? That literally happened to me as I rounded the bend with my pizza dinner in hand. This particular "mischief"  came in the form of three people, who moments before I passed them, had thrown something at a passing taxi. The taunts for pizza soon followed, and shortly after that the stomping of feet as if they were chasing me — an annoying but harmless narrative.

That was until one of them ran up behind me and jumped in front of me screaming. I then added my own narrative — and punched him in the head.

It was more of a symbolic punch because I had two work-bags over my shoulder and a pizza in one hand. Looking shocked he then screamed, "You hit me". After an exchange of bad punches and the death of my pizza, a Samaritan arrived and deescalated the situation. After some shouting I headed home with the proposition of having to make dinner.

I can still hear one of them saying, "We were just trying to scare him".

I will admit this post is somewhat cathartic but there is another important consideration aside from describing a very poor street fight.  As pointed out, their narrative was to cause "mischief" and "scare" people, and that narrative was only going to change if something happened that did not align (or feed) their story (and shift the paradigm). The narrative shifted from hassling a guy with a pizza to dealing with a poor street fight (and how to get out of it). The Samaritan offered that opportunity (with little resistance), and gave us a new narrative to continue the day.

All of this became a reminder that there are times that if you want to change a narrative, you really have to change the narrative... and sometimes pizzas do get hurt.

iamgpe

PS — I'm not advocating violence, but it's never a good idea to attack someone from behind.

Moments — into the blue

Say what you will about Artificial Intelligence... the algorithms that YouTube uses are really impressive.

A case in point —

One of my sources for news is YouTube — it consists of watching cable news outlets and late night talk show hosts (no judging). As an added bonus the feed also seems to offer up random videos that more often than not catch my interest (as I said, the AI is impressive).

Last night was no exception.

After satisfying my thirst for the local and global "drama" of the day I noticed the musical video "Space Oddity" was waiting. Not only is it one of my favourite songs, I will also say I've always seen it as an anthem for taking on new challenges and stepping into the unknown.

Serendipity became the word of the evening as I thought of some of the things I have on the go.

I'm not able to interpret the genius of Bowie but will tell you his song ignites my imagination about heading into the blue, taking on new challenges, and overcoming any problem that may stand in my way. More importantly, it reminds me that it's important to have a soft place to land because even the most exciting adventures can tire a person out. What that soft place looks like... well... ultimately that is for you to decide.

And as a reminder — those hard landings really hurt.

iamgpe

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, 
engines on
Check ignition
and may God's love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control
to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule
if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past
one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

Here am I floating
round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

A framework for dealing with opportunities and problems

As a general rule I categorize my working world into two "buckets" — one filled with Opportunities and the other filled with Problems. I will admit it's an oversimplification but I've found it's a great way to ground myself when I have to deal with things.

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op·por·tu·ni·ty [ˌäpərˈt(y)o͞onədē] NOUN — a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something:

prob·lem [ˈpräbləm] NOUN —a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome:

Along with my oversimplified view of things, I have also developed a simple framework of thinking which has increased my probability for success when dealing with "Opportunities and Problems" — see my finely crafted illustration.

At its core, this framework does two things — 1) ensures I consider what's important for my thinking and 2) ensures everything that is actually done stays aligned to address the problem (or opportunity).

There are five considerations that make up this framework, and the result can be as simple or as complicated as you would like to make it (or need to make it).

1. Identify and understand the "Opportunity or Problem" you are faced with — it is important to understand the situation involved and never underestimate the complexity of what you are dealing with. 
2. What are your goals to exploit (if it's an opportunity) or solve for (if it's a problem)? You should have no more than two goals, and preferably only one because there is the chance you may spread your efforts too thin, or even miss the mark. If you have too many goals, maybe you have more than one problem or opportunity you have to deal with.
3. What are the objectives needed to meet your goal(s). Remember objectives need to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound) —  I suggest that you have no more than five objectives (three is preferable). If the project is big and gnarly, it may require a few more; I suggest you prioritize them, and as you achieve one objective remove it from the list and add another. 
4. The activities you need to initiate to achieve the objectives. This could be a laundry list of activities, and they definitely need to be prioritizes because some may build upon each other. Activities, like Objectives, need to be SMART, and are really a tactical subsection of an objective. This sub-sectioning keeps everything you have to do in a manageable form, and helps identify the last consideration.
5. Resources — nothing gets done without people, money, systems, and time. Rallying the resources around the activities ensure things get done and helps prevent reallocation of your resources somewhere else if scope creep comes into play. Depending on the complexity of the goal and associated objectives, having a resource allocated to act as a project manager or "facilitator" may make sense. Sometimes all of this can get very, very complex and fall off the rails very, very quickly if someone isn't looking at the big picture. 

The order of things I've outlined just reflects the planning process you should go through so you can articulate what you need to do and get approval to proceed — or get the green light as we like or say in the business.

Once you get that... well... then it's just a matter of rallying the resources to get the activities going to drive your objectives forward; in turn meet your goal(s) to solve the problem (or take advantage of the opportunity).

Easy Peasy — then again, I may be oversimplifying.

iamgpe