Author: Ross Andrews

Exhaustion

I always WANT to write something amazing in my blog posts, I really do.

I have visions of an eager subscriber looking forward to daily pieces from my blog. Content so damn good and interesting that it hits a sweet spot in the reader’s brain. Like drinking a coke or listening to a great tune, my writing in my dreams is good enough to build a career on top of.

But…

But I can’t even think straight at the moment with 2nd child exhaustion syndrome. No sleep = no brain functionality = no good writing.

I am struggling to even poor a cup of tea, let alone inspire the world with wordcraft.

Bear with me and my blog though, apparently the little critters grow older and easier with time! Either that or the parents collapse and never ever recover.

I hope it’s the first one.

Asking

There is a fine line between asking for consideration, for attention as part of a smart marketing campaign, and becoming annoying with pestering. I have been asked by an ex-colleague I trust and like to vote for his work in a survey for his piece on diesel emissions. This is fine by me because I know him and he had my attention anyways. But self-promotion is often not so clearcut.

I am of the belief that given a choice it is always preferable to let the work speak for itself. That way if you are good enough, others will take the time to knock on your door to find out what you do. You won’t have to bother anyone out of the blue.

Of course this is not the only method for selling something to someone, but it is probably the pinnacle I am trying to aim for.

Trawling for peers

If I follow you on Twitter, I have been trawling through your followers and people you follow with a feverish obsession!

You see, I just re-joined twitter after a long break. Although @chimpwithcans was posting my blog posts automatically, I was not using the service actively. Now I have started actively following and posting, I am trying to find the best people to follow. Trying to find peers.

I am not interested in how many followers a person has, but I am interested in whether they are my type of person. This is hard to measure though. It involves experimentation, dedication to reading posts, trying out following people who I think may be of interest. Dropping those who are not.

I think it could be worth it. Finding a peer group and working with them, intentionally and on a regular basis, would be a great thing to get out of social media.

 

Bit by bit

When you are trying to make a contribution, there is not shortcut – particularly if you are not part of an ‘old boys network’ automatically getting your foot into the door – instead you have to start with becoming skilled. This takes practice and effort. Nothing more, nothing less.

Take the wildlife artist who can show a progression from school day sketches to celebrated conservation art: see link

Or the ESG researcher who has worked their way up to be in charge of a whole department: see link

The question then becomes not “who do you know” but “what can you do”. That is far more fair on all involved.

Hunting for community

We never had to do it before. We were born, grew up, and died in the same village. Not true anymore. We move schools, jobs, towns, countries more often than ever before. It’s great for experience but not for community. Unfortunately our needs have not changed as quickly as our technology and our wealth.

No matter how much traveling we distract ourselves with, at the end of the day we humans need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We need family and familiarity around us. We need it for contentment. I have moved around a lot. I am now trying to settle- And so I hunt for community as follows:

  • Rejoined Twitter
  • Play sports
  • Lift the head and ask people questions about themselves when talking to them
  • Write regularly

Some tactics work better than others but in the absence of a childhood history to build bonds, I have to start somewhere 🙂

Networking

The concept of ‘networking’ has always been a hard pill for me to swallow. It always seemed like it was forcing something that wasn’t there naturally. The smooth handshake and business card, wearing a suit with a flash smile to win someone over – it’s just not me.

I have a different perspective now. Networking and leveraging your network is something that defines us as humans. It calls back to our tribal roots and it is unavoidable. Essential.

However, the pace at which networking operates is much slower than I thought when I was younger. A good impression here and there adds up over time, until you get referrals, or you give referrals to someone in your network.

A strong network should have some key attributes:

  • Everyone you feel is in your network needs to trust you
  • You need to be able to contact anyone in the network at any time
  • Autonomy is key – a pyramid is not a network. Networks are best when they are flat structures, with everyone feeling equal peers within the network.

A network is extremely valuable. Greater than the sum of its parts, it is a safety net to weather any storm.

Black Friday Blues

Black Friday Blues are a very distinct set of emotions. These emotions hit my consciousness like a Mike Tyson punch to the head once a year. My name is Ross and I am addicted to technology.

If you could see my setup you would realise how deep my addiction has set in. I have wonderful headphones linked up to specialised hifi equipment attached to my Macbook. My TV room is full of gaming, streaming, hifi and AV devices. The pleasure it gives me to link up a piece of high fidelity tech has become a crutch. And now the internet throws half price deals at me – it’s like offering an alcoholic a tequila shot and a beer chaser – half price happy hour. Sheesh.

I still haven’t figured out how I am going to avoid/ignore/manage the deals that will barrage my inbox all day today and tomorrow.

Wish me luck.

Listen and explain

If someone is struggling with a real issue, it will tilt their worldview.

While it is tempting to assume everyone else sees the world as you do, this approach is actually a cop out – an escape from the responsibilities of explanation. Nobody sees the world exactly as you do.

Take the time to listen and to explain. This comes from a father of a 2 year old!