willie jackson

Month: February 2012

  • Better now than before

    Customers come to you because they have a problem they can’t (or don’t want to) solve. And while they may describe their problem in a certain way, it’s important to determine what the customer actually needs, regardless of how poorly the problem is being articulated.

    Assuming that they’ve reached out with the intent to actually engage you for your services (as opposed to just kicking the tires), your job then becomes 1) understanding very clearly what the issue is and 2) leaving the customer feeling like you can make the problem go away.

    It’s more of an art than a science, and there are many ways to say the wrong thing and scare the customer into never following up or following through. They should leave the conversation with more clarity than they had before connecting with you and if not, you might be trying to solve the wrong problem.

  • Performing under pressure

    …is almost never as good as performing well-prepared.

    Procrastination junkies extol the benefits of last-minute work, and there’s no denying that many people reach a powerful state of flow when working against a tight deadline. But the goal, I think, should be to bring about these states of flow well ahead of said deadlines.

    The work then becomes diving into projects well ahead of time and focusing them it intensely until they’re complete, rather than purposefully procrastinating and then circumstances require that you do this.

  • Learn from yourself

    If there’s a goal you have in mind and you’ve made no strides towards completion in say, six months, is it really a goal? And if the answer is yes, what are you waiting on exactly?

    We have an idea of what we’d like to become and how we’d like to be viewed and what would be best for us, but all of this takes a backseat to what we’re actually willing to put in the work to accomplish.

    I’m not sure that it’s natural to allow questions to resonate in the echo chamber of own solitude but after doing it enough times, it becomes a place for truth and clarity and direction.

  • This is how it’s not going to work

    You have to teach people how to treat you. This is done in a few different ways:

    • The respect that you command (body language in person, confidence in voice on the phone, etc.)
    • The respect that your work commands (are you well-known for your art? that matters)
    • Drawing lines as necessary

    It’s easy to apply this to situations in the workplace and relationships with others, but it’s equally true in dealing with customers and mechanics and even strangers.

    Does this mean you need to walk around with a chip on your shoulder or on alert for the moment you’re disrespected? Of course not. On the contrary, I think a large part of the proper perspective involves ignoring things that others might get upset over.

    Once you reach the point where you’re focused on your art and goals and making progress, it’s easy to determine what’s a distraction and what’s worth fighting for.

  • The power of exposure

    In the same way that upcoming college graduates exposed to different careers in their field have a better chance of securing a job or project that’s interesting for them and a good fit, I think it’s also important that we regularly expand our horizons in order to develop novel and important thoughts.

    The business trips (visiting dozens of companies in major cities across the US) I took as an undergrad opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, and informed many of the choices I made approaching graduation.

    This doesn’t just have to do with travel, of course. Conversations, books, documentaries, and music can all offer us new worlds to explore. We just have to seek them out.

  • Digging yourself out of a hole

    An important thing to do, and one that requires quite a bit of emotional labor. When faced with setbacks and challenges, the natural reaction is to cower, turn away, and seek refuge in the shadows.

    The best reaction is to lean into the pain, go on the offensive, and take steps to prevent the setbacks in the first place. Momentum certainly plays a role in the equation, and everyone has a point at which they’d wave a white flag.

    So don’t be like everyone.

  • Building websites isn’t easy

    Not when you do it right, anyway. That’s why I geek out over things like HTML5Boilerplate, Twitter Bootstrap, and Thesis.

    Sure, you could deploy your site to WordPress.com in five minutes and call it a day, but that’s not an acceptable solution for some businesses. And there are no shortage of consultants who will happily sweat the details for businesses of any size.

    Some small businesses can’t afford to hire $300/hr developers, though. That’s is why projects like this one are so important for the web, small businesses, and people looking to build websites online without code.

    I’m biased because I know (and like) Alex, the guy behind the project, but that doesn’t of course diminish the utility of the work. Sure, the installation of it requires you to figure out a few terrifying things like FTP clients and options files, but the process has come a long way.

    And there are some very smart people working hard behind the scenes to take the pain out of these projects. (The web as we know is still a cobbled together mass of aging technologies and protocols doing things on a scale at which they were never intended.)

    Until the web is re-imagined (or rendered useless by our decidedly uninformed political overlords…), it’s imperative that projects making headway on important problems are recognized, supported, and funded.

  • A Web Afternoon

    I’m excited about A Web Afternoon in May for a few reasons:

    • It’s a neat event
    • I was asked to speak
    • It’s in Atlanta (where I spent a few years)
    • I’ll be testing material for a book I want to write

    Are you coming? It’s practically free (unless you wait too late).

  • The intelligent disadvantage

    This came up briefly during Domino, and I’ve been thinking about it recently.

    Many (brilliant readers of this blog…) have been told by peers, parents, and educators (either directly or indirectly) that they possess higher than average intelligence. Advanced classes, high GPAs, and ambitious academic workloads seem to confirm what’s ascribed, so it sticks.

    The trouble is that a lack of real academic challenge leads individuals to feel like little effort is required to succeed after college. Lazy patterns of thought develop, and a dangerous arrogance forms.

    Most dangerous is how problems are not faced with:

    • A genuine curiosity
    • A patience with challenges that don’t have obvious solutions
    • A willingness to fail
    • Tenacity

  • Minimalist productivity

    Here’s the approach I’m trying:

    1. Make a list of things that need to be done
    2. Do those things

    Oversimplification aside, the lesson to take from this is that there’s no room for being too busy, not feeling like doing something, or priorities.