willie jackson

Blog

  • What if it all goes wrong?

    I’m giving a talk in two weeks, and I was running some ideas by a new friend of mine who specializes in presentation preparation. He left me with this:

    What happens if they don’t buy into what you’re saying?

    Basically, the worst-case scenario.

    It’s such a great question because my reaction to the unthinkable gives me the poise I need to overcome the uncertainty and Resistance. I’m not particularly fearful of an audience or embarrassing myself, but there’s a human part of all of us that desires acceptance, praise, and encouragement.

    I enjoy making people laugh, so I’m often making small quips during the course of conversations. My “humor” is dry and sarcastic, and my delivery is rather deadpan — some people “get” me, and some don’t.

    I usually stop at nothing maintain an upbeat demeanor and follow up with a barrage of jokes to redeem myself keep it moving if one happens to tank, so my reputation as an aspiring stand-up comedian mildly humorous often remains intact.

    I think the goal is to determine what we want out of things, “pre-experience” what it would be like if the proverbial roof came crashing down on our efforts, and examine our reaction to make sure we’re doing things for the right reasons.

    To be clear: if I walked off the stage in a huff and told the crowd that they were idiots, then my ego was probably too large for the venue in the first place. Additionally, this is an indicator that I wasn’t there primarily to give and share generously, but rather for self-serving motives.

  • Why it’s not crowded where you’re going

    If the level of success and influence you’re after were easy to attain, it would be crowded at the top.

    If all it took was determination and hard work then again, there would be scores of people waiting for you at the finish lines.

    Throngs of successful doers who stuck it out and did what it took.

    But the place you deserve to be…the place that you’re scared to dream about sometimes…the place that makes you blush when you picture yourself there…well, that’s going to take more than hard work.

    It may seem like it will take a year of long nights, but it might actually take six months of short ones.

    You might feel like it’s going to take you getting to a place where everything you touch is fulfilling and refreshing, but it might just require you to always be doing something worth doing.

    It may seem like becoming a machine and exhibiting hyper-productivity during work hours is required, but it might take a purposeful and deliberate pace that intentionally ignores and slips on some things.

    In short, I think the road to where you deserve to be is paved with the very lessons that tell you what’s needed in order to scale the mountain (if you’re open to seeing them).

    Not a Dale Carnegie book or a workflow optimization course, bit rather an awareness and commitment to improvement that transforms you with each lesson.

  • Breaking good habits

    The reason breaking good habits is so bad…is because you simultaneously “practice” something that you don’t want to perpetuate.

    And once Resistance has a foothold, it’s easy for the inertia to do what it does best: keep you off course. Don’t ask me how I know…

    I missed you guys.

  • Enrichment through involvement

    The more I attend events in my neighborhood, the more I grow to appreciate it. The charm of certain intersections and building becomes apparent, and it feels more like “home” every week. I guess it might as well, right?

    I notice similar feelings related to web communities that play a role in my life as well. When I built websites for a living, I discovered the Thesis community and met some really great people, many of whom have grown to become close friends.

    The same goes for the WordPress community. The WordCamp events I’ve attended have put faces to names, made the web smaller, and fostered a sense of community among those who would otherwise interact online.

    I went to Mexico with a group of friends in January, and I grew much closer to each of them as a result. Almost too close (smile). And I recall work outings that have had a similar effect — the camaraderie can’t be replaced by trips to the snack machine or Starbucks.

    Because of how far away from the city (center) I lived when I was in Atlanta, I never got as involved in some things as I otherwise would have. And despite the fact that I’m now in a city with eight million people, but I feel more connected than ever before.

    I guess what I’m getting at is how important it is to close the laptop and interact with other humans in your community. Whatever you community is.

  • The vision revealed

    When you’re working towards a worthwhile and challenging goal, it’s hard to see what the vision looks like until you make a concerted effort, sight unseen.

    Put simply, you can’t see what you’ve never seen until you do what you’ve never done.

  • On being well-liked

    I’ve gotta be honest.

    I’m not the best technologist. I’m sometimes in over my head, and I frequently resort to Google and reference material when solving problems.

    When I used to be employed as an IT Consultant, I wasn’t particularly inspired by the work I was doing. It was a pretty stressful period of time — particularly when there were weekly layoffs within the company — because I didn’t have a real specialization.

    To make matters worse, I wasn’t motivated to develop one. The challenges weren’t interesting, the politics were annoying, and the bureaucracy was suffocating. So I definitely would have been a wonderful candidate for termination.

    When I transitioned into full-time freelancing, I did web design and development to pay the bills. It eventually turned into consulting, teaching, speaking and exotic dancing on weekends the like, but WordPress work comprised the bulk of my income.

    I wasn’t a code maestro, nor was I a particularly enlightened developer. But I took care of people, I gave a damn, and I shipped.

    Mostly though, people just liked me.

    I’m under no illusions about the quality of some of my work, or the (sometimes awful) project management skills I brought to the table.

    The truth is that I avoided being laid off because I was liked by those in a position to put me on the chopping block. The truth is that I never needed to look for work as a freelancer because people liked working with me.

    As a matter of fact, I often met people who looked for opportunities and excuses to work with me. I found it humbling and gratifying, if not a bit undeserved.

    I say all that to say this: being well-liked helps. It won’t save you if your work is shoddy, or if you’re not consistent, but it helps.

    It’s not about schmoozing or being charming, it’s really about just being human.

  • Tact

    We don’t all respond to motivational inputs in the same way.

    A welcome kick in the pants to me might feel like harassment and cajoling to someone else, and while the former might be exactly what I need, the latter might strain your relationship with someone else.

    You could read a Dale Carnegie book or study effective communication or watch documentaries on human interaction…or you could just care enough to say things with empathy, in a way that edifies the recipient.

  • The authenticity of your story

    It’s tempting to pretend that things are easier or harder than they are. Everyone loves a good story, right?

    The magic of your story isn’t a contrived struggle or feigned competence, though — it’s how the authenticity resonates with others.

    And even when the story you tell is accurate, care must be taken to communicate what represents where you are at the time.

    We appreciate your witty one-liners and practiced speech, but what we’re really looking for is confirmation that you’re human.

    Confirmation that we can see ourselves in you.

    Confirmation that we, just like you, can achieve the things we set out to do.

  • Outsized ambition

    It’s a ridiculous cycle, if you think about it.

    We spend a lot of time talking ourselves out of ambitious goals, or thinking of ways to keep our expectations in check.

    Instead of focusing on the actual challenge of doing the work, we spend our time managing our own expectations because we’d rather not let ourselves down than be surprised by our success.

  • The luxury of time

    People who remain on top of their responsibilities are able to plan, prepare, forecast, and decide. Options can be considered thoroughly before courses of action are decided upon, and the consequences of decisions can be thoughtfully considered after the fact.

    People who are chronically behind react to situations, find themselves stressed out, have no time to prepare properly, and are in control of very little in their lives. Mistakes (which come frequently when scrambling to always be “a little less behind”) sting, but real lessons aren’t learned in the wake of disasters because the next one is already looming on the horizon.

    It pays to get (and stay) ahead.