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The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**k

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k

We were in the middle of planned network maintenance. It was not going well. The change window was just about to end. We were fighting with some unexpected issues causing service degradation. I needed to make a tough call. Either extend the maintenance window and carry on working on Sunday evening or try to fix as much stuff as we could and regroup with the rest of my team on Monday. I called my boss, but he was abroad. Other folks from management were not picking up phones.

I was on my own. I decided to instruct my engineer to roll back, stabilise the network and get some rest. We would pick up things tomorrow. I was trying to cool down after huge stress when my wife informed me, we would need to go to hospital as my newborn son was having severe allergy symptoms. Following 24 hours was a painful lesson of the subtle art of not giving a f**k to nonessential things in life. 

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Is time management a myth?

Time management is a myth – it’s all about choices

Very first thing you will notice as a new manager will be that you run out of time in a day. If you search interwebs for a term “time management”, you will quickly find thousands of tips on how to help you to manage your time more effectively. They are all wrong. You can’t manage time. It’s all about you, your choices, and how you can manage you in time. Is time management is a myth? Let’s find out!

Being busy is a choice. I think that busy is a decision. We do the things we want to do, period. If we say we are too busy, it is shorthand for “not important enough.”
Simply put: you don’t find the time to do something; you make the time to do things.

Debbie Millman
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Stepping into a new leader role

Do you consider stepping into a people leader role?

Here you are, thinking to step up and applying for a new role. You want to lead people. Maybe you’re already a natural leader. You discovered the power of synergy, you found that helping others to achieve bigger goals is so satisfying. You are ready. It is excellent and probably in every industry, there is in need for good people leaders. In the end, it is the same experience as parents have when they help their kids to grow: unparalleled satisfaction, sense of accomplishment and legacy that every one of us wants to leave behind ourselves. Similarly to parenting, becoming a manager comes with a full package. Some things are not so glamorous, will make you occasionally frustrated and will test your decision of becoming the people leader almost every day.

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How to stay fit

How to stay fit when working remotely – be minimalistic but consistent

We all have plenty of things to do every day. We need to work, and we want to cultivate our hobbies. Our families and friends require a quality time from us. It is interesting for those lucky ones who can work remotely. In theory, we have more time. Reality is – there are too many things to do every day. Unfortunately, staying fit is usually the first thing we give up when we try to decide on how to divide our precious time. The results could be fatal, so the question of how to stay fit when working remotely should be essential. 

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How to conquer your fears - are kids completely fearless?

How to be brave and conquer your own fears?

Do you know what the opposite of love is? Most people’s answer would be “hate” or “dislike”. The truth, however, is that the opposite of love is fear. If we fear someone, we will not be able to love this person. If we are afraid of something, it will consume all our energy and drain our thoughts towards the subject of our fears. In extreme cases, it will prevent us from thinking about anything else. It will paralyse our ability to move forward, loving other people or, in severe cases, live our lives to the full. Can we learn how to conquer our fears?

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What we can learn from children?

Leadership lessons we can learn from children

My younger daughter, who was “just” born, will start school this calendar year. I’ve been recently pondering on the fact that our kids grow fast. They don’t only grow but also learn a lot. However, we – parents – also grow with them. Every member of the family, despite the age, level of growth and development, they always give something to others. What parents and leaders can learn from children?

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Bicycles Project - Art of annual planning

The art of annual review and project planning

Some projects go pretty smoothly. We see progress, and reaching a goal is just a matter of well define time. Some plans are being dragged on for months or even years. We don’t know where this thing is going, and what’s more, why we even bothered to start it. Usually, it is not because of the complexity, lack of resources or time. In these cases, we should look closer to the people who plan them and perform the execution of tasks. A few years back, I did an annual review and planning for the first time. I wanted to buy bicycles for my family. Easy? Well, It took me almost two years. Sip your coffee while I am going to share what happened.

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Work from home and power outage?

Are you ready for power outage while you work from home?

It was during my one-on-one meeting with one of my engineers when the external screen went black. Then I realised I lost the audio too. I was already blaming technology, clicking various things on my laptop, when I spotted that more things were off. It was a power blackout in my home office. Obviously, my laptop was still working thanks to the battery, so it took me a while to realise nothing else worked. Work from home and power outage. What a combo!

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Family coffee routine, why coffee should be important in your relationship

Why coffee should be important in your relationship?

It was early afternoon on Sunday. Typical British weather – sunny but quite chilly at the same time. We were just entering stairs leading to the footpath bridge connecting two big shopping centres. We were tired, annoyed and indeed exhausted physically and mentally. In halfway through the bridge, my wife told me that she couldn’t carry on. I thought she meant physical exhaustion, but it was something much bigger.

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Penalty ticket - when routine goes wrong

Is routine good for you?

Natalie was in a fantastic mood. She woke up early morning and was doing her stretch routine. She ate a small breakfast and drove to the registration point. It was her dream. She had been preparing for this competition for a long time. She dreamed to be a professional rock climber. And here she was. She completed all admin routine and stood in front of the high hill where competition took place. Next, she went through her checklist for the last time, breathed deeply fresh air and started climbing. She didn’t know, she wasn’t going to finish this wall and in fact she would need to stop her career as a professional climber.

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