Joyful Jubilant Learning

The Learning Life of an Analog Guy in a New Digital World

Yes, I'm an analog guy. I'm old enough to remember pencils, 13 column paper spreadsheets and "10-keys".   When I was in college the "computer" we used to process our (quite) elementary COBALT programming was the size of a living room.

My first "laptop" was a 50-pound Compaq portable that had a 3-inch B&W screen, and didn't even have a hard drive (hard to fathom that 25 years later).

Given this history it wasn't hard to proclaim myself a "dork" when it comes to the current digital age.

In other words, I'm fascinated by it, and always want to learn more about it, but I'll always feel like I'm three steps behind.   A good analogy is learning a foreign language - if you do it when you are a child, it's much, much more easy to absorb and learn quickly.  If you try to do it as an adult, it doesn't "take" as well, and it takes much longer to get fluent. 

That's me and this digital thing.

Nonetheless, despite my "dorkness" I continue to dive into the digital pool, and have come to embrace its many benefits.   Here are a few of my favorites:

1. The Blackberry.  I'm addicted, but it keeps me sane (really).  I'm actually glad I didn't have one in my 20s.
2. Blogging.  Finally, a place to publish my unfiltered thoughts for the world to see immediately after I simply hit a "send" button. Wow.
3. Google. I'm an information junkie, and a supreme search engine like this one is right up my alley. I probably do at least 25-50 searches a day - the last one was to find out the lyrics to the America song "Daisy Jane" (I look up lyrics a lot!)
4. Twitter. (I'm http://twitter.com/starbucker)  This is my latest fascination.  Insta-blogging.  I think this is more addicting than the Blackberry.  And you have to put your thoughts in 140 characters or less - a very good exercise in brevity!
5. Wikipedia.  See #3.  I used to just love reading encyclopedias when I was a kid - now 1,000 volumes of facts are just milliseconds away!

Yes, this analog guy, despite his dorkness, is actually getting along quite well in this new world.

Imagine that!  :-)

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, is a founder of SOBCon, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

The Half-Full Book Review: "The 4-Hour Workweek", by Tim Ferriss

I was at a bookstore about 6 months back and I saw this beckoning title on the shelves: "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich"

Mmmmmm.....I said to myself. Who wouldn't want to do all those things?  I picked up the book and then I saw another tidbit on the back, something about the author going from 40-hour weeks earning $40,000 per year to 4-hour weeks earning $40,000 per month.

I somehow resisted the compulsion to buy the book on the spot, but filed it away for future reference.  A month later,  when my wife mentioned that she needed a few birthday present ideas, I dropped the name of this book, still curious about the secrets that were within it.

Sure enough, I did receive the book for my birthday, and on one of my trips west I cracked it open, expecting a breezy "how-to" that would at best net me a few money-making or time-management tips.

What I got instead was a great life and leadership lesson wrapped in a fairly rote "how-to" on starting an Internet business and outsourcing everything associated with running it to outside parties (so you can have that 4-hour workweek).

Ferriss makes an excellent case that we waste way too much time on our Blackberries, Cell Phones and computers. We should simplify our lives, so we can focus on the things that really matter.  Simple enough.   And he presents excellent advice on how to do such simplification (I have to admit his system of answering e-mail only twice a day was pretty compelling).

He writes with great verve and confidence about how he decided to go after what one would consider "post career" dreams DURING his career, and racks up a quite impressive list of accomplishments along the way (and a lot of frequent flier miles).

All fascinating, yes, but I didn't have a real "learning moment" that made me really think until I got to the part where he spoke about leadership empowerment.  As I noted in my blog a few weeks back, this particular Ferriss statement grabbed me:

"It's amazing how someone's IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them"

Why that particular sentence?

Because it was something that hit closer to my professional core than any other thing he said in the book.   My "core" is the art of leadership, and how it can drive success and happiness in an organization.

And while Ferriss was using it as a means of ultimate personal freedom (i.e. to outsource everything as to reduce a 40-hour week to 4 hours), I took it as another form of freedom - leadership freedom.

In other words, if leaders take on too much responsibility, they cease to be leaders - they just don't have the time.  If they can trust and delegate responsibility, they can be "free" to do what they should do best - lead and inspire. And talk about vision. And context.  And job fulfillment and happiness.

And for the person you entrust with responsibility, they also receive great riches- confidence and self-worth.

Great learning indeed!

I never would have expected to encounter such a helpful lesson in this book - after all, it was about escaping the 9 to 5 and joining the New Rich, right?

But I'm glad I did.  But sorry Tim, I'm not going to go down to a 4-hour week - I love my 50 hour week right now just fine, thank you!  :-)

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, is a founder of SOBCon, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

Learning to Love a New Virtual Home: A 21st Century Adventure

It's very appropriate for me that our January theme for JJL is "Packing Our Bags for 2008".

I did a virtual bag pack over the Christmas holiday and did something that I had been contemplating for months - I changed blogging platforms, from Blogger to WordPress.

On Christmas day "Ramblings From a Glass Half Full" moved to Terrystarbucker.com.

If only it was as easy as that.......

I learned that a "virtual" move is very much like a real move  -

• There's a lot of planning necessary
• You have to do a lot of "packing"
• Moving day is pretty darn hectic 
• There's always something you forgot from the old place 
• Unpacking is no fun
• You are probably better off with an outside designer to rearrange the furniture
• Letting everyone know your new address takes time
• It takes a while before everything gets forwarded correctly

It does sound uncannily like a real-life move, doesn't it? To top it off, I was a HTML neophyte - getting a new site to look how I wanted it was going to be a real challenge.

Nevertheless,  I decided to press on, buoyed by my blogging friends urging that I really needed to "take the Blogger training wheels off". 

I hired a site designer, and that was a very good move. Jesse Petersen did a great job and I couldn't have gotten the site the way I wanted it without him.  So I also learned that in matters of "21st Century Technology", I'm not really up to speed.   I'm a product of the old 20th Century way of yellow and green pads, pencils and calculators. No computers.  Can you even imagine those days any more?

A quick side note - I vividly remember my first "laptop" computer in 1983 - it was the size of a big suitcase, weighed 50 pounds, and didn't even have a hard drive in it.  A "GUI" was still a figment of someones imagination.  And the spreadsheet software was something called "SuperCalc".

Needless to say, in 2008 I had to admit this old dog didn't have some of the new tricks. So I got help.

The move is now behind me, and the learning I got out of it was, in a word, staggering.   I feel MUCH more comfortable in the virtual world.

But I still hate moving, in any shape or form.

Some things will never change!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, is a founder of SOBCon, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

 

(An Appreciation of) The Wonder of Love and Learning

Yesterday I celebrated my 17th wedding anniversary. Aside from the usual thinking of how time can pass by so quickly, I also took a bit of time to give thanks to the wonder of the love and learning that I had experienced for all those years. 

And since this is a month of thanks for me and my fellow JJLers, I wanted to put this appreciation on "virtual" paper.

I use the word "wonder" for a very good reason - I look at love with a sense of awe, because I see it as a precious gift that provides me with essential "fuel" for my "half-full" existence.

In other words, if it wasn't for the consistent, never wavering love of my wife, I really don't think I'd be quite the person I am today. To always know that you are loved is one of the strongest possible foundations for positivity and joyfulness.

This wonder extends to learning as well, in that my wife has taught me many valuable life lessons that I have drawn upon frequently over the years. Having a soul mate like her has given me a sounding board for all my (sometimes) crazy ideas and philosophies, and her honesty without judgment has been invaluable to me as I've progressed as a business person (and a human).

So as I sit here at my computer on this chilly Sunday in November, I sit in great appreciation of the wonder of love and learning, and the person who has embodied them fully in my eyes for 17 years - my wife, who I love so dearly.

Happy anniversary sweetheart, and much love and learning to all of you, fellow JJLers, readers, and bloggers!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

1 Year On (and Counting)

Here it is, the one year "blogiversary" of JJL.  What a year it has been!   This started out as a simple idea, born in Rosa Say's big heart. 

She had a love for learning, and she knew that there were other bloggers who shared that feeling and would be willing to write joyously and jubilantly about it.

I was honored to be one of the people she called to join her in creating the Joyful Jubilant Learning community. 

And I've thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to write about how learning has and will continue to brighten my life. 

So, where to we go from here?  As long as we have Rosa's inspired and nurturing leadership, there's no telling what we'll do in year 2 of JJL.

All I know is that I really don't want to miss it - and neither should you!

Happy Blogiversary JJL!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

How Smiles and Thank Yous Make a Difference

Take a look at the image on the left - how do you feel when you see it?   Better still, how do you feel when you caused that big grin?

In my role as a business leader, I believe I'm making a difference when my teammates smile a lot, and when they use the two most beautiful words in the English language - "Thank You".     That may seem too simple for some, but it's not for me. 

While getting desired business results is a worthy goal and I certainly get a lot of satisfaction from that, I'm looking for something more - a work environment where all involved thrive, truly enjoy their work, and find fulfillment from it.

I measure that by smiles and thank yous. When I'm up in front of a group of teammates and I talk about putting "more cowbell" into the business while showing the absolutely hilarious SNL video, or breaking out into song to praise another group for achieving a milestone, you bet I'm shooting for smiles as well as point making.  Joy is infectious, and can inject a palpable energy into what in other circumstances could be a rote and boring business task or process.

If a teammate goes out of their way to thank me for listening to their concerns, or for praising them, or for offering good advice, I know I've made a difference with that person.

These are little moments that can often be missed, ignored or quickly forgotten because of the  pressures and distractions that can occur in a fast-paced business environment.  But I've really tried to discipline myself to notice and appreciate them, for I've come to rely upon that feedback as to whether or not I'm hitting my target.

That target of teammate job satisfaction has only increased in importance to me as my career has progressed, because I have seen time and time again what it produces - real business success.   This has been a great learning experience for me.

To put it another way, to me those smiles and thank yous have become a true "leading indicator" of those tangible and measurable bottom line results that can be found on a balance sheet or an income statement.

And this difference making is personally rewarding, because I simply love what I do and I would like nothing more to have all my teammates feel the same way.

Try to generate a few of these smiley faces in the workplace and you'll see what I mean.  Oh, and maybe you'll smile a lot more yourself!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

Learning From Mistakes the Half-Full Way: A 4 Step Approach

As someone who is always trying to "deal with the literal world in a positive way", I have come to really appreciate the mistakes I've made (and there have been plenty).   

Now I'm sure your reaction to that is - "appreciate mistakes??" Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?

In my half-full world, the ability to take positive things out of the errors I make is critical to making my life's journey a fulfilling one (and, in a more "ground level" way, my business career a successful one).  I've found that there are four important steps I need to make to leverage those mistakes properly:

1. Acknowledgment
2. Correction
3. Learning
4. Rear View Mirror

Let's take a closer look at these steps - first, there's acknowledgment.   The simple admission, to others and most importantly to yourself, that you made a mistake.

I remember back in 1999 and 2000 when I thought I was the best stock day trader in the world. I had an E-trade account and was wheeling and dealing like a Wall Street pro - or so I thought.   When the tech bubble burst around that time I refused to believe I had erred by taking so many positions in risky dot-com companies.   I didn't bail out in time because I didn't acknowledge my mistake. I was too proud to admit that day trading was something I shouldn't be doing. I learned a valuable lesson from this - you have to have the self-awareness to know when you've made an error.

Next comes correction.   After you've admitted a mistake it needs to be fixed.   This one is most important in my business world.   We provide a service, and sometimes we don't get it right the first time.   We have to quickly respond and get the customer happy.   There's a great silver lining to this, one that really contributes to the ultimate benefit of errors - it's a documented fact that a customer who had a bad experience but it was fixed to their satisfaction is much more likely to be a loyal customer than someone who never had a problem.   

Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!  So once you know you've gone wrong, correct it as soon as you can.

Then there's the learning that comes from mistakes.   This always reminds me of that great saying "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" by George Santayana.  The lessons I've taken from my errors have been without a doubt the most valuable learnings of my life.

The biggest mistake I've made in my career, for example, was to decide to make a cross-country move to work for someone I was just not compatible with from a leader/manager standpoint.   I've written in my blog about how I had to pull myself out of that situation to get my "mojo" back, but the other thing I took away from it were two great lessons -  I was never going to put myself in that kind of work situation again, and better still, because of the mistake I now knew exactly the kind of leader I wanted to be and the kind of business environment I wanted to be in.

Yes, we have to learn from those mistakes we make, or we will indeed repeat them.

Lastly, while we need to take the time to reflect on the lessons from our mistakes, once that is done and we've absorbed the learning, we must let the mistake itself go, or what I call "put it in the rear view mirror".  Why?  because if we don't we can become paralyzed because of the fear of making another mistake.  This isn't the easiest thing to do sometimes - there have been occasions for me where I would be poised to do something and all of a sudden the memory of a past error (and its consequences) would flash in my head, and I would hesitate.   Most of the time I can stifle it, but there are still occasions when I can't.

But I try to learn from that too - it's a constant and consistent desire that keeps driving me forward.  I need to learn. I HAVE to learn.

I hope that this 4-step approach that's come from my life experiences can help you with your learning too, and as you use them, be joyful, jubilant and brave!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

Rapid Fire Learning: May 2007

Hi everybody - Terry Starbucker here.   It's time for Rapid Fire Learning!   I'm your host this month, so I'm really hoping we can get all my fellow JJLers, as well as JJL readers and supporters, to pitch in with their 5 things they learned in the month of May.  Post them on your blog, tag it as Rapid Fire Learning, and link back to us.

This kind of community learning will give us a head start for June and the rest of the year, so let's fire away, shall we?

Here's my list for the month:

1. I was reawakened to the symbolic meaning of butterflies - freedom and happiness.  I'll never look at a Monarch the same way again (and that's a good thing!)
2. I performed a wedding ceremony for the first time, and learned a little bit more about love - to see it so close up in the context of exchanging vows was exhilarating.
3. In response to a meme I dug inside a little deeper and revealed the 5 things I do every single day to be successful.   I sat in front of the computer for a while on this one before the words came out, but it was worth it.
4. I learned that a "blogging conference" could become much more than that - a celebration of the power of relationships and positivity.  While friendships can be kindled by words on a page, nothing beats face-to-face and heart-to-heart interaction.  I got more of that than I possibly could have dreamed of on those two days in Chicago. Talk about joyful and jubilant learning!  I can hardly wait until SOBCon08.
5. I rediscovered the power of hope when I watched the Shawshank Redemption, just like I did the other 20 times I've watched it before.  I love movies that can do that.

What a month of learning!   So what about you?  Come share with us, and keep that joy of discovery buzzing around the blogosphere.  Thanks!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

Learning's Secret Ingredient

In the Book Review section of the New York Times this morning I read a wonderful review of the book "Einstein - His Life and Universe" by Walter Isaacson.

It inspired me to go out and buy the book this afternoon (a review of my own to follow), but it also compelled me to post to JJL this evening because of this quote by Einstein:

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

This, coming from a person considered to be THE genius of the 20th century?  It set me back in my chair for a moment. But then I realized I had stumbled upon a secret ingredient to learning.

While I had never put those two words together like that before, they made absolutely perfect, elegant sense.

We all can't be Einsteins coming up with theories of relativity, but we can use our passionate curiosity to inspire a lifetime of great learning and achieving.

What are you passionately curious about?

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. 

April Learning Brings May Blooming: My Rapid Fire Learning

I'm sure you've heard the expression, "April showers bring May flowers".  April is a transition month, as the promise of spring slowly gives way to the full bloom of May- with a few storms and speed bumps thrown in.

April of 2007 was a transitional month for my learning as well.  I experienced several things that served as "set ups" for the bright possibilities of May and the coming summer - things that paved the way for a personal "blooming" of my own, along with all the flowers and trees.  Here are my 5 "Rapid Fire Learnings" for April:

1. I  rediscovered (again) the enduring value of friendships and the comfort of my "musical markers"
2. My 100 year-old grandmother reminded me of how faith and love are the true foundations of a happy and fulfilling life.
3. "Half-fullism" is more than a catch phrase for me - it's a philosophy that can sustain me through hectic and trying times; ask Mopey Murphy!
4. Some tragic things you just can't rationalize or explain - so the half-full glass gets murky.
5. The amazing power of simply writing down your goals, especially at those times when you need to get back your "mojo".

With these learnings clearly in mind, I look forward to a wonderful month of May, and I wish you all the best for this month as well.

I'll be hosting JJL's May Rapid Fire Learning, so I'll be seeing you in a few weeks - happy learning!

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Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west, and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full.  He's going to be at SOBCon07 in Chicago on May 11-12, and would really love to see you there.