20 February 2001
Success=Preparation+Mastery+Good Timing
Today's workout WIPED me. It was leg day, which always wipes me, but today was worse than usual and has resulted in a pretty unproductive evening. That's not so bad, as it gave me ample opportunity to screw around with the new receiver while tinkering with some webstuff (a couple of minor changes coming soon). I'm picky, and rarely am I entirely satisfied after a purchase. This time I am.
Some of the people at work either have an amazing estimation of my abilities or are just a-holes. It's well known that I like to have plenty of time to prepare for public appearances (talks, demos, sales calls, whatever) because preparation makes for success. One of our support people contacted me a week ago about making a call with her (where I really wasn't needed) tomorrow, and she promised to work up some slides and email me all the details the next day. Yeah, right. She called today an hour before it was time for me to leave wanting to know if she could email me the slides for me to look over before tomorrow(!!!). I told her since I hadn't heard from her when she said I would, I thought my services weren't needed, that I don't make calls without adequate preparation, and that she would just have to handle this one herself. She kept asserting over and over "Oh, you're mad; it's my fault" and didn't seem to understand that I didn't really give a shit about whose "fault" it was, that I wasn't going to be involved in her mess.
There is no magic to being successful at most anything -- it requires preparation, mastery of the subject matter (whatever it is), and (often) good timing. I do not understand people who put scheduled events off until the last minute, do a half-ass job of preparation, and then wonder why things don't go well for them. For those sorts of people in our organization who are not my superiors, I will not be associated with their messes. Gawd knows there are enough messes I'm forced to be a part of.
Indeed, that reminds me: since a certain "bigshot" took over our office, we have hired a steady stream of incompetent dunces. Our most recent hire (an office administrator) may top the list. I realize that it's unfair to judge someone on her second full day on the job, but given her 30 years' of experience in office administration (so her resume claimed), I was a bit surprised to hear "I have a bit of a dumb question: How do I turn on my computer." My honest-to-gawd answer, in the most non-condescending tone I could summon: "Ummm, it's that really BIG button right in the middle with the green LED and the universal power symbol." Oy.
During my workout, I kept thinking about the other work dimwit's preoccupation with assigning blame. It strikes me that if fewer people worried about assigning blame (or taking credit) and actually did their jobs, there would be plenty of praise and happiness to go around!
Speaking of happiness, young Kaycee got some wonderful news today. Her cancer is in remission. I stumbled across her journal around X-mas and have since watched her face an awful ordeal while maintaining a sense of life that most people can't even comprehend. I hope she continues her journal, so we can watch her and that powerful sense of life outside the confines of that awful hospital, no doubt doing great things.
[Posted @ 11:20 PM CST]
