time – The Corrigan Encore

What does that mean??

May 12, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

Are you a leader or a follower?

I sat in a meeting with three other managers and the director and read the document twice while the meeting went on. I could hear the Director read through the document but I was stuck on one sentence that I didn’t understand.

The manager will cultivate a leader to leader environment.

“What is a leader to leader environment?” I asked and was answered with, “I don’t know.” I left the meeting on a mission. I needed to know what leader to leader meant. I found out and my mission ended with a book that the Director had all the managers read.

The book is called “Turn the Ship Around” by David Marquet. Basically the writer outlines his experience as a leader of a submarine. He realized that he could not have a crew that would just listen and follow every order that would be dangerous and he had to cultivate leaders at every level.

So I told that story and mentioned a pretty great book (it really is good and worth reading) to say that I am a leader and a follower and everyone should be. There was this quote when I was a kid that always bugged me.

Too many chiefs

Leadership is guidance, inspiration, motivation, and leadership has to come from within. There is this concept of “buy in” that everyone on team needs to have for a project to be completely successful. Buy in is the willingness to participate in an endeavor. No one can force buy in from a team member this has to be inspired and motivated.

Leaders are needed at every level in a team and the top level should be more of a position of service for all other levels that are the leaders.

I have also heard “Lead follow or get out of the way” Lets change this to Lead yourself and help others.

That is what I will be hearing all day now

May 11, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

What does freedom mean to you?

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I won’t let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It’s the one good thing that I’ve got

Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
You’ve gotta give
For what you take

I loved all the George Michaels songs growing up and now the song Freedom is going to be stuck in my head all day. Freedom! Freedom! Man such a good song.

Freedom is pretty interesting concept. I was 17 years old when I decided I wanted freedom from my parents tyrannical rule (total joke there I had it made honestly, dad and mom only bugged me when I got out of line otherwise they supported me 100 %), looking for freedom from the parents and the town I grew up oin I joined the US Army.

I was told when to wake up, when to eat, when to go to sleep, where and how to do all that as well, so not much freedom. I finished up my contract with the US Army and entered the civilian world a free man. A free man with a family and bills to pay. To pay the bills I got a job and started school. The workplace bosses told me when to arrive at work when I could eat and how to do that.

No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.
Euripides

At one point in my career I had a very long commute that involved getting on and off the highway. Everyday at an intersection I would see a person with a cardboard sign asking for money. I felt bad for this person and if I had any cash I would try to give it to him.

There is legislation popping up now all over the United States that has made it illegal to be homeless. The cost of not working in a capital society seems to be homelessness and relying on others who are working or living “off the gird” like Thoreau did while writing Walden. Making it illegal to live this way seems to be an infringement of freedom.

For me freedom is the ability for me to make a choice and live with it.

Left.. no Right.. Ok Straight Ahead..

May 8, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

What gives you direction in life?

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The Apple watch has a compass app on it and the app has an amazing feature called back track. The app will trace your route as you walk/hike and then play that route back to you so that you can get back to where you started.

When I was in the US Army Global positioning Satellites were first being brought on line and used to do the same thing as the watch and the back track option. I have a very poor sense of direction and because of that I have been on some Amelia Bedelia style adventures. I have never been so lost though that I have not found my way home.

What then is home?

Home is where the Heart is
Pliny the Elder

My heart is with my loved ones, my immediate and extended family is my heart and home. We may fight and disagree but we have and I really believe will always love each other and that is what gives me direction is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a (ESV) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

Love is the promise that guides me
Dan Fogelberg

If

May 4, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

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In middle school I was made to memorize Rudyard Kipling’s poem If. Honestly I no longer have it memorized, and I could not recite this poem when I was made to memorize it and I can not recite the poem now but, like all great art work the poem inspired and inspires me now. I can tell you that this poem makes me want to work harder and help my family, friends, community and strangers. The poem makes me take more responsibility for my actions and inactions. This poem reminds me that being an adult is about endurance and virtue and not for the faint of heart. I think of this poem often and truly love it.

If you can keep your head when all about you

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
If – Rudyard Kipling

After that first cup

May 3, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

When do you feel most productive?

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My favorite place to be is anywhere my wife is, other than those places I truly enjoy the grocery store or market right after the store or market has first opened up. There is a fresh feeling in the air. All the vendors have their food and wares out for purchase and the most fresh, ripe and best are prominently displayed. The employees are well rested and the food is freshly picked and washed. The grocery store or market is great in the early morning. There is hope that comes from seeing and buying something that was just harvested.

My favorite time of the day is the morning. I love that hopeful fresh feeling. At work when I can, I try to get most of my “hard” work done in the morning. I drink my coffee and attack the day. After morning is over the rest of the day is spent helping others and getting ready for tomorrow.

After my first cup of coffee I can do anything! Oh and so can you!

More than 5 Less than 7

May 2, 2023 John Corrigan

The six word story is something I became interested in as of yesterday. The six word story is that.. a story told in just six words. For fun go ahead and Google (love how this word is now a verb or even a word at all), six word story examples. You are in for a treat my friend.

The most famous six word story is a bit of a bummer and attributed to Ernest Hemmingway, not sure if he actually wrote it but here is the story;

“For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”

Powerful but a complete bummer, right? I tried to remember a six word story that was more up beat and I came up with a lyric from a Jay Z song;

“I came, I saw I conquered”

I like that. I hope this can be said for your day today and mine to. I tired to think of a good six word story to encourage anyone reading this and I came up with this;

“Make Today Better for everyone meet”

Look I am no Hemmingway. I found a master class on six word stories and this gem was in the class;

Google: how to inflate a liferaft!

Ha, got to love dark humor! I think I like the idea of six word story because it is making an impression in six words. Less is always more. Words are wonderful but too many words are counter productive. Action for others service is what speaks the loudest and makes the biggest difference in your own life and your communities. On that note I will leave with my most recent six word story.

“Words; less than action be more”

Number three

March 31, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

How would you improve your community?

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During the week I wake up, perform my morning rituals and then drive into work. After work I usually spend a half hour at the gym, then the grocery store and finally I head home. I spend the majority of my time during the work week at home (my 1st place) and work (my 2nd place).

Ray Oldenburg coined the term 3rd place. Our 3rd places are where we come together as a community and exchange ideas, have a good time and build community. Today many of our 3rd locations have become digital, some may even argue that wordpress and facebook are 3rd places.

My wife and I have worked at soup kitchens and my favorite part about the soup kitchen was meeting family and community members. I think that the soup kitchen functioned as a 3rd place for many of the community members.

I would love to develop for my community a third place that is safe, open, fun, and helps the community. I would imagine a place with a cafe and meal times (free meals). Then a lounge where the community can sit and talk play games watch tv. A true third place. A physical third place.

Growing up my third place was the local library. I would improve my community with a partnership with the local library. I would love to see the local library become more of a third place. I got to go now and donate some time and money to my local library.

Even the little ones

March 30, 2023 John Corrigan

Big ideas, big projects and new times. I have two ideas that today have become projects for me. Before today the projects were just ideas but I made two small steps that transformed those ideas into tangible items projects. I have a whole bunch of steps to take before the projects are fully manifested but.. I want to celebrate!

When you are involved in a project, it is important to celebrate the small steps. Small steps matter a lot. Small steps lead to bigger steps and then victory.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
Lao Tzu

Here is a great article that outlines the importance of the small steps.

The Real Value of Small Steps

Know this today is the day to take the first (even if it is small) step towards starting and completing the project that you will finish. One more thing to note, when you complete and while you are completing that first step on your major project I am cheering for you from the cheap seats.

Go insert your name here! You are crushing this!!
Me (in the cheap seats)

Out of the storm

March 23, 2023 John Corrigan

2008 – 2009 was a pretty tumultuous year for the financial world. The housing market bubble burst, many were homeless and jobless. The United Stats government had to step in and bailout the major banks with billions of dollars.

It was the beginning of the great recession. Since 1948 there have been 11 economic recessions. A recession is an era of economic decline A recession requires to consecutive quarters of decline if there is only one quarter of decline it is just a contraction. Most economies experience contractions and recessions.

Recessions are more notable in the history of an economy because, of the damage and unemployment that comes with recessions.

Photo by Daffa Rayhan Zein on Pexels.com

Employment provides much for the employer. Through employment people find, a salary to use money to feed their family, health benefits (at least in the United States), purpose and social interactions. To loose in one fell swoop money, health benefits, purpose and social interactions is jarring and traumatic and I think this is why comparing a recession to a storm is apt. Recessions are bleak and can lead to depression, during most recessions suicide rates rise! How can we weather these storms.

It is possible to not only survive recessions but some have come out of recessions even stronger, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, iRobot, Airbnb, Slack, WhatsAp, Square, Uber, Instagram and Pinterest were all founded during recessions.

The recession storms are not good but, if you can find a way to get money, health benefits, social interactions and purpose outside of your workplace you may discover that, surviving or even thriving during a recession is more likely what happens.

Most people spend forty hours a week at work, and it can be tempting and easy to use work to develop our social structures. When this is done however we run the risk of the storm taking away everything. It can be exhausting but rewarding now and in the future. Building a robust and fulfilling social life is and should be a big part of our mental health. Brunch with friends and rotary meetings are more than just alcohol breakfast and gossip sessions they are mental health work outs.

That’s nice

March 14, 2023 John Corrigan

Just the other day I finished a task that was assigned to me in one of the software programs used by my team at work. After finishing each task the software plays a gif that has confetti exploding and I have to admit it makes me feel kind of good. The software we use is Monday dot com. Monday is project management software and uses project boards and to do lists. To do lists are powerful hacks that, when used properly make us very productive.

The reason that lists are considered a hack is because of dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that the brain releases and makes us feel good. Dopamine helps move signals in our nervous system. A healthy happy person will have an appropriate level of dopamine in their body. When we cross off a list item and see confetti we trigger a dopamine release in our brains. Other ways to trigger the release of dopamine are, eating foods that are high in magnesium and tyrosine as well as engaging in healthy habits that make us happy like exercise meditation family time and petting a happy pet. Checking off things from a to do list is probably one of the closet things we can do at work that resembles petting a happy well behaved dog.

Besides dopamine, lists offer focus. So until we can bring our dogs to work I will stick with my to do list. No if they allow me I would bring in my four legged friend and keep the to do list.