Forcing Others to Do What They Don’t Want
Nov 14, 2008
AALBORG, DENMARK - SEPTEMBER 30: Dimitar Berb...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Everyone who watches any sport would have seen or heard stories about players who wanted to move to a new team/club. Players who didn’t want to be on their team anymore, and wanted to leave. This season, in soccer, it was Dimitar Berbatov.

Berbatov’s is actually a great example, because it really demonstrates my point. Before he was sold to Manchester United, he was a negative influence on the Tottenham team. He didn’t want to be there anymore, and it was clear for all to see. It was damaging for the atmosphere of the team, and ultimately very disruptive.

In the end, even though he was arguably one of their most gifted players, it was better to just let him go. Because forcing him to stay where he didn’t want to be would have been even worse – the discontent could spread more easily, it could cause problems with the atmosphere of the team.

And there’s a great lesson in there. More often than not, it’s not worth it to force people to do something they don’t want to do, even if you can. The effects of having discontented, unmotivated people could be worse than not having people at all. It’s better to have a small, focused, motivated group who love what they’re doing, as compared to a large, unmotivated group that doesn’t want to be there.

Forcing people to do what they don’t want to do doesn’t work anymore (if it ever did).

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Sep 14, 2008

If you look at it, that headline suggests everything that people say you should have in a post. There’s name-dropping and linkbaiting, there’s “how to” advice, there’s a list, etc. Those are all things that people say are really good to have in a post.

Yet, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that it wouldn’t make the best post (right?).

I’m no cook (not by any stretch of the imagination), but a recipe with too many spices mixed together tends to be less prefered to recipes with one or two dedicated spices, I think. A novel with too many subplots tends to get too convoluted and confusing, and loses readers. And we’ve all heard complaints about softwares with feature bloat.

Having the most “good” things isn’t always the best way to go. More often than not, it’s better to focus on one thing. Do one thing, and do it well.

How do you maintain focus on what you’re doing?

Post inspired by the 52-in-One Challenge by Jarkko

Sound Isolation
May 18, 2008
P.S.Image by murilocardoso via Flickr

I’ve been using the Westone UM2 Earphones for quite a while now, and it’s been awesome. But this post isn’t (just) meant as a plug. There’s been a trend towards sound isolation earphones in recent years. That’s the first step any audiophile will recommend if you’re looking to improve the sound quality.

The better listening experience isn’t just because of better sound quality. It’s mainly (at least in my opinion) because the sound is isolated – the unwanted noise of the outside world is blocked out.

There’s an important point in this – adding value is not necessarily about adding more quality. Sometimes it’s about removing the noise. Especially in today’s world, where information is coming at us from every angle, at every time.

How are you filtering out noise to provide value for those around you?

Focusing Your Efforts
Apr 6, 2008

The New York Times recently ran an article about how will power is limited.

Psychologist Roy Baumeister and others have found that people who successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.

Scientific evidence of the value of focus, perhaps?