The Jumblies
by Edward Lear
They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And everyone cried, ‘You’ll all be drowned!’
They called aloud, ‘Our Sieve ain’t big,
But we don’t care a button! we don’t care a fig!
In a Sieve we’ll go to sea!’
That is one of the many nonsense poems by Edward Lear (1812-1888). The Jumblies were a strange group–“their heads are green and their hands are blue.” But what made them so strange for this poem was their insistence upon doing something as dangerous as getting in a sieve (a kitchen strainer, pronounced, sive, as in give) and setting sail on a Winter’s morn, on a stormy day.
Countries, governments, businesses, organizations and individuals often end up in precarious situations that, after the fact, seemed inevitably doomed. It is also true that sometimes even the most safe appearing ventures can fail.
- Have you ever–OK, right now are you doing it?–felt as though you were in a sieve in the sea on a stormy day?
- Have you wondered how the heck you ended up in such a pickle?
- Have you thought that if only you could go back in time a bit, you would not get into that sieve in the first place?
- If there was a group called Sieve Sailors Anonymous, would you join? (Pass me that application, please!)
Avoid Being Like the Jumblies
1. Consider every significant decision as a boat that will take you somewhere. Will this action, this assignment, this relationship, this conversation, take you where you want to go? How you spend your next five minutes can be significant!
2. Be ready to make repairs. There is an old proverb about even the very best sails: “Split happens.” (OK, that isn’t an old proverb, but it could be!) Be ready emotionally, mentally, fincancially and every other way to repair damages and keep moving. That takes planning and requires long-term self-management.
3. Know when it’s time to change your plans. You don’t need to jump ship at the first big wave. But, if you are being swamped, don’t apologize for making a change. You may have to make big changes or only small ones. Whatever you do, be in charge of it as much as you can, rather than delaying until someone else takes over for you. Put your plans in writing and track your progress. Do not slack off even for one hour about something as important as this!
4. If you ever find yourself in a sieve in the sea on a Winter’s morn and a stormy day, act quickly to get to a safe harbor. Most importantly, don’t waste time feeling stupid or guilty for getting out there in the first place. There is no point in wishing things were different. They aren’t. You got in a sieve, and that’s all there is to it. Start bailing and do the best you can, with a smile on your face and a commitment to not get yourself in that situation again. You can do it!
October 1st, 2008
Posted by
TLR |
Personal and Professional Development |
3 comments
Should I or shouldn’t I?
That question comprises about half of our thoughts every day, and the answers we give create the lives we have.
If the answer to that question is so crucial, it would seem that we should do a bit more than mentally–or actually–toss a coin. Maybe you will find some common decision-making and risk analysis techniques to be useful.
Pros and Cons: Almost all of us have done a list of pros and cons or for and against, something we were considering. When I started in high school I had the option of taking choir during the first hour of the day–which would have meant I could have been the pianist for the choir and would have enjoyed that tremendously. Plus, Mr. Kenneth Judd, the choir director, had repeatedly asked me to do it and I didn’t want to let him down. Or, I could join the debate team, which seemed like a fun activity as well, but a lot of work. My mother told me to do a pros and cons list. But, I found as you may have found, that I had plenty of things on both sides.
Describe the Results: Since I still couldn’t decide between choir and debate, my mother told me to write a paragraph describing what I might say about the results of my decision in a year: My feelings, the possible good and bad things, the results, what I would have gained from it and so forth. Then, she said, I could decide what result appealed the most to me.
I wrote several pages about the results of being the accompanist for the choir for a year and the results for being in debate for a year. That made up my mind even before I was half way through the debate pages. I would never be able to use my choir activities in my future life, but I could easily use the knowledge and skills I obtained from debate. Yes, it would be more fun and less work to be in choir, and all of my friends were in choir, but debate ulimately would offer more.
I was only 14 at the time, but I learned a decision making method that has helped me since then: Write down possible results and decide which fits with what you want out of life. (Just think how my life would have been different, if I had not gained so much public speaking experience then!)
Incidentally, if I had called that concept, One Habit of Moderately Successful People, I could have made money, huh?
BT/WT: Last week I was given a wonderful book by Ben Carson, M.D. (and Gregg Lewis), called, Take the Risk. Dr. Carson is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and is tremendously gifted in his work. The risk analysis concept he discusses in his book is not unheard of, but he applies it particularly well. It is essentially, BT/WT. Or, “What is the best thing that could happen if I do this? What is the worst thing? What is the best thing that could happen if I don’t do this? What is the worst thing?”
Throughout the book he gives examples of how that has helped him think through issues. He also does that analysis from the perspective of others, as a way to include their viewpoints in his decisions. I found that to be especially useful.
SWOT: This is a way to look at situations to consider risk as well as to make decisions. You consider the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat related to a situation, and you can apply it in a number of ways. For the strength aspect you could consider what are your strengths or the strengths of your team. Or, you might think what are the strengths of the person you are negotiating, collaborating or competing with. The same multi-approach applies to the other aspects of this concept. You can find more about that concept on the internet or in various management books.
Decision Trees: These are highly complex and often involve computer assistance, but I use the concept in a much more simple way. The idea is to look at the branches of results and actions from your potential decisions. If you do this, what else must you do, and what will that cause, and what will be the result of that, and so on? If you don’t do this, what will you do instead, and what will that create and where will that take you, and so on? I have found that to be really interesting for considering cause and effect, and how we create the paths of our lives on a daily basis.
The Assessment Center Method: In my Assessment Center training I say that “Every day is an Assessment Center.” I often advise people to pretend they are filling out an assessment form for various aspects of their lives. On one side are the key positive results they want to attain. On the other side they can list their options and give each of them a rating according to how well it fits the positive result–one to five, for example. Or, even just yes or no. When you total the numbers you are more likely to have a clear answer to the question: “Will this get me where I want to go?” If you weight the most important issues (x2, for example) you will have an even better result. I’ll discuss this in more detail in another article, but this is a quick version of it.
Perhaps you have a method of your own, or you have read about methods for helping you make decisions. Let me know about those. In the meantime, put the coin away and use a more thoughtful method to decide!
August 4th, 2008
Posted by
TLR |
Life and Work |
4 comments
