Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

4 adventurebolt lessons from JS Bach: Try something new; you might like it!

Sitting here putting blogs together, I am listening to some classical music as I write. Interestingly, a unique version of Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor has come on, and I have never heard it played this way.

If you're not familiar with the tune by name, you would surely recognize it as the song that is played during scary graveyard scenes in old movies, or representative of Dracula or some otherworldly evil icon. From Boris Karloff to Captain Nemo to Phantom of the Opera, it is typically played on a grand pipe organ, broadly and loudly inviting the Devil himself to the occasion at hand. Well, at least that's what it's come to be caricaturized as.

Wikipedia has this interesting note:

"The exceptional number of fermatas and broken chords in the Toccata and Fugue BWV 565 has been explained by some on the supposition that Bach composed it as a work to test an organ, which he did regularly. The first thing Bach is said to have done when testing an organ is to pull out all the stops and play in the fullest possible texture, in order to see if the organ had good bellows to provide plenty of wind to the instrument: not enough, and the pitch would be unsteady, and tone quality would be inferior. The opening of BWV 565, with its three opening flourishes and massive rolled chord, would serve as a good test for an organ's winding system."

What's interesting is that that this version of Bach's Toccata that I am currently listening to is not on a pipe organ, but on a solo piano. It changes the whole texture and tone of the piece, and quite honestly, could pass as another composition altogether.

What I've learned from this little adventurebolt is:

  1. Firstly, our preconceived ideas have a lot to do with how we interpret the world. If we always think a certain way, it becomes comfortable, and we tend to become "locked in" to this way of thinking.
  2. Secondly, there are typically logical explanations for unusual circumstances that we don't understand (like the strange sounding chords in the Bach piece).  
  3. Trying something a new way (even something as established as a classical piece of music), opens up new horizons of inspiration and achievement, and can be a way of introducing others into a whole different sphere of experience.
  4. And finally, "to pull out all the stops" is a phrase that comes from the organist opening up every pipe on the organ to experience the largest volume of sound possible; what a great metaphor for the adventurebolt lifestyle!

4 necessary steps of crisis prevention that you can use right away (hurry, read this NOW!):

Right before the time I was getting ready to leave the office the other day (as it always happens) a giant "emergency" came up that I had to resolve right away. An emergency, in this case, is defined as a lack of information. So I had to coordinate instant information from one employee who was home sick and another subcontractor who was on the road, and convey all of this to our risk manager who was in immediate contact with legal counsel. Piece of cake.

So in the process of this whirlwind of urgent phone calls, I was carrying on two conversations on two phones simultaneously, one on each ear, in an effort to establish a timeline of events and communicate the necessary information to the appropriate parties.

The adventurebolt for me was that, normally, this type of event would freak me out, as I would be furiously trying to make all the necessary connections. On this day, though, I was focused and intent, but not overwhelmed. I took the time to think through what needed to be accomplished and who I needed to communicate with, and then worked my way through the emotional frustration of other parties to garner what had actually happened, and then conveyed all of that information successfully to our risk manager.  Everyone else in the information chain benefited, and in the end we were able to establish a clear order of events that satisfied everyone.

Here are some steps to help you when you encounter a crisis where a response from you is demanded:

  1. Take things one at a time. I'm learning that while sometimes everything appears equally urgent, the prudent method is to take the information one piece at a time to minimize frustration and keep a calm demeanor.  This allows each piece to be prioritized for action. 
  2. Take a few moments to think. When things become instantly urgent, use that as a signal that you immediately need to take a few moments to ensure your thinking is clear.  Unless you're a cardiac surgeon or paramedic, one or two minutes of organized thought will not derail the urgency of your response.
  3. Keep your emotions in check.  Urgent issues usually become so because of frustrated parties who need instant gratification.  Don't add to the fuel to the emotional fire that is already raging.  Look for information you can use to solve the issue, not for who intended what, or who is to blame.
  4. Sort it all out later.  After the crisis is the only appropriate time to review what went wrong, and how the process could have been improved.  Use this follow-up time wisely and you will be working towards prevention of future crises.
Perspective is key; even though the situation may be urgent, remember that in the grand scheme of things, it's just another task that needs to be accomplished.  Your effectiveness in solving the issue will be directly related to how effectively you can keep your perspective and work through these steps.

Worry is wasting perfectly good thinking on make-believe stuff...How to break the cycle and enjoy more of life:

Do you believe that Santa Claus is real?  This time of year, maybe you are waiting for the Easter Bunny to visit your home and deliver some decorated eggs and candy.  Sound crazy? Although you may not believe in these fantasies, you may still be living in a make-believe world.  How, you ask?

If you worry a lot, you may as well believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny, because worry is really nothing more than wasted energy on imagined realities that may never come to pass. 

This may seem a little out there at first blush, but check this out: the ability of your mind to be productive is the most precious resource there is.  If you think that wasting natural resources like oil and electricity is valuable, how much more valuable is the energy used in the functioning of your thinking?  And wasting that resource is that much more valuable.

Now, I know you recognize that thinking takes large amounts of your energy; this is easily demonstrated when you feel "stressed" and tired after a busy day, even if you are not physically working hard. 

Now, when you take that potentially beneficial thought-energy and waste it on things that are not real (i.e., worry), you spend just as much energy as if you were solving problems about very real and pressing issues that require your full attention.  You feel just as stressed and tired as if you accomplished a full day of planning and strategizing.  But in reality, it was all make-believe, and most of it will never even happen.

The key is to get as much efficiency out of the precious resource of your brain energy as you can, and here's how to do it: focus on what you can do, not what might happen.  This will break the cycle of worry and you will find it is a much better use of the energy you do have, and will serve you much better. 

Will this happen right away, or the first couple of times you try to switch your focus from the imagined to the real?  No, and that's okay.  Just keep practicing it; and you will get better and better with each attempt.  It may be helpful to ask a trusted friend to help hold you accountable with a daily phone call or email. 

In the long run, you will find that by spending better use of your energy focusing on controlling the things at hand, most of what you have been worrying about will not even come to pass.

Then you will be much more relaxed and flexible to meet the demands of each day. And on top of that, you will then be able to spend your focus-energy on the really important things, like what kind of candy will the Easter Bunny be bringing you this year?  

The power of reminiscing: how to leverage the context of your life into new #adventurebolts...

This weekend, I've been listening to a lot of Beatles music on the local radio station highlighting their music. (Yes, some of us still listen to radio stations). Song after song, I was reminded of different childhood memories, as I listened to a lot of Beatles music growing up.

Certain songs can have that effect: they trigger a memory of a time or event, just like specific smells can remind you of memories, as well.

During my reminiscing, I was reminded of a toy that I used to play with. It was an astronaut action figure called "Major Matt Mason." Of course, in the late 60's and early 70's, the space program was in full swing, so the imaginations of kids everywhere (young boys, anyway) were on the moon missions. The Matt Mason figure had bendable legs and arms, and I can remember playing with him while my older sisters listened to their music. These little Matt Mason space adventures were as real to me as the ones the actual astronauts encountered on their trips to the moon.

It's weird how memory works; some people remember one thing, others remember something else. It's interesting to think why we remember certain things at all, like in this case, playing with an action figure when I was younger: what's the point?

I like to think that a couple of principles come out of reminiscing:

  1. I think these little connections to the past help us keep a firm perspective on the present.  There has to be some sort of context for doing the things you do, and when you are reminded of your past ambitions, you will many times find the inspiration for new ones.
  2. I am also reminded of the imagination necessary to inspire strong creative thinking.  What that means for us as adults is that reminiscing can give us the ability to translate that creativity into new adventurebolts, and the memories that go with them.
To me, Major Matt Mason was always on an adventure; now I live my life, and encourage others to live, in the pursuit of everyday adventurebolts all around us.  

The positive focus of reminiscing, then, should push us further along the path of lives to new heights.  The key (and, alas, hardest part) is to allow the negatives to drop into the past so that you can continue forward unhindered.  This is the only way you will successfully leverage the context of your life into new accomplishments.

How to create happy memories for your kids AND solve the world's energy needs at the same time...

Birthday party. 7 year-old. Girl. Lots of sugar, incessant screaming,
and punching-balloons. Need I say more?

Okay, does that really sound negative? It really wasn't; in fact, it
was fun to watch all of the kids having lots of fun. Our family was
invited to a friend's birthday party, and it was all very
well-organized with lots of activities. (God bless those parents).

I remember being 7. I remember on my birthday, one of the toys I got
was a little race car, kind of of like a Hot Wheels car, only twice as
big. It was a brown Formula 1 race car with the number 7 on the hood.
I had lots of fun playing with that car, and happy memories.

I don't remember having as much energy as all of these kids
demonstrated, though. I'm really thinking that if we could simply find
a way to have 7 year-old birthday parties across the nation take place
on some kind of electricity-generating giant hamster-wheel, we could
easily forgo our reliance on foreign oil.

And think of the fun the kids would have, running, laughing, playing,
and accidentally getting caught up in centrifugal force to scoop them
up on the backside of the giant hamster-wheel, only to dump them
mercilessly on the scampering hordes of 7 year-old below.

I'm thinking a hit reality TV show.

Well, until I can find a corporate sponsor to build it, we'll just
have to continue the usual birthday parties that create nothing but
happy memories for the kids.

Pity. That means the oil conglomerates win.