Focus on projects that matter…

Some of the key take outs from this book included:

• Get implementing – the best ideas, projects and intentions are meaningless unless some action is taken that brings them into play.
• Rather than consider whether or not something is true consider whether it’s useful (obviously within an ethical and legal framework) … this helps to create momentum.
• Fight for three – within any day fight to complete three tasks that matter. Peter talks of how he fights for 3 periods of focused time during any one day. He then extends this to 3 actions for the week and 3 projects for the quarter.

Within the context of this book, ‘projects that matter’ is about taking action toward a goal that is meaningful for you and your organisation. To which I’d add, that for interpreters it’s also about what is meaningful for place (with ‘place’ being a collective term to encompass the various subject areas we focus on as interpreters).

You can fluff around the edges, you can distract and procrastinate but ultimately it will be meaningful and deliberate strategic action that will help create fulfillment when later you reflect on how you spent your time. To revisit the quote by Thoreau … ‘what will you become when you achieve your goals’?

This is my second read of this book and it’s amazing how you can read something a second time and gain so much more depth and understanding.

Taking time out to evaluate and reflect

Reading this book motivated me to evaluate my activity and whether what I do contributes to those things that matter for others and for this world.

I believe this is an important exercise for everyone and it is why this book resonated with me to the degree that it did. It was applicable at the personal level as much as it was at a team and an organisational level.

It also helped me to evaluate how I manage those times when I lack motivation, when I’m just plain exhausted after a big day or week, or when I’m just in a good old-fashioned funk. My plan for these times is to tick off on those seemingly meaningless but still important tasks that do not require much brain power. And by doing this I can then better engage in solid thinking and working time when my brain returns from its wee sojourn.

‘Keeping on’ with steps toward what matters

Having a plan helps with discipline because I know what I need to do and can just get on and do it. I can keep taking steps toward what matters.

In continuing to take these steps I’m continually inspired by a good friend of mine who has coached many startup and incubator initiatives, and who advocates for the practice of ongoing action … taken daily, weekly, monthly. One initiative she worked with was started by a crew of builders and ‘solopreneurs’. I still remember the buzz of this crew when I met them a few years back … they were focused, keen and having a ball. Their initiative was to renovate an old and disused industrial soap manufacturing warehouse into a co-operative microbrewery and small community business incubator. And key to this communal space was the spirit of people supporting each other and having fun. It was definitely a project that mattered to those lads how hard they worked in getting it up and going.

People matter

Writing this post reminds me of the cult surfing movie ‘Big Wednesday’ – I say it’s a cult because it seems that the only people who enjoy it are old-time surfers who can directly relate to the surfing culture of the 1970’s. Other people tend to fall asleep within the first half hour.

Perchance you haven’t come across the movie, it is set in the 1960’s and 1970’s on the California west coast, and shares the coming of age of 3 mates, Jack, Matt and Leroy. Together with a ‘thread’ character ‘Bear’, the film gives us an insight into life during this period against the backdrop of the Vietnam war.

It’s not so much the surfing or ‘bloke scenes’ that I like about this movie but more the strong theme of friendship and especially the wisdom around this theme as shared by Bear – with the following quotes being some examples: 

when you’re down … that’s when you need a friend

that’s when you need a friend when you’re wrong … when you’re right you don’t need nothing (sic)

friends are the most important thing you’ve got 

In my surfing days I spent many hours surfing desolate and remote breaks on my own but the best memories have definitely been those times I spent surfing with friends. With people who helped me feel that I mattered in some way. With mates.

It’s not just about doing work that matters, it’s also about being with people who help us feel we matter, that we belong. And perhaps, in turn, where we can really make a difference, where we can really do something that matters, is to do our bit to show other people that they matter as well. Perhaps this is a blwdy good legacy that would help complement the quote by Thoreau: “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

(a few trivia bits)

• Ian Cairns and Peter Townsend were two of Australia’s legendary surfers from the 1970’s, were brought in as doubles for Gary Busey (who plays Leroy) and William Katt (who plays Jack).
• Today’s famous Bear surf brand was originally created for the movie.
• John Milius (Director of Big Wednesday), Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were friends and at the time that John Milius was working on Big Wednesday, Spielberg was working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and George Lucas on Star Wars. In the spirit of collaboration and support each film maker gave away a percentage of the monies from their respective films to the other two.