Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Once again, the price of tools has fallen dramatically. This has shifted the place of work, and we are struggling to adapt. A few weeks ago, I went to a seminar where I connected a $100 gadget from Nvidia to a four-year-old $1,000 portable computer from Apple, used a bunch of $0 […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes some persons should not be in the room during discussions. You may stay in the room if you like. It is obvious from your reaction that this is all above your head. Please keep quiet. Learning is permitted, but interruption is discouraged. This is harsh. Sometimes it is necessary. Greater learning […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Resting, i.e., goofing off, is often a necessary zero-th step in concentrated work. Many years ago, a baseball player was asked about his team bad first week of the season. Is answer was something like, “We were backing up so we could have a running start.” I can (1) work all day […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes it is as simple as one word instead of another that can change everything. Do we manage or cultivate? Do we transfer or transplant? Do we tell or till? We could go on. Is the workplace a machine or a garden? Are our colleagues living, breathing humans or interchangeable cogs? Persons […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Our backgrounds don’t often determine our present. I took one English class in high school. I took one English class in college. Not much of a background in writing, huh? I have written half a dozen books (published) and over a hundred articles (published) as well as a hundred short stories (self-published) […]

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by Dwayne Phillips All things don’t happen automatically by automaton. Some special person does the work. Someone has to type the words Someone has to stand in front of the classroom Someone has to carry champagne to the table Someone has to crack the eggs As much as we wish it to be different in […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I read that some “young people” don’t stay in their jobs long. They don’t want to waste their life in something they dislike. Enjoyment often requires time. No job is enjoyable the first month. Or day or week or six months. When in a new job, I don’t understand what is really […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We make mistakes. We make mistakes at a given rate of X mistakes per unit of work. Look at all the work, find all the mistakes, learn, and change direction. We make mistakes. We make X mistakes per page. The more pages the more mistakes. In a bad situation? Sit and read […]

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by Dwayne Phillips You can work productively all day given a few restarts or what we used to call “breaks.” Working long hours for many days in a row isn’t a good idea. Fatigue wins—every time. There are, however, ways to beat fatigue. We used to call these breaks, but I am sure someone has […]

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by Dwayne Phillips “I always seem to break the machine.” I hear students say this…frequently. Reframe: I am earnestly doing my job. I try harder than most other persons. I am not sleep-walking through the day. I push the performance of my tools. I want to work with these persons, the ones who always seem […]

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