Impact

Every day, I pass a sign in the museum that says "How will you make a difference?"

It's about climate and environment, but every day it makes me think.  And every day I think differently.  Sometimes I feel that the answer is "I won't" and other times I see the answer as "through my actions" and other days I find the answer is "through my inaction."

No answer is completely correct; just as no answer is completely incorrect either.

Sometimes we feel tiny and insignificant and full only of our own little sphere that we have influence over.  Some days that sphere is smaller than other days. And so the answer can be "I won't" on those days.  On days when you aren't influencing your sphere, and you remain quiet and passive, you make very little - if any - impact.

Other times, our action and reaction to our little (or moderate) sphere makes impacts.  We smile at someone and compliment their shoes, they go forth with a brighter light and make an impact on their sphere in some way.  Or, you extend yourself to another being in your sphere and challenge their perception by discussion.  Perhaps you both remain unchanged, but perhaps not.  Alternatively your small action of recycling can make a difference to the planet and the animals that inhabit it.  Every time I clip a soda can holder, I think of a turtle that won't have a cinched waistband, and hope that a bird doesn't get it's beak stuck into someone else's trash; someone who didn't take the time to clip their rings, or simply doesn't know about the impact that makes.

Which brings me to my inaction making an impact.  What if someone hasn't been told that there's a chance that wildlife will either choke on, or become otherwise impeded, by this 6-pack-ring.   That something so simple that takes seconds to do (and happens to be incredibly satisfying, for some odd reason), can make a difference.  What if even knowing that, I decide that I just don't care?  What if I decide that I just can't spare those 5 seconds, or I just can't find the scissors, or I just can't ________.  Maybe it won't impact an animal the first time I throw it away whole.  But maybe it will.  If everyone just gives up and says "I don't care" then all the small impacts are made so much larger.

So, getting back to the "how will you make a difference" question:  Maybe we won't.  Maybe we will.  But, more likely than not, we will make a difference, but just won't ever know what kind of difference we made.

And just because I can, here are some pictures of the bonnet-head shark.  They might not be especially good, but they're still pretty awesome in my opinion.  So, you're all welcome.

Do people change?

One of the things I'd like to do more of this year would be to post at least one blog per month.  In an effort to do this, I've created an entire board on pintrest to help me.  I'm going to answer some of the January questions on that board over the next few days.

One of the first questions I want to write about is "Do you think people change?"

When I was younger, I would have answered with a resounding "no."  But, I feel this is a more complicated question than it seems.  When originally asked that question it's normally in reference to "does a leopard change his/her spots" type of question.  But it's really not as shallow as it first seems.

One of my favorite quotes is by Alvin Toffler "Change is not merely necessary to life - it is life."

Change: by Alvin Toffler

This holds true on both a broader scale as well as a more personal one.  Change is everything.  Change is all.  It is ambivalent and apathetic - neither good nor bad.  It simply is.  Therefore, to truly live, we are constantly changing.

What mustn't change is our inner core of being.  We can be open to experience and change, but you must still have a sense of self.  You must remain true to your being.  No one knows this better than parents.  You have created this being that is so much like you, and so dissimilar.  And often, when you have very small children, you tend to lose yourself in them.

So, simply put - do people change:  yes.  All the time.  Even by trying not to change, the influences around them as well as the information that they are exposed to, are constantly changing.  And thus, their perceptions, ideas, and thoughts are also in a constant state of fluctuation.

Move along...nothing to see here.

Why does I feel the need to write (or type as the case may be), when I have nothing to say?  It's as if a force is compelling me to write something - anything - simply so that my fingers are occupied.

True story - I actually set this blog up in September.  But for lack of anything to say, didn't post anything till December.  Although they say "Everyone has a story to tell" this isn't really writers block...I just have yet to find a story  I feel  is interesting enough for me to bother telling it.

I see the same writers itch in my daughter that I see in me.  It doesn't have to be good...it just has to be on paper.  (oh the poor trees!)  She started Chapter 3 on her short story tonight, before I commandeered her into helping me plan a March menu.  She would still be writing (and illustrating) now, I think, if I had not distracted her attention.

Do you ever feel the need to write, but have nothing to say?  Perhaps this is just a left-over from my adolescence, when I would write to gather my thoughts.  Or, perhaps this is more common.  I don't know.  What I do know is that when something really inspires me, I feel that I write much better, and that it's worth reading.  This post, may not be worth the read (sorry no refunds on that 2 minutes I just killed), but it is a question I've wanted to find the answer to repeatedly.  And, maybe by putting this out there, someday, someone will be able to answer it.

I think I've finally found my new-year's resolution

So, I'm only two months late, but I think my new-year's goal this year is going to be to buy cruelty free products this year.  I've done this in the past, but have lost focus over the past few years.  I think it's time to get back on track.

If you'd like to buy from cruelty-free companies, I urge you to visit Peta's listing of companies that don't test their products on animals.

Effective vs. Efficient

So, I've read a few articles recently about the difference between being effective and being efficient as of late.  And I have to say I’m not sure I entirely agree with them.

The gist of it is that “effectiveness is when you are doing the task correctly.”  This makes sense and there are no problems here for me.  I agree that you can be effective and not be the sharpest knife in the kitchen – so to speak. (which also happens to be an excellent example.  Kudos to me!)  In other words, you don’t have to do your job well to do it correctly.

However, the problem that I’m having is with the definition of efficient.  Thanks to dictionary.com the following definition is available to us:

ef·fi·cient

adjective

1.

performing or functioning in the best possiblemanner with the least waste of time andeffort; having and using requisiteknowledge, skill, and industry; competent;capable: a reliable, efficient secretary.

2.

satisfactory and economical to use: Our newair conditioner is more efficient than our old one.

 (there are more definitions but these are the two I want to look at for the time being.)

So, let’s look at definition # 2.  This is what I’m hearing a LOT on these articles.  The performance is satisfactory and economical.  But not necessarily as “effective” as a non-efficient “air conditioner.”  And this is where I begin to diverge from those who agree with this statement as being a reflection of efficiency.

The first definition – by far – is the one I agree with.  And even efficient air conditioners should be held to that standard.  Just because a step is skipped doesn’t mean that the outcome should be less effective because of my (faulty) efficiency.  If that is truly the case, then efficiency is just the opposite of its own definition (according to definition #1). 

Example:  I write contracts as part of my job.  It used to be that I wrote them by hand.  I would have to fill out every section of every block for every contract (about 200 per year).  This was effective, to an extent.  Sometimes though, I messed up what goes into those little boxes.  And to the extent that our technology was, it was as efficient as I could be at the time. 

Then, I started using contracts that I had already filled out portions of those boxes for the stuff that wouldn’t change.  I would then take them to the copy machine, make about a hundred copies, and then write the contracts from the copies.  I would still occasionally write an incorrect date; so this too was only partially effective.  It was also more efficient (time-wise) since I didn’t waste extra time filling in all those blocks.  However, I had added a step to the process, not taken one out.

Now, fast forward 12 years from the first time I wrote a contract.  I now use a pre-filled computer template which I can type the information into. (that took me awhile to create!)  I then compile the contracts using Adobe Acrobat, and send them electronically to the person who needs to key them into the system.  If I make a mistake on a date, the turn-around is super-fast.  But I do still make mistakes.  Effectiveness = same, Efficiency = more.

In these scenarios, I was just as effective in all 3 (I do still make mistakes).  However, since streamlining the process I have become more efficient at the task.  (If I could streamline the process more so that I didn’t make mistakes at all, I would jump for joy and get to work on that new process.) 

But, let’s say that one of the changes I had made had caused me to re-write all of my contracts because of error, I would not label that as efficiency.  For anyone to say that I could be less effective, but more efficient is a waste of everyone’s breath. 

Another example of this would be to say that a payroll officer should be efficient, even if they’re less effective.  Uh, if a payroll officer left off the step deducting the federal taxes from my paycheck, “efficient” is not the word I would use to describe them.  In fact, a few choice words would come to mind when it came time to pay those taxes back.

So, I can’t say that I agree with some of the articles out there claiming that efficient does not always equal effective.  I beg to differ.  Perhaps a few decades ago, that might have been true.  But should it have been?  One last example of this:  Just because I go through a drive through, I still want pickles, ketchup, onions, lettuce, and tomato on my burger.  But there are also things I don’t want on it.  Skip those steps (no mayo please).  If you don’t listen to my request and are on “efficiency autopilot” and I have to go through the drive through again to get my order corrected, were you truly efficient?   No.  And you just cost the company $ on that burger that just went in the trash.

Is it just me?  Does anyone else see the difference between the two terms as I do?

Oddly enough

So, yesterday on the way home from work I realized that I had a dream about myself developing a roll of film. (you remember, 35 mm film, right?)  And it feels like a recurring dream that I had recently as well.  Almost as if I dreamed the same thing within at least 2 weeks (possibly sooner).

It's eerie when you see something (Rite Aid, in this instance) that reminds you of something you've dreamed.  What's eerie about it is that until that moment you had no idea that you had done so.  But as soon as the light bulb in your head goes off and everything clicks into place, it feels so familiar.

I haven't developed a roll of film since Leilani was 2 years old.  Why think of that now?

Even stranger, is that last night I was thinking about elephants and feeling like I had dreamed of them earlier as well.  The fog surrounding my brain in regards to the particulars refuses to lift, and the mystery is still complete.  My mind keeps trying to peer past the fog to illuminate my subconscious thoughts but to no avail as of yet.  I continue to wait for the "ah ha" moment.