The power of two

People talk a lot about the power of one person to create change. This is definitely true in many situations, but the real power of one is in the inspiration of the many. What I’d like to talk about today is the power of two in changing one life. Well, strike that and make it a possible two lives. Let me explain.

When one person sets out to do something difficult, that person often falls quite early, failing his or her challenges and not achieving the goals he/she set out to achieve. For example, if I were to decide to get in shape on my own as I have many times, chances are I’d fail because I’d just be following the same pattern I always have and eventually I’d be tempted to give up, eat wrong, be lazy, etc. The power of two is the person with whom you choose to partner to achieve your goals. In fitness, this is quite common, I’d say. People often have gym partners, running partners, etc. My partner in running is now my wife, Steph. When one of us doesn’t really feel like going for a run, the other person can Steph in and exert a little positive pressure where it is needed. For me, this is very important because I find that I can get pretty lazy and it really helps to have someone else in the same situation, going through the same things and trying to achieve the same goals. It means I’m not alone and that if I fail myself, I’m also failing someone else. It adds that little bit of guilt to quitting which I don’t want to experience so I simply don’t.

So we know that two people can work well together to achieve fitness, but what about working together in other ways? People work in teams in their careers or jobs, they work together in marriages and as parents, and they often work together on projects which they enjoy. One example I have in my personal life is the HandRooster webcomic. My skills are primarily in writing and thinking up ideas, not drawing. When we started HandRooster Steph did the drawing (once in a while she’d write a comic as well) and I did the writing and it worked for a while but she really had a much greater workload than I did. Because of that, she ended up giving up on it and I had to go it alone. This was difficult for me because as I said, my skills are in writing and thinking, not drawing. I tried my best to come up with different ways of doing things. It worked to some extent but I could never quite do the excellent job she did. Her skills in drawing are better and it just wasn’t natural for me. She saw me struggling with the comic the other day and ended up volunteering to work on it again. We’ve done a few now and we’re doing them in a way which I hope is more sustainable for her. She draws them on paper and I scan them in, clean them up, do any coloring which needs to be done and then I write my post and upload the comic. I think this is a more balanced approach and I hope it works in the long run. It just goes to show you that if you communicate as a team of two and divide your efforts and work things out, you can achieve results which just aren’t possible as a single person with a single set of skills. Simple, but true.

Caring equals productive

One thing that people don’t often mention when they’re speaking about productivity is that productivity relies a lot upon someone actually caring about the project on which they’re working. It’s quite obvious when you think about it. People will be better at, try harder at and spend more time doing things which they want to do when compared to tasks they don’t want to do. I think that’s very clear and I doubt anyone would argue against that fact. The problem with this whole concept is that in our daily lives many of us have to do things which we don’t particularly find enjoyable or want to do. There are a couple ways of dealing with this problem.

The first way is to find a way to care about your work. Find things you enjoy about it, take pride in your expertise and your effort and claim ownership of the project. Make it your own and as something that is inseparable from you, it will start to matter more and more to you as a person. This is essentially what I’ve done when dealing with IT. When I did IT in the military, I didn’t particularly find the environment or the job itself very appealing, but I found ways to care about my work. I cared about my reputation and about how people viewed my projects. I cared about the protection, maintenance and development of my assets. I made everything my own and I cared what happened with it. I worked to make myself indispensable and respected and although I didn’t see my ultimate future in IT or the military, there were things about it that I did enjoy. I think I was more productive than most people an I don’t know many people who cared about their work more than I did. This approach can earn you trust, friendship and respect even if you aren’t keen on staying in the field.

The second way to deal with the problem is to stop doing work which doesn’t excite you. This is easier said than done, as most people these days tend to specialize in one field and it is often difficult to find employment in a new field without further education or experience. In 2007, I decided to get out of the military. I wanted to pursue freelance writing. I didn’t have a degree and I wasn’t going to work for anyone. I moved with my wife to rural Scotland and I ended up having to do some IT work to get by. While I have done a few paid writing jobs and I am working on some projects on my own, this didn’t end up being what I had hoped it would be. I don’t really consider myself a failure in this respect. At least I can say I tried. I took a risk and lived a life and challenged myself. Some of it was bad timing, some of it was inexperience and a lack of understanding about how to proceed. I still want to be a writer, and I intend to pursue that goal for the rest of my life, unless something inside of me changes. My methods of attaining this goal may change occasionally, but in my head the end is still the same.

So what I’m saying by this in my own simple way is that you shouldn’t live a half life just getting by, doing what is required but nothing more. You should live to produce and create, whatever method you choose. Whether you choose to learn to care about what you already do or choose to pursue something you already care about and learn what you need to know, do either one with all of your available energy. Either path will bring you good things.