For those of you relatively new to the blog here, There's Something about Thursdays was a weekly tradition that I had to discontinue due to difficult Thursday scheduling every week. With this week's mission, however, I am bringing them back for this special installment - and I've been saving something just for this.
I'd like to take a moment to describe something that has been mentioned here and there rather mysteriously: Phase 2. Phase 2 of development is where we look at the improvements that we have made to Heinz so far since its trial release and try to anchor it back to its roots, and it has been going great! Everyone is excited to be making significant progress and to be able to hit a milestone like this. The idea for this step was inspired by something similar that I have been performing on my own life; the basic idea is to peel back all of the activity that happens day to day and all of the projects and things that are in progress and to understand what the motivations are behind them. For Heinz this means cutting features that serve no real purpose, but for me it means re-confirming my understanding of who I am and why I am working on this project over here, or trying to learn that technique over there. I have come to call this process my "Großfestigung", or 'Great Fortification', and it has been amazingly useful to me - especially to get focus back on the things that I find the most important. I have also been able to spend less time on things that I don't particularly enjoy or things that might benefit me slightly but are not worth the stress and effort to get to that point. It is as simple as making a list of interests, relationships with other people, things you tend to do in social situations, etc. and asking yourself for a real, sufficient explanation for why you do those things or how the relationship (friendly, familial, or intimate) is currently holding. Fortification doesn't have to be limited to just those things, though, as the same process applied to physical shape, spiritual and moral views, and who you want people to see you as (as well as why), can act like a lens, focusing your thoughts into an analysis that cuts out immediate distractions. It can help prevent someone from living a scattered life - not a life free from responsibilities but one free from impact and meaning.
Living a scattered life is much different than simply living in the moment and trusting immediate feelings to make decisions, though. Living a focused life and living in the moment are by no means mutually exclusive, but letting the moment rule your life or living your life never knowing why you do or say or believe the things that you do takes the power we each have to do important things out of our hands. If a person has an idea of where he/she is going, he/she will take greater, swifter strides to get there. So take a moment, maybe even sometime this week, and set yourself some hard questions to answer. Remind yourself of where the anchor that keeps you from blowing away on the wind of the world lies.
Living a scattered life is much different than simply living in the moment and trusting immediate feelings to make decisions, though. Living a focused life and living in the moment are by no means mutually exclusive, but letting the moment rule your life or living your life never knowing why you do or say or believe the things that you do takes the power we each have to do important things out of our hands. If a person has an idea of where he/she is going, he/she will take greater, swifter strides to get there. So take a moment, maybe even sometime this week, and set yourself some hard questions to answer. Remind yourself of where the anchor that keeps you from blowing away on the wind of the world lies.