"Jack of All Trades". Anyone ever called you that? Ever wondered whether that was a compliment? I always thought it was until I was lying in the bath the other evening, thinking about that phrase.
Now, before you even go there. Yes, even Bikers take a bath at least once a year, and some of us think every now and then as well. So, no funny comments about the way I smell after the bath, or the fact that I can actually count up to.....uhmmmm.......Plenty when I have my shoes off!
Back to my original thought on being called a "Jack of All Trades". We all know this phrase is not commonly used on it's own, because it is more often than not, followed by the phrase: "Master of None". THAT is where the problem lies, because you may be reasonable at many things, but not the master, or expert, at anything in particular!
In the "good old days" it used to be considered a compliment when you were deemed an "expert" at your job, even if you knew little, or nothing, about other parts of the job. There were other people in the place who were "experts" in their respective jobs and they could compliment your expertise by doing their part of the overall job. This meant that you could do what you were good at and then hand over the job to the next expert in the process to worry about.
I do understand the need for multi-skilling the workforce and development of skills, and all that. What I do NOT understand, however, is the fact that people keep on complaining about the "brain drain", yet these same people want everyone to know everything about all aspects of the job. You cannot have a "Jack of All Trades" and expect them to actually do EVERYTHING well!
I've heard it said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. However, I've also heard the saying: "A little knowledge may be dangerous...but not as dangerous as a LOT of ignorance!"
In my (not so humble) opinion, I believe that we are trying our best to ensure that we are so good at everything that nobody can do anything without us. Or to put it another way: I think we are so scared that we won't be good at something, that we'd rather be "ok" at as much as possible.
Or maybe. Hmmmm. Here's something to think about! Maybe we are so lazy to learn to become an expert at one thing, that we'd rather juggle so many balls at once that nobody can see exactly how many we're actually dropping along the way. And if we happen to drop one of yours along the way, then we can always blame it on Management, because they told us to do so many things at once!
I, for one, have decided to start "sucking" at less stuff and start becoming more proficient at more of the less stuff that I want to concentrate on!
What do you mean that doesn't make sense? I mean that I want to start concentrating more on the stuff that I know I'm good at and start worrying less about the stuff that I couldn't care less about. And, who knows, I may actually get more done than before, because I can honestly say that juggling so many balls at once is no fun if you're only good at handling a couple at a time.
Maybe the world would be a better place if we all started taking that approach?
2010/06/27
2010/06/17
Balance...
Balance is a given in life. Good and Evil. Rain and Drought. Going faster and Slowing down. Heating up and Cooling down. Feeling happy and then feeling sad. Getting paid at the end of the month and then reaching the fourth day of the month and having VERY little left of the salary...
This issue of balance has been brouhgt to the fore in my life, because I have been experiencing it first-hand in the following specific ways lately...
For the last year or two we have been subjected to severe travel discomfort. There have been continuous road works taking place on the highways between Pretoria and Johannesburg. If it wasn't construction for the Gautrain project that was disrupting the flow of traffic, it was the Gautenf Traffic Improvement Project. Both of these are aimed at alleviating the congestion on our roads in the long run.
Add to this the fact that we were being "threatened" by disruptions due to the staging of the World Cup Soccer Tournament in various cities around South Africa and you definitely see the "bad" part of this balancing act.
The Organisers and Government got together and decided that they would close schools for the entire duration of the World Cup! On the one hand a great idea, because parents wouldn't have to worry about taking their kids to school during this time. On the other hand a bad idea, because what do parents do with their kids at home for more than 6 weeks!
A day or two before the Tournament started, the SA National Road Agency Ltd decided that they would suspend ALL road works for the duration of the World Cup. Suddenly the roads were open. There were no Construction Workers to be seen. The lanes were even painted where there were no lines painted before! It was like Heaven had suddenly come to Earth, because we now had 6 lanes to use, instead of the 2 or 3 which could be reduced to 1 for hours at a time during construction.
However...There's a part of a song that says "...into every life a little rain must fall...". About a week ago I noticed the local Road Traffic Law Enforcement Agency personnel perching on top of the cement median on the highway. This was something they could NOT do during construction of the highway, seeing as there was no median for them to use!
And, of course, they were not there just to make sure that traffic flows smoothly. No! They were there to ensure that the traffic flows slowly, because they sat on the median with cameras and radar trapping devices which are aimed (literally?) at making people slow down to below the speed limit...Waaaayyy below the speed limit.
It's amazing how the sight of a Law Enforcement Officer sitting behind a radar camera can cause people to develop a conscience. Unfortunately, they generally feel so bad that they slow down so much that they end up travelling, at least, 20 km/h below the actual posted speed limit!
It's like the balance thing kicks in with the human psyche as well. People seem to think: "I've been driving over the speed limit up to this point...Maybe if I slow down to waaayyyy below the limit where the Traffic Police....uhm...person can see me, it'll make up for the fact that I've been bad up to here!".
Anyway...Like I said in the beginning...With the good, comes the bad. With the nice, comes the "not so nice". With the open roads and lack of road works, comes the return of the Traffic Police! With the increase of traffic flow, comes the proportionate increase in probability of being caught by the Traffic Department.
Remember..."For everything, there's a season..." My season has now come to enjoy the opening of the extra lanes on the highway, but to enjoy it in such a manner that I do not allow the Traffic Law Enforcers to upset the balance in my bank account!
Drive safely and, specifically if you're riding a motorcycle, keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up...
This issue of balance has been brouhgt to the fore in my life, because I have been experiencing it first-hand in the following specific ways lately...
For the last year or two we have been subjected to severe travel discomfort. There have been continuous road works taking place on the highways between Pretoria and Johannesburg. If it wasn't construction for the Gautrain project that was disrupting the flow of traffic, it was the Gautenf Traffic Improvement Project. Both of these are aimed at alleviating the congestion on our roads in the long run.
Add to this the fact that we were being "threatened" by disruptions due to the staging of the World Cup Soccer Tournament in various cities around South Africa and you definitely see the "bad" part of this balancing act.
The Organisers and Government got together and decided that they would close schools for the entire duration of the World Cup! On the one hand a great idea, because parents wouldn't have to worry about taking their kids to school during this time. On the other hand a bad idea, because what do parents do with their kids at home for more than 6 weeks!
A day or two before the Tournament started, the SA National Road Agency Ltd decided that they would suspend ALL road works for the duration of the World Cup. Suddenly the roads were open. There were no Construction Workers to be seen. The lanes were even painted where there were no lines painted before! It was like Heaven had suddenly come to Earth, because we now had 6 lanes to use, instead of the 2 or 3 which could be reduced to 1 for hours at a time during construction.
However...There's a part of a song that says "...into every life a little rain must fall...". About a week ago I noticed the local Road Traffic Law Enforcement Agency personnel perching on top of the cement median on the highway. This was something they could NOT do during construction of the highway, seeing as there was no median for them to use!
And, of course, they were not there just to make sure that traffic flows smoothly. No! They were there to ensure that the traffic flows slowly, because they sat on the median with cameras and radar trapping devices which are aimed (literally?) at making people slow down to below the speed limit...Waaaayyy below the speed limit.
It's amazing how the sight of a Law Enforcement Officer sitting behind a radar camera can cause people to develop a conscience. Unfortunately, they generally feel so bad that they slow down so much that they end up travelling, at least, 20 km/h below the actual posted speed limit!
It's like the balance thing kicks in with the human psyche as well. People seem to think: "I've been driving over the speed limit up to this point...Maybe if I slow down to waaayyyy below the limit where the Traffic Police....uhm...person can see me, it'll make up for the fact that I've been bad up to here!".
Anyway...Like I said in the beginning...With the good, comes the bad. With the nice, comes the "not so nice". With the open roads and lack of road works, comes the return of the Traffic Police! With the increase of traffic flow, comes the proportionate increase in probability of being caught by the Traffic Department.
Remember..."For everything, there's a season..." My season has now come to enjoy the opening of the extra lanes on the highway, but to enjoy it in such a manner that I do not allow the Traffic Law Enforcers to upset the balance in my bank account!
Drive safely and, specifically if you're riding a motorcycle, keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up...
2010/06/08
Everything...Yet nothing...
My one big frustration this morning is that I have such a lot of things I would like to ramble on about, that I actually get around to rambling about nothing in particular.
I was (still am, actually) in an exceptionally good mood, in spite of some circumstances that are trying to convince me that I shouldn't be. By the time I got through the traffic and got to work, however, I'd forgotten most of the stuff I felt like sharing.
This is mainly due to ONE person at the work place who decided that today would be a good day to make everyone else at the workplace as miserable as he himself feels. I refer to this person as a "stifler". This is generally NOT helpful in keeping the mind focused on all the good stuff you wanted to share with people during your trip to work!
It does, however, help you focus on trying to get others to feel better after the "stifler" has been around. I try my best to ignore the "stifler" and spend my time trying to remain as positive as I can. Unfortunately this is not always possible and then I find myself becoming more and more sarcastic in this person's presence...
If you could see the grin on my face right now, you would realise that it is not necessarily a good one. This, of course depends on whether you thought Jack Nicholson's grin in "The Shining" was a good one just before he smasehd the axe through the door!
I know what people say about sarcasm and how it is the lowest form of wit. I also know, however, that this is mainly said by people who do not understand sarcasm...or people at whom the sarcasm is aimed.
Anyway...so what I'm actually trying to let you know that I have all these wonderful, encouraging, uplifting thoughts I want to put on screen for you...but I can't seem to find them in between all the other thoughts that are curently cluttering my brain and clamouring for attention.
Based on my run-in with the "stifler" this morning, though, the one thought that keeps coming to the forefront is: "Vinegar versus honey", for some strange reason. Maybe I'll try the "honey-approach" a little later and see where that gets me...
I was (still am, actually) in an exceptionally good mood, in spite of some circumstances that are trying to convince me that I shouldn't be. By the time I got through the traffic and got to work, however, I'd forgotten most of the stuff I felt like sharing.
This is mainly due to ONE person at the work place who decided that today would be a good day to make everyone else at the workplace as miserable as he himself feels. I refer to this person as a "stifler". This is generally NOT helpful in keeping the mind focused on all the good stuff you wanted to share with people during your trip to work!
It does, however, help you focus on trying to get others to feel better after the "stifler" has been around. I try my best to ignore the "stifler" and spend my time trying to remain as positive as I can. Unfortunately this is not always possible and then I find myself becoming more and more sarcastic in this person's presence...
If you could see the grin on my face right now, you would realise that it is not necessarily a good one. This, of course depends on whether you thought Jack Nicholson's grin in "The Shining" was a good one just before he smasehd the axe through the door!
I know what people say about sarcasm and how it is the lowest form of wit. I also know, however, that this is mainly said by people who do not understand sarcasm...or people at whom the sarcasm is aimed.
Anyway...so what I'm actually trying to let you know that I have all these wonderful, encouraging, uplifting thoughts I want to put on screen for you...but I can't seem to find them in between all the other thoughts that are curently cluttering my brain and clamouring for attention.
Based on my run-in with the "stifler" this morning, though, the one thought that keeps coming to the forefront is: "Vinegar versus honey", for some strange reason. Maybe I'll try the "honey-approach" a little later and see where that gets me...
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