A Near-life Experience

3 Lessons I Learned from Lemmings (the game)

2010-03-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

I always hated the Lemmings computer game: 1) Because it frequently made my computer freeze as a child, and 2) it felt like managing a team of mindless, needy people in a series of life-preserving missions. But I did learn a few things from the game, lessons I've seen repeated in every day life and in various jobs I've held.

1) You need a variety of skill sets for an effective team.
It would be absolutely frustrating to attempt to dig through a wall with only builder lemmings. Granted, the builder lemmings are still useful in many of the missions, but since they can't adapt to taking on a new task, they are useless in forging through walls to reach the lemming home. Like, your company may have the most creative, brilliant minds throwing ideas zinging around the room at every meeting, but if you don't have a writer to create your copy or a designer to make your content look pretty in a new marketing campaign, your great ideas will be building bricks when you really need it to break through a wall.

2. You don't need everyone for every project.
You know those meetings where everyone in the office gathers to discuss something that only two people will actually work on? Yeah, this is a case where you are pulling together a builder, a digger, a blocker, and an exploding lemming when all you need is to build a bridge from one ledge to another. Sure, people from other departments and in different specialties might have great ideas to contribute, but sometimes, a simple email will do. No need to interrupt the lives of all your lemmings.

3. Train your lemmings well, especially after a round of layoffs.
Who wants to be the lemming that has to explode to get through the wall when there are no digger lemmings available because your company just laid off the digger lemming? Don't lay off people you need and think that someone else is going to be able to adapt without some training. Teach your exploding lemming how to be a digger lemming so when there's a wall you need to get through, you don't end up with a burn out employee, trying to complete a task they're not properly trained in.

They're pretty basic lessons, but you and I and the three other people who will read this post know, sometimes companies forget them. So, if you are starting a company and you are organizing a group of ~~lemmings~~ employees, think about all the skill sets you will need.

Will you succeed with ten programmers or will you need people in marketing, customer service, and copy writing as well? Don't overuse your resources and waste their precious time and energy. And train your employees in a variety of tasks, not just the ones they'll primarily be doing. People get sick, take vacations, and sometimes even quit. Your business can't wait when that happens.

If you have thoughts on this subject, please opine below in the comments section. Your voice is welcome here.

P.S. If you want to play the game for old time's sake, you can find it here for free.

Today is the day to...

2009-07-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

Do that thing that's been on your to-do list for three weeks now and still remains undone.

I admit, I am addicted to lists.But considering how prevalent lists are on popular Digg submissions, I'm not alone. In my planner, I list everything I need to do for the day. Even mundane activities like laundry get listed. Not only does this get the item out of my brain and recorded onto something more stable, it also gives me a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. I can look at my list of to-do items all proudly checked off and smile with a sense of accomplishment.

But....

There are those items that become rewritten day after day in my planner. Lately, those have been "get a job" (more later on why listing that as a to-do is a bad item) and "bleach bathtub." They go undone because, well honestly, they're not fun. Who wants to write cover letters all day or scrub mildew out of tight crevices?

But every time I see them reappear on my daily to-do list, I feel a sense of discontent with myself. Maybe you've felt it too. You're looking at this one thing you still haven't done and it's weighing over your head because you're going to have to tackle it sooner or later. And you're upset that you haven't buckled down and done it already.

Well, here's what I've found so far in tackling these dreaded "to-do"s.

1. Create Manageable Pieces
Don't list longterm and/or multipart projects as one item. For example, I am building a solar-powered dehydrator with my boyfriend. It would be foolish for me to write "build solar-powered dehydrator" on my planner and expect it to get checked off anytime soon. Instead, I would need to start by writing "Break apart bookshelf for the wood" on day one. When I had finished that, I would need to write "Paint plywood sheet black for airflow box" and so forth.

This is why I prefer to use a planner with a monthly view that has a space for listing parts of longterm projects. (I have found that Blue Sky July-June Weekly/Monthly planners are ideal for this and include large lined boxes for each day on the weekly calender pages. Available at Target for $7.99)

So, for my "get a job" to-do, I need to break this ~~impossible~~ doable task into manageable pieces. For example, step one could be "update resume with latest job and contact info." Step two would be "search for writing and reporting jobs using three job search websites." Next step, which would be a daily task, would be " apply to three jobs with corresponding cover letters." Much more concrete than "get job" and much more likely to get done.

2. Eliminate Obstacles
Figure out why you haven't done more short-term tasks such as "bleach bathtub" and "hang bird feeder." Sometimes, it's just an icky job, and for that, you're going to need to bribe yourself with a reward. For something like the bird feeder, you may need someone else to help you hang it. Instead of wasting time writing "hang bird feeder," go find someone to help you.

3. Plan for Later
You may not have time to do that to do item right now, and sometimes, that's okay. Just take it in stride and list it on your monthly planner page as a "WIGATI" (When I Get Around To It) item. No need to list it on your daily pages if it's just going to take up space and make you feel bad.

These are just thoughts from my own experiences. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you do to make sure your to-do lists get finished.

{photo by Great Beyond}

How to Make Totally Awesome Light-Writing Pics

2009-07-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple of people ask me how I made this:

So, here are the simple instructions.

If you have a digital SLR, turn the dial to M for manual shooting mode. Change the aperture to Bulb. This is done by turning the wheel past the longest exposure time available, which is 30 seconds for me.

Turn your ISO to 100. Sparklers are really bright and you want your light sensitivity to be low so you don't wash out your pic.

Looking through the viewfinder, set up chairs or other easily-visible markers on the far edges of the frame so the model knows where to begin and where to stop before exiting the frame.This also helps to give the model a sense of how the size of the letters will relate to the actual picture size.

Have the model hold up something like a cell phone to illuminate themselves so you can set the focus.

Have the model light the sparkler then pose in the position they want to be captured in. Make sure the sparkler is away from their face for two reasons: One, so they don't catch their hair on fire, and two, so they don't have their face obscured by the glowing sparkler. For writing something, I found that holding my sparkler like I naturally hold a pen for writing worked best.

When they say "go," press the shutter button down to fire your flash and capture the model's pose then continue to hold the button down as they write a word or draw a picture. The slower you go, the more likely you'll get ghosting, like in my picture where you can see "ghosts" of me behind the word "life." You can remove that later in photoshop, although sometimes the ghosting looks really cool.

Specs for this pic: ISO 100, Aperture f/5.6, Exposure time 19 secs, focal length 23 mm
Camera: Canon Rebel XTi

Try this yourself and let me know how it turns out!

Lynette
@bestieverdid

2009-07-02T05:37:00.000-07:00

My original plan has gone out the window and I am actually blogging about food on my website http://lynettecornell.com. Please stop by and leave a comment with your feedback.

Thank you!

Arriving on the scene...

2009-06-23T08:45:00.001-07:00

I just realized I have this blog. For the past month, I've been trying to get http://lynettecornell.com ready and working. Quite a challenge when it's hosted on a Linux server sitting in my living room and I know next to nothing about Linux. Why have my own server? Well, why not? So, this will be my personal, whimsical blog while the other one will have a more businesslike tone.

Words like "social media" and "journalism" and "media" will fly around that place while this will be where I share stories. I like stories, hence why I spent four years studying journalism and amassing oodles of student debt. (Hint: You probably won't find the word "oodles" in that other blog.)

See ya soon!