Optimism costs the same

[rockstar.esq]

My whole life, people have told me that a good attitude was essential.  Along the way, I heard quite a few of my elders say "it all pays the same" when they were given a repetitive, boring, or frustrating task.  Obviously the idea was to re-frame the dynamic so as to focus on the reward.  I met quite a few managers who dearly appreciated workers who didn't complain or take unpleasant tasks personally.

When any concise philosophical approach is universally applied, it won't take long to find extremes where there are unintended consequences.  In my line of work, I see a lot of failed estimators/entrepreneurs who kept grinding along with the repetitive and frustrating task of losing bids.  "It all paid the same" until the bosses money, or patience ran out.

If we knew everything from the start, there wouldn't be any reason to estimate.  Risk is often interpreted as the cost of things going wrong.  The more familiar something is, the less risky it appears.  Often, the reality is that familiar things are constantly going wrong.  Things turn out well because correcting course and fixing problems have become habits.  

My point, is that the skills involved with managing risk and handling problems, can be applied to new challenges.  When you're looking at a fruitless transaction in terms of "it all pays the same", that "positive attitude" is actually working against your purpose.  Switch roles in the transaction and ask yourself if mindlessly pursuing lost causes is better than mitigating the risk of unfamiliar opportunities with a modest dose of optimism.  

 

 

[John McPherson]

Progress is never made by those who are satisfied by the status quo. There is a huge attitude difference between temporary acceptance of a situation beyond your control, and general complacency. 

I have heard it described as the difference between a pacifist and a passivist: a pacifist does not want to go to war, a passivist does not want to go to the kitchen to make a sandwich.

Many companies have a policy of just firing the unhappy workers, but someone can be unhappy and productive at the same time. They can also be pleasant companions to work with, but absolutely useless by comparison.

As far as fixing problems and course corrections go, many administrators see older, experienced workers as a drain on their payroll instead of institutional memory. "If I can get rid of this crotchety old coot who wants to argue about everything, I can get two trainees who won't question me." It then takes four people twice as long, because they have to reinvent the wheel, where the old hand had old the nuances of the process honed to a fine edge. There were no problems on his shift only because he made corrections before they became rejectable defects.

In any organization, 10% of the people are doing 90% of the productive work. They know who they are, even if the front office does not, and are the first to leave when they see that the company is in a downward spiral, because they have options. The worst workers will ride that bus to the end of the line, because they don't.

[ThomasPowers]

John; when I was hired in at Bell Labs it was to understudy and then take the place of a fellow who was retiring with 35 years with the company.  As such I would eat lunch with him at the "old fogies" table in the company's canteen.  Lunches were often a series of tales of weird issues they had seen and how they figured them out and fixed them.  Truly a Masterclass in their fields.  Many of their stories have come in handy over the years helping me avoid problems as I knew to check for various things before going ahead with something new.

I guess nowadays I have a seat at those tables by my own right; like right here...

[Latticino]

46 minutes ago, John McPherson said:

someone can be unhappy and productive at the same time

Oh, I resemble that remark.

[John McPherson]

 

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

I guess nowadays I have a seat at those tables by my own right; like right here...

Truly, I have become the crotchety old geezer who knows all the tricks the saintly and benevolent, aged yet venerable fount of wisdom tempered with sarcasm, the village idiot elder,  the Subject Matter Expert, and dare I say it - Institutional Memory. But only to my students and coworkers, to the admins I am that guy with probing questions. And occasional rebuttal.

I have the right to remain silent, just not the ability. I have a moral streak which makes me call out transgressions and applaud real progress over churn. Which destroys my chances for internal recognition and advancement.

Also, the guy who owns all the tools, and knows how to use them, and even lends them out to a few trustworthy souls. 

Anime has the trope of the TFTOG. Two foot tall old geezer. Think Yoda in Star Wars, or the Turtle Shell Hermit in Dragonball.

I am starting a new trope, TFWOG, three foot wide old geezer.

[ThomasPowers]

I know about the questions; I just got a new fancier insulin pump and doing the pre-setup with customer service over the phone I had lots of questions like:  How does it deal with high temperatures?---Doesn't like hot tubs/Saunas! But what about blacksmith forges?  ????-Keep the temp below 104 degF; but in NM the ambient goes hotter than that and I'll be working in a sheet metal shed with a forge facing me! (Place sensors on the back of your arms, hammering should not be an issue.)  Gotta rig up a fanny pack with cold packs for the pump...

My wife thinks the fancier pump will help prevent problems where she has to call the EMTs.  I think it will be a literal pain---definitely a "Yes Dear" situation.

[Frosty]

Nah, you don't need a fanny pack and ice. You can just wear a down parka to shield it from ambient, your body temp is well within the pump's range. If YOU start to overheat just duct tape the ice packs in your armpits. 

You're making this into a much bigger deal than it needs to be you know. 

I suppose I could drop JoAnn a note with the idea. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

I had a friend with a medical problem seriously impacted by high temps; he wanted to go camp out at the SCA's Pennsic War held in the hot muggy summer but felt it was impossible.  I researched it and besides the very expensive astronaut method with tubes carrying chilled fluid sewn into undergarments and a pump/chiller system; there was a poor man's version that just used cold packs and lots of pockets sewn into a vest.

I saw him that summer all cool and collected while everyone else was wilting. He had an arrangement to refreeze his cold packs onsite and had a blast! 

[rockstar.esq]

John,

Thank you for your posts, they really drive home what I'm talking about.  

Thomas, Frosty, your exchanges remind me of a youtuber who presents on general contracting issues for residential projects. A while back he had one titled something like "Improve quality and productivity with this one weird trick".  His big idea?  Trailer mounted Air Conditioning unit.  He provides temporary climate control to residential construction sites.  I think he's somewhere in Austin Texas.  

The video started with a lecture on how material shrinkage due to temperature change affected quality on his jobs.  Since clients lived with climate control, it only made sense to install materials in that relative environment to maintain tolerances.  Only after he explained how it affects the woodwork, did he make an offhand comment about how you see more work getting done when people aren't suffering.

"Electric" jackets are becoming more popular on construction sites.  They're generally powered by cordless tool batteries.  I've seen some trade-show attempts at "cooling vests" using fans and evaporative cooling.  When I started in the trades, coordless drills were too expensive for the average worker to afford.  Now they're cheap enough that apprentices have entire "suites" of cordless power tools.  Hopefully we'll see something similar with portable, personal, air conditioning.  I can see huge sales opportunities in military and construction.

[ThomasPowers]

More Science Fiction approaching current reality; Though in the military it might be nice to mess up thermo imaging systems... ("The Thurb Revolution" Alexi Panshin, 1968, mentioned personal air conditioning units as I recall as well as others).

[John McPherson]

I have seen vests that plug into air compressor lines, pretty good if you are in a fixed location like a warehouse loading dock desk,  or welding booth.

Battery powered filtered air PAPR sets for welders and grinders hoods have been around for a few years, similar to the HAZMAT suit sets. Going from NiCad to Li-ion made them light enough to wear all day.

A vest with air flow would be worth having with standardized interchangeable batteries. I get tired of changing shirts 6 times a day in the summer.