Tag: life

Looking Within

I’ve been reading the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for a while (from November, to be specific), and though I have mixed feelings, I love certain concepts the author mentions.

Like how irrelevant grades and degrees are, for instance.

“This surprising result supported a hunch he had had for a long time: that the brighter, more serious students were the least desirous of grades, possibly because they were more interested in the subject matter of the course, whereas the dull or lazy students were the most desirous of grades, possibly because grades told them if they were getting by.”

And it’s true. We’re always looking for something to point us to the right direction. We want someone to acknowledge us and tell us we’re doing the right thing. We want an authoritative figure to assure us we’re getting by.

But do we need that? Perhaps we should look further than other people to judge our abilities. Perhaps we should look at ourselves, and define ourselves, by ourselves.

“He had wanted his students to become creative by deciding for themselves what was good writing instead of asking him all the time. The real purpose of withholding the grades was to force them to look within themselves, the only place they would ever get a really right answer.”

It’s OK to be average at something. But unless we look within and accept how much we can grow, we may never understand how we’re getting by.

I enjoy reading this book. Even if it does make a good pillow.

Five people in a meeting

chandler

What do you do in a meeting? I have a pretty short attention span for crappy yada yada and I zone out after a while. But if I do manage to stay awake, I look around at people of varying designations, gulping in tension while sweat runs down their faces.

There are the five common types of people in a meeting.

The bald guy: He’s the “bold” guy. The one who speaks in cliches like “bald is the new beautiful.” The one who thinks wordplay is his forte and everyone adores his clever wit. Alas, he may never know how mistaken he is.

The new recruit: She’s the fresh face in the company who’s running around introducing herself, asking questions, and making observations out of the obvious. She’s all eager to prove her worth, looking everywhere for the bubbling reputation — “even in the cannon’s mouth.”

The invisible: Ever seen a guy who looks like he’s not supopsed to be there? This invisible guy is the perfect combination of introversion and shyness. He’s still figuring out why he’s in this meeting at all, and wondering if he could go get a step out for a coffee.

The couple: The new weds, the new lovers, or just new team mates — they’re always together. Looking at them, you can’t help but wonder if one of them will fall off if they ever unlock their hands.

The speaker: *Clears throat* “Alright, everyone! If you can all write down your names in this sheet, we can go ahead and discuss why our WENUS (Weekly Estimated Net Usage Systems) has dropped this quarter.” Oh, and he never does anything to improve figures in the next quarter.

Any of them ring a bell? Or have you encountered other interesting types?