Thoughts and Devotions

The Attraction of the “Side Hustle”

Leave a comment

Watch any amount TickTock, YouTube or any of the social platforms and it won’t take long to see that the side hustle is one of the biggest trends going. Most make promises of wealth without work that we can do on the side until we grow our brands or followers.

For many, the world wide pandemic of COVID forced workers to consider new ways of making money as businesses closed or reduced their workforces. Whether due to business closure or because they refused to take the vaccine, many people have come up with creative or at least they want us to believe, to make money.

Regardless of the rational, the push allowed whole new streams of income to surface. Even prior to the pandemic, things like game streams and YouTube training channels existed but now anyone could also generate most of this with little investment using devices they already had.

I have considered my own options as well to the side hustle. My wife and I started a podcast. A new Facebook group and I have several outlines for KDP books that I “plan to publish”. (at least I hope to) But the side hustle is not as easy as some would have you believe. It does take some commitment and time to devote to learning the ropes and if you have other commitments like family, existing job, then you may struggle to carve out the right amount of time to focus on it. Like, anything of value, you get out what you put in.

Thoughts and Devotions

Professionalism is not dead

Leave a comment

Being professional is much more than appearance and the way we speak. It’s about the attitude we carry and how we hold ourselves whether we are in large meeting space or 1 on 1 meeting.

When one says they are “professional” what does that really mean? When I was in college I was part of the University Choir at Azusa Pacific. Whether it was a rehearsal or a performance there was an expectation that you wore a tie and and dressed as if you were attending church. I did not like it much then but I understood the rational. It really had nothing to do with the clothes but it had more to do with the attitude.

Today you will hardly catch me In a tie and surprisingly jeans and a nice shirt seem have become acceptable for most settings but the requirement to be professional is still something I work on daily. Being professional, as I said before has little to do with clothes but with attitude and how you hold yourself. How do you talk about others in your office? Do you gossip? Are you overly critical of your boss? Do you recognize others above yourself? These things may not seem associated to being “professional” but I think these activities can help us gage how professional we really are.

Journal

Embracing Change

Leave a comment

Recently I made the decision to change companies after 27 years at being at my previous company. I had come back to the company after being at two other companies and after 8 years, had come to a place where a change was needed.

Coming to a decision to make a major change in life is often a difficult challenge for most. Whether it’s a change in jobs, a relationship or even just a self improvement can cause a great deal of anxiety. Change, regardless of what it is, can be a time of great reflection. Being able to reset and change course often can lead to exploring new ideas, a resurgence in energy and an overall positive outlook on life in general.

As I reflect on the last few weeks in a new position, I am grateful that that I took a risk. Are there things I miss, sure but the opportunity to explore new relationships, learn a new industry and share my experiences with a new company

Professional Learnings

Be Curious

Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here. The last five or six years have been a season of change for me and my family, some of it hard, some of it just the ordinary churn of life. Looking back, I don’t think any of it was coincidence. I believe God opens doors and closes them, and I’ve spent a long stretch walking through both.

I’m coming out the other side of that into something different now. Call it a season of reflection. I find myself thinking less about what’s next and more about what I want to leave behind, what kind of legacy I want to build for my family, and honestly, what God’s actually trying to shape in me through all of it.

Part of what’s gotten me writing again is AI. Not because it writes for me, but because it lets me think out loud. I can talk through an idea conversationally instead of staring at a blank page trying to force it into shape. It’s lowered the friction between having a thought and doing something with it.

That’s gotten me chewing on something. I was listening to an interview with Seth Godin recently, and one idea stuck with me: sometimes the smartest thing you can do isn’t push harder, it’s quit, not on people or responsibilities, but on a version of the plan that was never really yours to begin with.

That hit close to home. A lot of what’s kept me boxed in over the years wasn’t lack of ability or opportunity, it was noise. Negativity dressed up as caution, voices, sometimes other people’s, sometimes my own, telling me the safe lane was the only responsible one. Looking back, some of those closed doors were actually God protecting me from a lane I never should have stayed in.

I named this blog Living Interestingly a long time ago, and I don’t think I fully understood what I was reaching for. I think it was permission, permission to be curious, to try something before I knew it would work, to walk away from what wasn’t working without calling it failure, and to trust that the doors closing were as much a part of the plan as the ones opening.

There’s a line from Ted Lasso I keep coming back to, be curious, not judgmental. I used to hear that as a nice sentiment. Now I hear it as a discipline, and for me it’s rooted in something deeper than self-help, it’s trusting that God is still working even when I can’t see where a season is headed.

I don’t think curiosity and ownership are opposites, and I don’t think faith and ownership are opposites either. Real ownership requires curiosity, you can’t lead well, build well, or parent well if you’ve already decided there’s only one acceptable way to do it, or if you’ve stopped believing there’s a bigger hand guiding where it all goes.

So as I come back to writing, thinking about legacy and what God’s building in me through this season, that’s the posture I’m bringing. Curious. Open. Trusting the doors that close as much as the ones that open. Willing to quit the things that were never mine, so there’s room for the things that are.

Professional Learnings

Practical is just good common sense

Leave a comment

Sometimes simple is better. Taking a more practical approach to life situations will always lead to a more consistent and predictable outcome.

Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes risk and “thinking outside the box” is required. (See my ideas about Creativity) but sometimes the best solutions to the problems we encounter are simple and right in front of us. I have spent countless hours trying to come up with unique and creative solutions only to fall back on the first idea that seemed “to simple”.

So my approach over the years is to consider the practical points in every situation first. I have been pretty successful with this especially in the area of applications development. If there is one area that I have found is very easy to get caught up in the “non-practical” it’s here. I have seen some of the most basic problems get addressed by hours and hours of code, when a simple validation would have done the trick.

Probably the biggest area I have seen the growth of “non-practical” activities is in the area of project management. I have studied and gotten certifications in several methodologies. Whether you adhere to a strict PMI methodology or you get creative and use a “scrum” (I just love that word), it is very easy to get caught up in all of the documentation and neat PowerPoints that you miss the key elements of the project…actually delivering the product on time and on budget.

I have found that best solutions in managing a project are usually the ones that have the fewest amount “excess” documentation and allow those that actually do the work (typically not the project manager) to have the most amount of time to actually do the work. Creating a simple WBS(work breakdown structure) with real “tasks”, a simple method of collaboration and attention to keeping schedules accurate, usually lead to a well run project.

Of course all of this must be balanced. As you read through the other areas of my portfolio hopefully it all begins to make sense. Each one of the traits I believe are an important quality of what makes a successful person.

Thoughts and Devotions

Our lives are worth more than the job

1 Comment

Our lives will only be grounded and focused when we realize that our full being should be centered around something greater than ourselves.

For me, the answer is clear. I am Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins, rose from the grave, offers forgiveness and grace to all, provides encouragement through His people and seeks to have fellowship with all that will call His name.

Some may say, it’s dangerous or even a little foolish to put our “faith” out there for all to see. After all, in our desire to be “tolerant” and “accepting”, we have to be careful not to offend anyone or to share to much of our “personal life”. But when I consider what information I want people to know about me and hopefully what shapes my character, my faith in God should not be something I only show people on Sunday morning.

I gave my life to the Lord when I was 15. Prior to that I had attended church off and on and even played drums in the church when I was 11. But it wasn’t until I was 15 and I met a youth leader by the name of Kelly Landenburger that I started to understand what it meant to follow God. It was through his example of a godly man and his willingness to invest in a skateboard riding teenager that begun my walk with God. It was him who encouraged me to go to college and there I met some amazing people who helped me understand that God can work through the most broken of vessels.

I wish I could say it has been life of bliss and harmony, but to be honest it has been tough. I have watched relationships fail, continued to struggle with outwardly sin, and have hurt more people than I care to admit. But through it all, God has remained faithful to me. He has blessed me with five wonderful children and a wife who somehow sees the best in me.

My story has had many chapters over the past years. Some better than others! Although I have struggled at times to see how God could use a guy like me, I have been blessed by what He has allowed me to be apart of. I don’t know where I would be without having my faith in God. But in the end it doesn’t matter because He is and always will be with me.

I pray as you look through these elements of who I am that you look at you who are and reflect on what plans God may have for you.

Professional Learnings

Being personal is the real key to success

Leave a comment

At the end of the day it’s about our relationships and our ability to be a friend that allow us to grow into the person that our parents wanted us to be.

For me, my abilities and talents though important, are not the key aspect of what I value. For me its about being a friend and developing relationships. Though driven in me by my faith, I feel the best leaders I have worked with not only inspire my brain but my heart.

Some would say that in business it is not a good idea to get to “personal” with those that you work with. Involvement in people life’s can be a risky situation. You have to be careful not to “invite” yourself into people life’s where it may be unwelcome. There is also the chance that sometimes people will take advantage especially when the relationship is with folks that report in to you.

But taking the time time to get to know someone always pays off. Being a friend or even just a listening ear, allows you to understand what makes that person who they are. Knowing this allows you to communicate more effectively with that person as well as what motivates them.

I have seen these things in my professional career and I can say that my success as a leader has a had a lot to do with how I treat and respect people. I have not always said or done the right thing. But because I allow myself to be known by those around me, I have been shown grace when I make mistakes.

I am not saying you should strive to be best friends with everyone you work with, that’s not practical. But a friendly gesture of kindness when someone is not feeling well or a simple email wishing someone well after the birth of their newborn baby, can go a long way. I haven’t always been good at these “soft skills” of management. But through some wonderful acts of people I have worked with over the years and some very good mentors, I continue to learn and grow in this area.

As you strive to be a a good leader don’t forget that it starts with being a good person. Not that you will always be successful in this but it’s a journey not race, just keep trying!

Professional Learnings

Creativity is not just coloring

Leave a comment

Creativity is not something that can be taught. But it is found through taking risks to be different in the way we think and act in the world we live in.

But what really is “creativity”? I believe we all have it in us to be “creative”, but the key is how much risk are willing to take to see it? How much are we willing to put ourselves out there to be critized or even laughed at? The truly gifted people at one point or another in their early years, took risks to help them build their ability to be creative.

The key is to get past that and to keep putting yourself out there. It’s important to realize that not everyone will “get it”, but that’s ok. To realize that creativity is not a science it’s an art and because of that it will always be a matter of opinion as to the how “good” it is. I will never be an accomplished pianist, but I can still use what little ability I have to create music (if only for myself!).

My latest endeavor is to write. I have made several attempts at this but having the desire and being able to put in the time and “take the risk”, has always left me back at where I started. This blog/portfolio/set of ramblings.. is yet, another attempt for me to write and create. I am sure you will find spelling errors, mistakes in grammar and incoherent thoughts. But at least I am taking the “risk” at trying…maybe you should give it a shot?

Thoughts and Devotions

The Privilege of Giving

Leave a comment

This morning, like most mornings lately, I woke up to a thought, an impression, a prompting of the Spirit. Usually these mornings are about work or something I have to accomplish that day but today was a bit different. Today I woke up and rather than lying in my bed, scrolling through Facebook or some other random time waster, I decided to do a little contemplating and write a post in my old WordPress site.

The past few months, I have been wanting to get back to a place where I can express some creativity and and more importantly, publish some ideas I can reflect on later, So I thought this morning I would get out of bed and actually sit down in my office and write my thoughts down before I got my day going and lost the opportunity.

As some of that may read this, mainly just my friends and and contacts on Facebook and LinkedIn, (I’m really not all that well known) you may not be aware that I am a local worship director at a small church in Cuyahoga Falls Ohio, Northampton Bible Church. I have served here for about 5 years and prior to that have been in several churches over the past 20 or so years. Fortunately, my vocation and career is in Information Technology and so for most of my time serving in leadership at the local church level, I have been blessed and “privileged” to able to volunteer my time and have not asked for a stipend or salary. I don’t say that for a pat on the back or some sort of sideways means to to puff up myself, but rather to say that I come get to see this idea of “giving as a privilege” lived out weekly.

In today’s pursuit of the “side hustle”, the thought of giving up of ones times or money to a cause or community, with no return or “passive income” seems to be something that many do not pursue as a priority. I am not saying don’t pursue the YouTube Channel or Amazon seller account, but there is something fundamental to our soul and well being, to give without the expectation of getting. To be part of something bigger than ourselves and to not view giving as a “requirement or obligation”. Giving has a unique way to stir us into seeing the world a little brighter. It could be our time. It could be our money. It could be service. Whether we donate to a local charity, a cure for a disease, volunteering at local food bank or shelter or something that hits home for a lot of my personal contacts, tithing or giving to the church, the thought of giving as a “privilege” is something which could strengthen our communities, our churches and allow us to see beyond the current “doom and gloom” of our current situations.

There is something that happens in us when we give. When we recognize the needs of others or support causes which are not ourselves. We have an opportunity to participate in the building of our communities and making life just a little better for those around us.

My hope is that this “thought, impression, prompting of the Spirit“, will stir you to act in in your local circle of influence. There is an abundance of need in the world and those of us that have been blessed with the talents and resources to meet that need, “get to” not ” are obligated to” give and support those that do not have the same opportunities.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” – Matthew 25:34-40

Thoughts and Devotions

Take The Time Back

Leave a comment

So it has been nearly five years since I have taken any time to write a post, share a thought or contemplate on some obscure random thing I saw. In that time I have changed jobs three times only to come back to the company that I had been at for 20 years, made the painful decision to find another place of worship, watched my two oldest children graduate college and high school and countless other real life events. It’s not that I have not shared these events in other ways. I mean I am on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (and attempting Snapchat unsuccessfully), I am an eighties child so I still use email and I still make attempts at sitting down and having a conversation around the dinner table.

But lately I have been contemplating how much things have changed in just a few short years. I used to have more meaningful conversations. I used to spend time on more things than just surviving. My days have always been busy but over the past few years it seems I have let myself become overwhelmed, overworked and always searching for the next thing to feed my appetite for what I am not sure. Living in Europe for the two years, allowed me some form of disconnectedness and honestly I have been trying to figure out how to get back to that.

Not to say that life has not been “interestingly”, it really has. But when your Facebook feed now consists of memes about our president, some new recipe for beef brisket and a handful videos, reposts and obscure news about some event on the other side of the world it gets to be difficult to sift through the madness. I have bought into the fakery and a secretly selfish ambition to be heard or noticed. I have placed value in how many likes or comments I get on posts. I have written and posted gifs which may have hurt people and have hid behind the mantra of , “I am just keeping it real”. I really have not done any of this intentionally, but as common decency and values have been replaced with bullying and an “anything goes” mentality, I have allowed myself to get sucked in on too many occasions and have had to ask for forgiveness often.  I know I am not alone in this, but as for me, I am measured by a different metric. I align myself with Christ and so therefore I must always examine my words, actions and behaviors with what I believe the Bible presents.

So where is the hope that we can truly change this course we are on? Maybe its political? Maybe one day those that govern can eventually see past their own agendas and selfish ambitions and lead with integrity and love for those they represent. Maybe it’s self? Maybe our answers are within in us to find? Maybe we just need to continue to explore the realms of our human nature. I mean that has worked so far right?

Friends, as my brother in Christ says constantly in his social feeds, “we must love one another”. We must seek to serve instead of being served. We need to put down our phones and get back to being in each others lives. We need to stop trying to display our mastery of words on social media to escalate and present a cause and start praying for one another or in some cases simply refrain from joining in the bloodbath.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

Professional Learnings

Technology is more than just your iPhone

Leave a comment

Technology and its impact on our daily lives is unavoidable and is the center of our daily lives . It is something we can no longer avoid or dismiss but we should have an appreciation of the journey it has taken over the years and be mindful of where it will take us in the future.

I wish I could say I am an early adopter of new technology but as you read the other areas of my portfolio, it should be apparent I take a more conservative approach to my desire to be “cutting edge”! (It could get pretty expensive if I bought every tech toy I wanted.) But I do love gadgets! From my first Timex Sinclair computer I bought when I was a kid to my iPad, I have always had a special affinity for tech devices. Whether its the latest smartphone or a network based streaming device, I am a bit of geek when it comes to these things. I have given up broadcast tv in favor of Hulu and a Netflix account and have both a pc and Mac in the house.

Over the years I have built and reconfigured pc’s, designed and hosted web sites, participated in hundreds of forums and blogs, wrote thousands of lines of code. (Most of which I have never made any money doing!)

My motivation is pretty simple… I just like doing it! I have always enjoyed learning how things work and being able to not just talk about things like sql databases and writing mobile applications but to be able to actually code and administer these things is very fulfilling.

The problem though is what to focus on? With all the paths one could take in the area of technology, it’s hard to just pick one discipine. Being an “expert” in any one space has never been my desire. For me the goal is not to be an expert but to be able to play in many “sandboxes” and have a solid understanding in a variety of areas.

Technology is all around us. It’s not just computers. It’s all the devices, apps and other things that help make it easier to communicate and live.

Professional Learnings

Will the real technologist please stand up?

Leave a comment

So I have been discussing with a few of my older colleagues around what we see happening in the IT field and we have come to a general consensus that in our beloved line of work, we are slowly losing our motivation. Not because there is a lack of work or that the pay isn’t good or even that the workplace itself is not a nice place to be. Those parts of the job have gotten a ton better over the years. Working as an IT professional is a pretty good career and for the most part, a rewarding way of spending our time while we are away from our families for 8-10 hours a day.

But the motivation to excel, the drive to be creative, the will to consider the possibilities has greatly decreased over the years. Today because if the rush of technology, everyone is an expert. Everyone now has a smart phone and so therefore they “know IT”. Yet most rarely understand the complexity of IT and from an enterprise standpoint most have a very small view of what IT is.

Back in the days when I wrote code for a living, I thrived on being able to create and discover ways to get things done. I sort of fell into the field but had always been fascinated with the ability to build and create things from seemingly nothing.  At the time there were far fewer canned options for development. Windows 98 and NT were not quite as pretty but very functional. Terms such mobile, eCommerce, content management, and scalable platforms did not exist or were at the very least, just beginning to be understood. There was not a thought that one day we watch movies and listen to music we did not own or have a copy of. So for the most part we were forced to be a lot more creative. Website WYSWYG tools were just starting to take shape and required at least a base understanding of HTML to build a website. To be in IT meant you had to learn a little about “a lot” of key areas just to make even the simplest programs or systems function.

If you consider the places we are today with social media, global search, application development and network connectivity we have come a long way at a very fast pace because of those original “nerdy guys” in the field of IT.

In my early days, there was a bit of elitism to working in IT.  System admins were either these weird bearded guys who did not say much and sometimes wore the same clothes for days or guys still wearing members only jackets from the 80’s. But when it came to understanding multiple ways to parse data or to connect disparate systems, these guys knew their stuff. They held the keys to the castle and you had to know the password to even get close to them. Before we had SDLC, ITIL and the whole host of controlling mechanisms we had common sense, practical use and respect for one another’s contribution.

Not saying it was all good and we did not need to evolve and grow. We did! The “cowboy” mentality of most IT shops is what brought about these control points and processes to be implemented. Allowing for the field of IT to encompass roles like Business Analyst, Project Manager and Customer Service, brought the level of professionalism up and the overall “IT arrogance factor” to a more reasonable place. It also allowed guys like me that are not system engineers or admins to be able to learn and grow and develop a deep appreciation for both technical acumen and business savvy.

But in my opinion we may have swung the pendulum a bit too far and have put more stock in the controls than the actual technology they are designed to “support”. Things like SOX and general IT controls around security and change management are good. In fact, without these controls it would have been difficult to accomplish what we have in the past 10 years. But when the focus is more on the process and control mechanisms and not the actual application or deliverable, creativity, cycle time to production and our ability to provide a value added service to our companies or customers decreases. If we truly want IT to continue to “push the boundaries” especially in the corporate world, we have to figure out how we can still have controls but allow for those “Zuckerberg’s” that are just now coming up to be able to create and move the technology bar.

I hope that anyone that reads this (all 200 of my followers :)) does not miss the point here. I am not saying that all folks in management or those in the field of IT “really” don’t get it. A lot do. There are a large group of folks that not only get it, but embrace, in fact love… that they can actually write the necessary scripts, build or design an application or install and configure the system on their own without the help of wizard or framework application to build it for them. They may not be able to build a nice PowerPoint deck on a particular technology subject, but their value to an organization is high.

Not everyone will agree with me on this but as I continue to try to push myself to learn new things (and there is a lot out there I still have no clue about…) I want those silent tech geeks to step up and be heard again.  I recall a recent conversation where it was stated “we do not need people that understand technology in IT, we need more leaders.” I tend to agree on part of that statement. We do indeed need more leaders. But those leaders MUST understand the technology past their five slide PowerPoint deck. They MUST be able to make the proper assessments and integration decisions required to move the industry or their respective companies forward. They MUST listen to their technology staff and make their opinions more valuable for key decisions. Management used to be the best and brightest in their particular disciplines.

Today we have a large majority of folks in IT that have no clue how all this evolved and have not had the opportunity to “get their hands dirty” in developing any of the technologies or systems they now support. It’s not to say they can’t learn. They can. In fact there is not a technology, development language, system theory or IT space that can’t be deeply understood if there is a willingness to learn. Our managers can get all the information they need. I will give you a clue start with “google”!

From the CIO to the level one analyst, we need to push the pendulum back towards technology and away from just a surface understanding of how all this stuff works. As leaders we need to be able to make “connections”.  So will the real technologists please stand up?

Stories | Thoughts | Life