BEWARE OF THE STUFF WE HAVE

In our family, everyone has their own roll of “white tape”. It’s the tape my kids use to hang a poster in their rooms. It’s what we use to tape a box closed. We use it with a Sharpie to label a storage bin that’s going into the attic. We use it for a hundred things. There are products specifically made for each of these tasks, and they all work better than our white tape. But it’s the stuff we know. And we know it only because, for thirty years or so, I’ve used it in recording studios to label channels on a mixing console.

This got me thinking: I wonder how other families get by? I mean, most families haven’t spent half of their lives in a recording studio. Those families must be living in such frustration when it comes to these basic needs.

Then I remembered my drummer friend. He put himself through college replacing the old one-piece garage doors so common in California with new sectional units. He’d drive away with, and have to dispose of, so many of those old doors. When he needed to build a drum rehearsal room that provided sound isolation for his neighbors, what did he do? He used the stuff he had. He bolted garage doors together back to back, and filled the cavities with sand (yes, he made a Sand Sandwich). He then formed a small room of these sandwiches, and it worked great.

UMM, ISN’T THAT JUST BEING RESOURCEFUL?

Perhaps all I am describing is resourcefulness. No different from someone who is thirsty and uses their coffee cup to drink water because it’s what they have handy.

But is it? Doesn’t it provide more insight into the decisions we make? Why would I tell my daughter to roll up pieces of console marking tape to hang a poster on her wall when there are far better products made for that job? It’s not the $2.99 that I’m trying to save (well, $5.99 in 2024 dollars - plus tip).

AM I BRINGING MY STUFF TO WORK?

I started wondering if I’m doing this at work as well. Am I using some outdated concept to manage a project, my time, design a feature, or make a hiring decision? Could the stuff that I have be adversely impacting my effectiveness?

I like to say (and I particularly like to believe) that I am always learning. I read; I listen; I engage with new ideas. Heck, I started my company purely because nobody else was interested in bringing revolutionary ideas to my industry. But with all this openness to learn, am I still being encumbered by the stuff that I have?

Let’s say I want to learn a new language. I bring nothing to the table, so surely I won’t be encumbered, right? I download an app or two on my phone and start diving in. So far, so good, right? Well, not according to most experts. All I did was go back to what I have: My phone. I might as well have pulled out my white tape and started writing German words on it with a Sharpie. (BTW: I’m sure that millions of people do learn new languages, in isolation, using their phones).

My point is that it’s easy for us to fall into our comfort zones, even in the very act of trying to get out of them. It can be very difficult to stop and analyze whether we are optimizing a decision or simply relying on what we already have. This could lead to a mixed bag of results.

Cheers,

Paul