Advice

And one brainstorm book is set aside . . .

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I've written before about my Brainstorm Book technique.  To sum it up quickly – I keep a book with me to write down Great Ideas relevant to my life/career/ambitions and review it regularly.  I use a relatively small, 7×5 inch book that fits easily in my briefcase or sits on my nightstand.

This one I've been using since October 2008, reviewing it every few weeks to refresh myself on ideas I had, integrating certain ones into my future plans, preserving others for later.  Indeed, part of this blog and how it's evolved came from there, as have generators at Seventh Sanctum, and other ideas.

I looked through the recent entries, and then placed it on my "must reread" shelf of books for review in the near future.  I felt oddly sentimental, because I have a lot of great ideas in there, things that have changed, are changing, and will change and improve my life.

The brainstorm book idea, as I said, is a way to get, keep, and review good ideas – but it also provides the discipline to keep working on your personal vision for your life.  It makes thinking about the future, about developing Great Ideas, a habit, an instinct.  Great Ideas are really easy to have – we tend to make them hard, ignore them, or brush them off.  Giving them a chance at life takes some work.

I have over eight months of great ideas, in my awful handwriting, sitting on my shelf.  The ideas in that book – and it's brother, which now sits on my nightstand – will be with me for years or decades to come.

Yeah.  It's worth doing.  If you haven't, go read this essay, and go get one.

– Steven Savage

The Changing Role Model

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I'm big on advising people to find role models to learn what to do (and what not to do).  However I've been darkly speculating that some role models as of late may not be as good as they once were because of changing economic and technological conditions.

Specifically, be careful of your role models in fiction writing, manga, and comics.  Those media who are experiencing rapid industry and distribution change.

I'm not saying you can't learn from your favorite artists and authors, but these are areas of the geekonomy that are underground rapid change.  Publishing is having issues, web distribution is up, serial fiction is poking around a potential comeback.  Written and graphic media is changing rapidly.

This means that even your best role model may have less to teach you as they became famous and respected in a different environment than you are.  Even someone who hit the big time as  a writer or artist or mangaka a few years ago was in a far different world than you are now.

So when you go looking for lessons from your favorite role models, keep in mind what is relevant today and what isn't.  You may even need to seek new role models to learn from.  Your comic idol from ten years ago may have less to teach you than you can learn from Penny Arcade or Girl Genius today.  There may be no new J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer ever – their success stories may be no longer relevant.

What made success even a few years ago is not the same as today in some media markets..  It's a hard lesson, and it makes learning from others harder, but it's something we have to face.

As for what is coming next?  We'll, I've been speculating and may try that in another column . . .

– Steven Savage

The Professional Advantage of fun – relating

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Earlier I'd praised the importance of fun, even dumb fun.  But I'd like to go one bit further for us progeeks – fun has not just an inspirational or recreational advantage, or an intense skill/life building source – it can be useful on the job directly because it helps you relate to people.

I work in IT, and have since 1995.  I am old-school, hardcore IT geek turned manager.  My hobbies have proven invaluable on the job.

We all need to be able to relate to people, and I dealt with a lot of geeks – still do in fact.  Having similar hobbies proved invaluable.  In short, the fact I can recognize Halo action figures and characters from Naruto is a great way to build rapport.

Geekery is a great way to get to know people.

  • It shows that you have similar interests.  It bridges gaps between people.
  • It shows you're like other people – they can relate to you.
  • It shows you have a life outside of work (which may sound odd in geeky jobs, but there you go).
  • It gives you a way to socialize with people outside of work, and build deep relations with them.
  • It gives you a way to recreate with people you work with, to blow off stream, and relax.

So yes, that fun you have has other uses besides the skill-building or recreation and such I talk about.  It lets you relate to people and helps you connect with them, and that's important no matter what your job is – and important as a person.

– Steven Savage

EDIT: I made a mistake and put down my IT career as starting in 2005.  It actually started in 1995.