Derek’s Blog

I’m sure my dad can’t take credit for coming up with this quote, but I originally heard it from him:

“We never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it again.”

So so true.

Whether you’re a recent grad, making a career change, or just in the hunt for a new job, make sure you keep things in focus. With the economy still struggling the unemployed are sometimes just happy to have a job – any job.

The best advice I can give someone in the job hunt is to relax and stay focused. While you certainly want to present your best self, don’t forget the fact that you’re interviewing the interviewer as well. Interviews are a time for you to assess a company and those you will potentially be working with. If the environment is not one that aligns with your interests or personality don’t kid yourself, it’s not going to work.

You’re going to save yourself a lot of heartache if you adopt this attitude. You’ll be less nervous about impressing the interviewer(s)  and you’ll be setting the right expectation for what to expect if you are hired. If you’re not real it will eventually become obvious or if you accept a position that does not fit will with your interests you’re going to end up disappointed and back in the job hunt again.

I’ve found that having this attitude exhibits a level of confidence which is something that naturally attracts folks to you. It’s always been my approach to be up front with people. It’s going to show the real you and if that’s not something an employer can appreciate, it’s not an employer you want to work for.

In business and in life you often hear talk about taking your feelings out of the equation. You need to only act based on logic and facts, emotion cannot be involved. That is largely true but I’ve been giving this concept some thought and I think that there is a little more to it than that.

Feelings certainly cannot rule you. If you immediately respond to a situation based on your feelings you run the risk of making some irrational decisions that get you in trouble. It is often times important to take a step back away from the situation and make sure you have thought rationally before responding. Nothing new here… I know, so here goes.

Feelings are a gauge. Think about the gauges on your car. When your fuel is low a light comes on that indicates you need to fill up, if your car is running hot you have a gauge that tells you that, or if your oil is low you have a gauge that tells you that. You get the point. After pondering the situation I think of feelings as a gauge. You can’t just ignore them or you run the risk of bad stuff happening. When the check engine light pops on in your car it’s a cause for concern. If the light goes off you probably want to keep an eye on things but may not need to take any other action. If it goes on and stays on then you know you need to react.

The same is true of feelings. If a particular place, person, or event seems to produce a recurring feeling you need to pay attention to it. It’s an indicator that you need to use logic to take some action, may it be positive or negative.

Despite what you may have heard, I’d be inclined to say listen to your feelings but use logic to take action. Your feelings will give you a sense of things much like when you see, hear, touch, smell, or taste things. Listen to them, gather the facts and make decisions that you can be more pleased with.

I used to sort of be known for being able to get a ton done. People were often impressed by how I’m able to juggle a ton of things seemingly simultaneously. Well lately I’ve got into a bit of a rut and I don’t like it.

The stresses of everyday life have started to take their toll on me and my productivity has gone way down hill. I’ve got into this habit of wake up, go to work, come home (maybe get a round of golf in, maybe do a little bit of work on the house, etc) go to bed, then rinse and repeat. My personal projects, goals, aspirations have all started to suffer. It’s taken all I’ve got to even make note of my thoughts to revisit when I “get more time.”

Well guess what folks… it’s not going to get any easier. The days won’t get longer, the time is now. As I’ve started to assess my life I’m finding a bunch of big time wasters. I have a handful of websites that I like to cycle through several times a day, emails to check, phone calls to make, instant messaging, etc. These are all HUGE time wasters.

So, for the next several days I’m going to try and pull the reigns back on these items and I’m going to start pushing myself a bit harder again. That means staying up a little later and getting up a little earlier. It’s important to continue to push, strive for excellence rather than get content. When you get content you lose your edge and the competition cruises on by… or worse yet… life cruises by.

I used to be quite the golfer. As a freshman in high school I received letters from colleges trying to recruit me. When I started dating my girlfriend (now wife) I perhaps refocused some priorities and golf took the back burner. I had a pretty good experience as a high school golfer but didn’t end up playing golf in college.

For the last 4-5 years I’ve only played golf a handful of times each year. This was quite the change when you go from playing almost daily to rarely touching a club. My game lost a lot of consistency mainly with the short game, but my temperament has improved so I feel like I’ll be able to reclaim it.

That being said I played in my first truly competitive golf outing in about 5 years. I mean sure I played in a handful of scrambles but those don’t really count. This was a two day event with prizes for the first 3 players in each flight. The rain kept me off the course all week. I snuck a few holes in late Friday night but otherwise had no opportunity to really prepare.

Saturday was an absolute hackfest. I played the best round of golf I could, but it was one of those days where anything that could go wrong did. I’d hit the driver well and then get to a par 5 where I should have a huge advantage and then I’d duck hook it, I’d burn the edges with my putts, my ball would be in a buried lie or under a tree. It just seemed like everything was against me. The result was horrendous, I shot a smooth 48-45 for a total of 93 for the day. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I played so horribly. It could possibly be when I was in junior high school.

It was lovely though. I decided to play 9 more after my round to get some swings in before Sunday. This time I shot a two under par, 34. How can you go from shooting 48 or 45 to a 34? It’s just baffling. By this time all of the other golfers were in and I saw that I was sitting in second to last place in my flight.

Sunday afternoon I played much better but still didn’t feel like I played as well as I could have. I shot a 38-40 for a 78. The course was playing much more difficult on Sunday than it had previously and I still improved my score by 15 strokes. Unbelievable. This score ended up being the lowest round of the day in my flight but I was just too far out of contention, from my first round, to get back in the prize positions. I ultimately finished 6th.

I’m trying to review this weekends events. I played as well as I could have on Saturday. The focus was there, but perhaps I played a bit too conservatively. Sunday I played much better and I was playing more aggressive. I was trying to throw shots close and hit the long ball.

Did I choke? Was the problem just that I have been out of competitive golf for so long? I’m not sure yet, but I know my game will only continue to improve. I’m already planning on playing in another tournament in a couple weeks. If nothing else, this weekend only added fuel to my desire to reclaim my game.

Against my better judgement I signed up for a golf tournament this weekend. While I know golf very well I have not played much in the last several years. I’m currently on a mission to reclaim my game but so far I’m no where near the player I once was.

The tournament is a 2 day event with about 16 people in my flight. First prize is a set of irons, second a new driver and third a golf bag. I love the game and will really enjoy the competitive nature that comes with a tournament but I wish I was more prepared. The dang rain we have been getting all week hasn’t helped my chance of preparing for the big day.

I guess I’ll check the forecast again shortly and see if I can squeeze in a few holes between showers but it’s not looking promising. Perhaps tomorrow…

I really hoped to have some pictures or videos up to discuss some swing fundamentals before talking about muscle memory, but I just heard about this drill and wanted to share. This is another one you can practice in your house or in the yard and doesn’t require you to be on the course or range.

It’s really easy. Essentially you setup as though you were going to make a swing.  You take the club back about 2 feet along your swing and then just hold that position with the club hovering mid swing. Hold that position for about 10 seconds and repeat this. After a couple of repetitions take the club back slightly further and repeat. Do this until you have  gone through your full take away and then practice some normal full swings. If you spend 10 or 15 minutes doing this each day it should help to improve your muscle memory.

My only words of caution with this drill are to not spend time working on it if you’re not already happy and confident with your swing fundamentals. You don’t want to begin muscle memory training until you have sound fundamentals. Otherwise you’re just teaching yourself bad habits that will be harder to break later.

My last post was a little gloomy. I wanted to follow it up with one that is more optimistic. I think the following quote gives a good message and provides some inspiration for tough times:

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing. – Edmund Burke

When times are tough it’s easy to get into a mindset of negativity. I firmly believe that your attitude controls a big part of your ability to succeed in all things. If you are confident and optimistic you’re well on your way to success. It’s kind of one of those things where if you think you’re already beat there’s really no reason to even show up.

So remember that there is still hope as long as you believe it and that if you choose to do nothing then evil will surely prosper.

Along these same lines I think paying it forward is more important than ever. When time’s are tough everyone can use a pick me up and a reminder that there are still good people in the world. If the opportunity presents itself, help somebody if you can.

I generally try not to think about the nastiness that goes on in the world. I have not watched the news in years because I don’t like surrounding myself with the negativity. I get caught up on the highlights via a few websites and casual conversation, but otherwise I try to isolate myself from it.

Lately I’m having a more difficult time ignoring the reality. It’s bad out there. Gas prices look like they are back on the rise. The country is continuing to spend itself into oblivion… and aren’t you oh so happy with the way the bailout is going? Chrysler has announced they are closing 800 dealerships and GM another 1100. There is talk of looking at a national sales tax to raise funds. Unemployment numbers are the worst since the great depression. North Korea is doing nuclear testing. Banks are failing. I’m afraid that as bad as things are, the issues are magnified by greed and corruption.

It’s just really a dark time for the world and specifically our country right now. I suspect we will eventually pull ourselves out of these tough times but fear the worst may still be ahead of us.

At this point I think it’s important for us to get back to the basics of life. How are we able to protect ourselves, our families, and continue to survive with the worst ahead of us? What ways can we continue to provide for our families and ourselves if the worst were to happen? Could you drive on if you lost your job? How about when past due bills start building up? What if you went to cash in your savings and it wasn’t there?

I pray we won’t get to this point but I think it’s time to start looking at ways to help ourselves with the basic necessities of life, finances, and even our sanity to some extent. Trying times can leave a mark that never heals.

I recently ran across this article:

http://ecoble.com/2007/11/18/250000-bottles-amazing-recycled-mexican-island-paradise/

It’s old news but very cool stuff. It makes me wonder what other interesting ideas are out there. Have you seen any similar concepts that put junk to good use? I’ve got to think that economies down people have got to be looking for ways to innovate and make the best with what they have.

Any ideas?