A recent commentary in a BusinessWeek talks of a “No Cost Way to Motivate”. In a few words, the suggestion is that if managers start taking an interest in the employees’ personal life (a.k.a. treating them as humans?), they will therefore work harder and with more enthusiasm.

Oh my my, really? We are supposed to treat each other as humans? I did not know that. (Though, if they do it pretentiously, it would mean worse than not doing it… almost insulting.)

To have someone writes such topic in a magazine can only mean that we have failed miserably at it.

It is not difficult for any of us to find examples in our real life. It is not too far fetched to say… most of us at work, treat each other as workers. Personally, I find such difficulty for people to step outside of this framework. We ARE engineers and we work with engineers. Managers see each other as managers, and minions as engineers, etc. When the high level executives look at “us”, we become numbers and headcounts.

Maybe solely for work purpose, it is suffice for us to acknowledge and call each other by our employee serial number. Alright, that’s probably too cynical.

The things I said above, most of us are complying to it. That is why we are such nervous wreck when we need to talk to people “in position”, or people “of seniority”. Note, fear and nervousness is not respect.

A very specific example is a friend who briefly mentioned his recent engagement to manager who took no interest, and not even a second to congratulate. I am not saying we need to have a celebration at work, but no acknowledgement? No wonder we are all miserable workers.

This takes me back to the topic that to truly relate to each others, for us humans to connect, it is a good idea to begin with the basis that we are human beings. We are all connected and that is where compassion arises. With compassion, we are giving each other a hand.

So for both productivity and for our own sake, do we really need to be “more employee” or “more human”?

The question of the day is, do we need more advertising? Is more growing advertising revenue to be?

I have already given up on TV a long time ago. Not only were there few shows that are enjoyable, the ever more increasing commercials during a program has made my decision firm. I think there is one day where commercials take up more minutes than the program itself. Perhaps we are there already? I don’t watch enough TV, can someone tell me? :P

The one show I do still watch now is Daily Show (kudos to Jon Stewart), and I have been watching it online for awhile. During this time, I observe a trend. Between segments, it went from 15 seconds commercial, to 15/30 seconds commercial break, to now, 2-3 10/15/30 seconds commerical break.

Is it just me or are we simply gradually transferring the television advertising method to online programs? What happened gradually to television programs is happening to internet programs. It will be the same beast with another skin.

What is next? What is the next medium of “information watching” where we can avoid commercials before it gets overtaken by commercials? Can there be a next thing after internet? I don’t know.

I have been working for 5+ years, and I have met and worked with people now to make an observation — It is not the majority of people to respect their job, or in the least, not even the work or task at hand.

Let me put it another way — People want reward, whatever it maybe, after doing work, in desperately being so, the reward is prioritized over the work itself. As a result, the quality of the work is often compromised.

I have said that the best thing (quality) happens when we are in the moment. When we are so dead set focused on rewards and “the end”, we are completely away from the moment. It is ironic because reward is dependent on the quality of the work and never the other way around.

Can you be sincere in the moment and give the attention to the task at hand that will create quality?

I try to do that. This is even true when some tasks are not “as important”, when grunt work is forced upon me, and when projects have many not-so-pleasant elements. No, it does not mean I don’t get grumpy and whinny sometimes, but without striving for perfection, without thinking so much about possible rewards, I do my best to perform the task at hand to a certain level of quality.

Sometimes even after doing that, things still don’t turn out great (sometimes due to underlying reluctance… or laziness…), but always, at least I give it a try (even if just a little bit). And by giving it a try always, the frequency of “good work” is naturally higher.

Frankly, some people don’t even try… and it is so obvious. It’s not surprising. What with society mostly telling us “to get rich” and “to be important” etc., and so little teaching about respect, wisdom, etc. Bleh~~

Well, about rewards. I’d love some too. Who doesn’t? Though, perhaps they may never come. I know what is enough. And for the many times that I create decent work, I find the reward in itself. Plus, whatever I do, I find there is always something new to learn.

At this moment, are you waiting for the perfect time and situation to do something? Perhaps something to change your life forever. It’s so important, that you must require the perfect time so that you are guaranteed result.

Well, that’s a bunch of bull.

I am guilty of that myself. Lately, being honest, besides having things to deal with in life, which we all do so it’s not really a good excuse anyways, I am having a difficult time of coming up with post. I am having difficulty because I feel that I do not have great writing (aka. perfection) that I deem presentable, even though I have 4 pages of drafts sitting in wordpress, many of which are quite full of content.

So to get out of the rut, I am just throwing this post out. I take the initiative. I give myself a chance to keep my thoughts alive, or get the flow going.

There will never be perfect timing. There is no perfect result. If there is perfection, wouldn’t we be there already by now and we wouldn’t need to do anything.

Of course, there needs to be a balance between doing nothing and forcing issue, and neither is any good. I “made” myself write this post because I both think and feel that if I don’t, I will keep waiting for a perfect post to be the next post and writing anything now is better than doing nothing still. Of course, I find this relevant for everyone also.

So, are you still waiting for a “good” time to start something? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Your next birthday? New year?

Quite a few things were going on the past few weeks that had taken me away.

New Feline Friend

About 2 months ago, I added a new friend at home — a kitten who was 6 weeks old. She came from a friend’s landlord with half a dozen new kittens, and I thought this is a great way to make a difference for one life by saving her from the shelter. If you don’t know, many shelters put their animals to sleep after a certain period of time.

Needless to say, we had to get used to and adapt to each other over the past weeks. It’s stressful and hectic but at the same time, very rewarding from between having the new companion, learning about her and training and communicating with her. Animals do tell us what they want, if we are sincere to read and understand them. Fleas are a pain in the butt. And I had never heard a cat purr before this, but now I get to hear it everyday.

Of course, this means new expense for food, litter, vet. and what not. But life is not always about me, or ourselves.

Baby Shower

There seems to be an epidermic of pregnant women in Bay Area. Anyways, a good friend is having her first baby so there of course is baby shower. I got her a card with a personal touch of writing + a $25 Target gift card. For the first time of my life, I ate a can Gerbil baby food. Despite the sweet potato taste being somewhat okay, I swear I will never torture any babies with these food.

College Friend

Something definitely out of the norm is the visit of a college friend, who I hadn’t seen in 2+ years. It was exciting to see each other again. As it’s her birthday, a group of us went out to Little Sheep Mongolian hotpot in San Mateo. The place was so crowded and we had to wait some 30+ minutes. Yet, the food was alright. I don’t think it’s worth it.

The fascinating part about meeting people from the past is to see the reflection of your old image from your friend during the interactions because that’s what they will rely on to react to you at first. If you had changed, it is very possible to fall back into old patterns again if you do not pay attention. At the same time, if you had fundamentally changed, you may feel how it seems like yourself is a different person. I certainly feel that way.

Los Angeles

With the friends, we went down to L.A. for 2 days vacation. I indulged myself a bit on food and finally visited Hollywood and Beverly Hills. While there, I found one of my inspirations on the Walk of Fame — Bruce Lee.

A coffee shop that is worth mentioning is the Urth Caffe , which is awesome if you are into organic. Even if you are not, they had a great environment and very yummy drinks and dessert. I ordered a wonderful Cafe Mocha Granita and a delectable piece of tiramisu.

Leaving the complaint until the end, I still hate the traffic in L.A. and is very much reminded it. We barely and only caught the end of the sunset on the Venice beach because of it. And that’s after some aggressive maneuver that I don’t usually do. Bummer.

Back to more regular postings after this.