Archive for December, 2008
What’s Good and What’s Bad
As we enter the holiday season and look back on 2008, no one can deny that it’s been one hell of a year. Many adjectives spring to mind: challenging, tumultuous, extreme, uncertain. But are these necessarily bad things? What if the events of 2008 were good?
Take this story for example:
An old farmer worked his farm, with his only son, and one horse to pull the plough. One day, a herd of wild horses came through the valley and the farmer’s horse ran away with them. The farmer’s neighbors were horrified… they said, “What bad luck! How will you manage to plough your fields without a horse?” But the farmer said, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”
Sometime later, the farmer’s horse returned to the farm, bringing with him some of the wild horses. The farmer’s son managed to catch the wild horses. The neighbors said “What good luck! You’ll be able to sell the horses at the market! You’ll be rich” But the farmer said, “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?”
The farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses, but was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors said “What dreadful luck! How will you manage the farm without your son’s help?” And the farmer said… (you’ve probably got the hang of this now, eh?)
The next week, the army arrived in the valley and took away all the able-bodied young men to fight in a war far away. But they left the farmer’s son behind, because of his broken leg…
The point is, all we can really be sure of is that we don’t know what’s just around the corner. In life as in business, opportunity isn’t handed to us – it’s found by those with a different perspective, and made by those who can see the positive when others can’t.
As we move forward from these challenging/tumultuous/extreme/uncertain times, don’t focus on the “bad” but rather look for the opportunity in what’s to come.
December 23rd, 2008
The Space to Create
These days everyone has a lot on their minds. The economy. The holidays. Wrapping up the year. The mortgage meltdown. Travel. Family. Not to mention the usual day-to-day life and work.
With so much conversation in your head, how is it possible to break through the clutter and focus on the things that matter most? How do you have room to solve problems? The flexibility to create and ideate?
Here at Digital Onion, we do something that we like to call “Sitting for Ideas.” It’s a simple process that can help you create the mental space you need to let the answers you’re seeking come to you effortlessly.
The next time your struggling to find and answer, stop looking and let the answer find you by following these simple steps:
1. Find a clean, empty room. The more minimal, the better. Lock yourself in.
2. Leave cell phones, iPods, computers, people and ALL DISTRACTIONS at the door.
3. Place a blank piece of paper and a pen/pencil in front of you.
4. Just sit there.
The sitting without distractions allows you to clear your mind and let that which is important become clear to you.
It’s a simple process that yields unbelievable results. We use it often at Digital Onion, and the answer has never taken longer than 15 minutes to find us. Usually it comes closer to 5 minutes.
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If you’ve tried this, we’d love to hear your experiences.
Have your own way of clearing some mental space? Please share too!
December 20th, 2008
Creating a Possibility of a World that Works
Digital Onion’s mission is to lead the industry with project management systems that produce extraordinary teams that produce extraordinary results. We are committed to transforming project management in software development by working with our clients to deliver projects that are Successful, Effortless and Fun.
But Digital Onion has taken a stand far beyond project management and software development. Here we strive to create a possibility of a world that works, not just a single project or company.
In an effort to become connected to the greater whole and give back to our community who has given us so much, Digital Onion introduces weekly blog posts. Topics will range from project processes to lifestyle attributes, and everything will come full circle to engage YOU in our efforts to create a possibility of a world that works.
We look forward to your readership, your input and, most of the all, the possibility of what we can achieve together!
December 8th, 2008
Celebrating the Holidays
This month the LA Project Management meetup has decided to do things a little bit differently. In the spirit of the holidays, we thought this would be a great time to exercise our leadership skills in the real world, while doing something good and giving back to the community.
We will be exploring the topics that surround leadership, passion and inspiration – and what that means for your projects.
Please join us on Wednesday, December 10th in Marina del Rey for a very special LA Project Management Meetup.
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Not a member? Join the LA Project Management Meetup today!
December 3rd, 2008
