Comments on: Going For The Hat Trick? http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/ You're furious. I never taught you to sing. You carry rocks in your head and pitch them. Without warning. Happy drunk. You're furious. I beg you for sin. I beg your skin. You buy a whore. Don't give her water. You're furious. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:09:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: b!X http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-345 b!X Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:44:00 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-345 Also, I never said moving to NYC was a complete waste or disaster or failure. I never said I shouldn't have been there. I never said I didn't get anything out of it. What I've done is reference the fact that one day at the NYPL, I found myself standing behind the door of my boss' empty office, with no clear recollection of just how I got there. I think it's legitimate to say that's fucked up, without having anyone re-write it to mean I'm saying the entire NYC experience was shit. Also, I never said moving to NYC was a complete waste or disaster or failure. I never said I shouldn’t have been there. I never said I didn’t get anything out of it.

What I’ve done is reference the fact that one day at the NYPL, I found myself standing behind the door of my boss’ empty office, with no clear recollection of just how I got there.

I think it’s legitimate to say that’s fucked up, without having anyone re-write it to mean I’m saying the entire NYC experience was shit.

]]> By: b!X http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-344 b!X Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:35:00 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-344 I never said these things were failures in every conceivable respect. I said that the cafe and Communique were financial failures. That's simply a statement of fact. I never said these things were failures in every conceivable respect. I said that the cafe and Communique were financial failures. That’s simply a statement of fact.

]]> By: kalilily http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-343 kalilily Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:15:58 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-343 It's interesting that you look at the risks you've taken in terms of employment as total failures. The job at the NYPL got you to NYC, where you made all kinds of friends and contacts and got involved with the Hands off the Net effort. So, you didn't have the expertise to do the job you were hired to do. But you did get a great deal out of moving to NYC. The cafe was sold to you because the owner at the time couldn't make it work. You had no business expertise, but you took the same risk he did. It's no surprise that you couldn't make it work either. BUT, you became part of the Portland community through the cafe. You made friends, put down roots. You learned that you don't want to own your own business. Communique was a success every way but financially. But you really made your mark in Portland through it. In all three of those endeavors, you set yourself up against enormous odds -- mostly because you didn't have the expertise that you needed as a solid basis for taking those risks. I you have a chance to learn something new related to finances or the workings of a business, you should take it. Everyone has a learning curve, and no boss expects someone who takes on a new assignment to automatically know how to do it. You have a history of learning by doing -- of coming up with innovative ideas and helping to implement them. Such learning takes time. If your boss is smart enough to give you the time you need to get up to speed, you should be smart enough to take him up on it. Intead of looking at this as just another chance to fail, can you look at it something new to try that might have positive outcomes you can't anticipate at this point? Up your vitamin intake. Take some St. John's Wort. Give your spirit whatever lifts you can and try to see in yourself what everyone else sees -- a smart and creative guy who hasn't yet hit his stride. You are harder on yourself than others are. Maybe, living in Portland, you need a little more sunshine. Maybe I'll send you a full-spectrum lamp to help you get over that all-season "SAD"(Seasonal Affective Disorder). It’s interesting that you look at the risks you’ve taken in terms of employment as total failures. The job at the NYPL got you to NYC, where you made all kinds of friends and contacts and got involved with the Hands off the Net effort. So, you didn’t have the expertise to do the job you were hired to do. But you did get a great deal out of moving to NYC.

The cafe was sold to you because the owner at the time couldn’t make it work. You had no business expertise, but you took the same risk he did. It’s no surprise that you couldn’t make it work either. BUT, you became part of the Portland community through the cafe. You made friends, put down roots. You learned that you don’t want to own your own business.

Communique was a success every way but financially. But you really made your mark in Portland through it.

In all three of those endeavors, you set yourself up against enormous odds — mostly because you didn’t have the expertise that you needed as a solid basis for taking those risks.

I you have a chance to learn something new related to finances or the workings of a business, you should take it. Everyone has a learning curve, and no boss expects someone who takes on a new assignment to automatically know how to do it. You have a history of learning by doing — of coming up with innovative ideas and helping to implement them. Such learning takes time. If your boss is smart enough to give you the time you need to get up to speed, you should be smart enough to take him up on it.

Intead of looking at this as just another chance to fail, can you look at it something new to try that might have positive outcomes you can’t anticipate at this point?

Up your vitamin intake. Take some St. John’s Wort. Give your spirit whatever lifts you can and try to see in yourself what everyone else sees — a smart and creative guy who hasn’t yet hit his stride. You are harder on yourself than others are.

Maybe, living in Portland, you need a little more sunshine. Maybe I’ll send you a full-spectrum lamp to help you get over that all-season “SAD”(Seasonal Affective Disorder).

]]> By: b!X http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-342 b!X Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:23:38 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-342 I have been taking a crack at it. I don't flashback to that moment more than a decade ago where I discovered I was hiding behind an empty office's door just from some sort of hypothetical imagining of a potential maybe future. I have been taking a crack at it.

I don’t flashback to that moment more than a decade ago where I discovered I was hiding behind an empty office’s door just from some sort of hypothetical imagining of a potential maybe future.

]]> By: Alan DeWitt http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-341 Alan DeWitt Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:17:08 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-341 I'm in Amanda's world, then. Do you know of anyone there who could do better? If so, talk to the boss and nominate them. If not, then you've got little to lose by taking a crack at it. I’m in Amanda’s world, then.

Do you know of anyone there who could do better? If so, talk to the boss and nominate them. If not, then you’ve got little to lose by taking a crack at it.

]]> By: b!X http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-340 b!X Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:57:04 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-340 <em>If anyone else on the team had more likelihood of success, you would know, the boss would have asked them, and/or they would have offered.</em> I think we live in two different worlds. If anyone else on the team had more likelihood of success, you would know, the boss would have asked them, and/or they would have offered.

I think we live in two different worlds.

]]> By: Amanda Fritz http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-339 Amanda Fritz Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:41:29 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-339 By your assessment, the business fails if you do nothing. It may fail still if you try your assignment, but it may not. If anyone else on the team had more likelihood of success, you would know, the boss would have asked them, and/or they would have offered. It seems to me by accepting the assignment you put the group in a "might survive" situation instead of "will surely fail". In other words, based on what you've written, you have nothing to lose, and neither does the rest of the group by pinning their last hope on you. By your assessment, the business fails if you do nothing. It may fail still if you try your assignment, but it may not. If anyone else on the team had more likelihood of success, you would know, the boss would have asked them, and/or they would have offered. It seems to me by accepting the assignment you put the group in a “might survive” situation instead of “will surely fail”. In other words, based on what you’ve written, you have nothing to lose, and neither does the rest of the group by pinning their last hope on you.

]]> By: b!X http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-338 b!X Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:46:29 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-338 Also, the failure of the cafe was not due to factors beyond my control. It was because I could not figure out what to do to get it past breaking even using volunteer labor and in the end mostly just my labor. That was a failure on my part, not some outside force imposing itself. Also, the failure of the cafe was not due to factors beyond my control. It was because I could not figure out what to do to get it past breaking even using volunteer labor and in the end mostly just my labor. That was a failure on my part, not some outside force imposing itself.

]]> By: kalilily http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-337 kalilily Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:13:21 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-337 Well, I guess your only option is the tell them you just can't do it and find another job quickly. Well, I guess your only option is the tell them you just can’t do it and find another job quickly.

]]> By: b!X http://www.furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-336 b!X Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:44:46 +0000 http://furiousnads.com/2007/01/going-for-the-hat-trick/#comment-336 Sure, the difference is I almost just threw up in my own mouth. Sure, the difference is I almost just threw up in my own mouth.

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