WUGO | Greg Macek

Opinion

This is where you’ll find most of my posts on WUGO. These opinions are my own. Because I wrote them.

  • Our Connected World

    (This post has very coincidentally been posted the same weekend as Sense8 premiering on Netflix.)

    There is no shortage of commentary about how the Internet and technology has provided us connectivity to other people and how It is reshaping our world, allowing us to communicate with others whom we may have never met otherwise. While this has generally been a great advancement for humankind in spite of the rise of the Internet troll, I’ve been pondering about how our online and offline interactions and activities have great reach, both seen and unseen.

    No matter how many times we say “it’s my life” or “why does what I do matter to anyone else?”, it still have immense value and absolutely matters! Regardless of who you are, everything you do influences someone or something else, often in ways we don’t recognize in and positive and negative ways.

    Consider the following scenarios that are obvious and perhaps more subtly influential:

    • That day when you don’t apply yourself at work like you should could mean missing out on a new opportunity for a client or inspiring colleagues to do better.
    • Choosing to not pickup the phone and call your old friend to catch up means the difference between strengthening old bonds and letting them weaken just a little bit more.
    • Every book and article you read continually shapes your opinions and perspectives. It forms the basis for our knowledge, but we also must be careful not to fill it only with perspectives we agree with unless your goal is to have a narrow view of the world.
    • My choosing to run more inspired a friend to pick it up again and sign up for a race this past spring, along with others trying to improve their speed and stamina. All this was spurred on by a friend who a year and a half ago somehow convinced me over Indian food that I could train for and run a marathon.
    • Your decisions on who to date or marry (or later decide to divorce from) are some of the most obvious influencing acts we have on ourselves but also our circles. Bringing a new person in changes the relational dynamic. Thankfully, I’ve been fortunate to have friends who have found great spouses that I gladly also call friends. Their presence has frequently enhanced the existing friendship.On the flip side, I’ve seen and experienced the struggles when relationships fall apart or take a destructive route. The emotional turmoil of a divorce on children and relatives is not easily quantifiable in the short and long term. Or seeing the emotional & psychological aftermath of being in an abusive and hurtful relationship play out in how we interact with others for months and years to come.

    I’m not saying anything earth shattering or revolutionary, but I’ve been struck by the ever connectedness of my own life as I continue to find parallels between “my worlds”. There’s lessons I need to apply across the board for the bettering of myself and everyone else around me. (Example: apply a better training schedule & routine to reading and writing/blogging similar to the discipline I use to train for a race.) Similarly, there’s probably something happening right around you that you should be paying attention to. What is that thing for you?

    P.S. If you have Netflix, check out Sense8. As of this writing, I’m 3 episodes in and am really enjoying it.

  • Anything You Can Do I Can Do (Differently): A Story of Wearables

    Anything You Can Do I Can Do (Differently): A Story of Wearables

    The last couple months I have seen the media stumble over themselves to talk about the latest smart wearable released by a certain company based in Cupertino, CA. All the tech news outlets could talk about was the Apple Watch and how it was going to change we would use our phones (well, as long as it’s an iPhone anyway) and live our lives. What’s crazy about this is that Apple is far from the first to bring smartphone notifications to the wrist, but everyone’s acting like it is.  But I won’t lie; I’ve been sucked into the frenzy of the news and wanting to read up on the opinions and feedback on wearable technology.

    From Pebble to Sony to Motorola to even some of the fitness band manufacturers like Garmin, the industry has been trying to solve the “problem” of not letting our phones become a constant distraction and allowing us to leave them in our pockets. On top of this, everyone has their own take on additional features like voice actions, step/calorie/heart rate tracking, etc. Design across the devices available also range from pretty nerdy to futuristically stylish to “hey it’s functional” to “I want people to think I’m a regular watch.”

    Attempting to be an early adopter without going broke, I’ve had 3 different smartwatch devices in the last year and a half. One was based on Sony’s previous Smartwear platform, and the last two Android Wear (Moto 360, and now the Sony Smartwatch 3 mostly for its standalone GPS tracking abilities). What I can say for now based on my experience and usage: wearable tech isn’t for everyone yet. Maybe it will never will be. The greatest “in” to get people to have something else on them that isn’t their phone is some sort of fitness band and I’ve seen this permeate further than anything else. Everything else is a distraction and, at least in my circles, this is something my friends mostly want less of. I also need to remember to stay more focused in the moment than always look down at my buzzing wrist.

    All this to say that I think we – and media – need to be very careful to not so blindly fall for every product or service certain companies provide and take them to be the most amazing thing ever made. Each offering brought to market is providing a different perspective and feature that probably makes sense to someone out there. And competition and diversity in ideas is good for all of us.

    It’s been said often in tech circles in the last few years it’s not always about being first to market, but executing it the best. While that is true, just because a company claims that when they aren’t first (Apple), it’s not healthy to blindly follow along. It’s still a very subjective world out there; be sure to evaluate with your own mind and come to your own conclusions.

  • Just Tell Me What To Do

    Just Tell Me What To Do

    “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. ”

    This phrase encompasses a trending and disturbing mindset. I’ve seen it manifested in various forms, whether direct or indirect. Whether it’s in a more indirect way like not raising your voice when political figures go about making decisions that don’t properly reflect their constituents (sorry, social media rants don’t count here) or sitting idly by while your job role isn’t fulfilling the potential it has, too many of us have taken a back seat driver approach to life. We want to be heard and maybe even claim to want responsibility and control, but should things go off course or a wrong decision be made, we’re  the first to take a step back or point the finger at someone else. “Hey, I didn’t vote for that guy. Not my problem.” “I’m pretty sure it was her choice to move forward this way on the project. I knew it wasn’t good, but why should I say anything to anyone else? ”

    The problem is it is still your problem because things doesn’t go away because you don’t claim responsibility.  There’s a strange lack of ownership wave I’ve seen where people want to be part of something, but only as long as there’s guarantee of success. Chance of failure? I’ll go ahead and wait by the sidelines and let someone else get tackled thank you very much.

    However, then you’re missing out on being part of that play that changes the energy of the game or even wins that championship. Of course there’s risk when you stick your neck out or stretch yourself beyond what you’re comfortable normally doing. That’s always the case when you venture into new waters; failure is always a possibility. But do we want to live in a way where that isn’t the case? Sounds way too safe and stagnant.

    Even if we do fail, you’ll learn how to do it better and differently the next time. Better yet, you may be personally changed for the better just for going through the process and taking that journey.

    We’re told by media and culture that the power to shape our futures is within our grasp; why aren’t more of us willing to take more chances and not just follow? If you’re not in a position of leadership or authority at work or even within your social circle, each of us is still able to effect change in some way. All it takes it a little bit of paying attention of your surroundings, raising your voice, and taking action. Be part of the game on the field, not just making comments from the sidelines on how the plays should go.

  • Reset-uary

    Reset-uary

    Every January, the world stops to reflect and celebrate another completed trip around the sun. And we’re always so proud of it too! (Yay, most of us didn’t fall off the planet, thanks to gravity.) Inevitably, this month also marks the time when we also feel like it’s time to start something new, make healthier decisions, get going on all those projects that we’ve been promising ourselves for the last 3 years, and just be a better person. This month should be relabeled “Reset-uary” on all calendars. Also, it would be the first month to officially have a hyphen in the name.

    While I don’t have any specific issue with the idea of starting fresh and taking on the world with new perspective and energy, what I haven’t understood is why we so often wait for significant events like the new year to reboot ourselves. Imagine if we waited a whole year to reboot our computers or phones! Windows can barely go a day or two before acting erratically. See what happens to us when we let ourselves run for too long without shutting down once in a while? We should be taking a more proactive approach to life and evaluating and adjusting more frequently and not just at major milestones the calendar – and society – dictates.

    Reset-uary does not need to be a one time a year occasion on our calendars. Schedule your own mini-resets into your routine. Take time to logout to clear your mind and gain new insights. Evaluate and adjust in small increments instead of trying to upend everything at once.  The worst thing that happens in this renamed month is we try to change too much at once and by February almost everything goes back to how it was and little of what you hoped to change doesn’t.

    Don’t let February turn into “Same-uary”. Or I may keep making up new names for months of the year.

  • Ask More Questions & Listen More

    Questions

    Often times I need to take a step back from everything and ask myself, “is there an overarching theme or pattern happening in my life?” It’s fascinating to see how various facets of my life are intertwined usually to teach me – and maybe the world – something.  That current “something” is that we don’t know everything. We think we do so often, assume a bit too much, and because of that often miss something critical. We must ask more questions. It is a significant step to understanding of all manners of things, especially ourselves.

    At work, I try to teach and encourage those on my team and around the company to not take anything at face value. Too often someone takes a task or project request and runs with it. At surface level, everything seems straightforward. But peel back even one layer and finding out the “why” that is driving that request and you learn that on-the-surface craziness has some context and reasoning you can support – or at least acknowledge. Or you ask your client to expand on an idea and all of a sudden a great idea is sparked to take the project to a new level or a future potential issue is avoided.

    In relationships, questions are the basis for learning more about other people. You know what everyone’s favorite topic is?  What they know best of course: themselves. In my life, I have had many conversations with people without uttering much beyond my name, where I’m from or live, and a gloss over of what I do. How? By continually asking questions about just about anything they want to talk about. I’m amazed by how much others like hearing their own voice. I tap into this by keeping the focus on the other person with questions crafted and carefully selected for them.  When I’m not in the mood to talk about myself, it’s a powerful deflection tactic that works on at least 80% of people I talk to (a couple close friends are on to me.)  The only problem? When I do want to share something about my life, people still like to talk about themselves even when I’m not asking them anything. This cumulatively results in only one person feeling like they are known better; often times that person is not me. It can lead to a sense of isolation or not feeling cared about.

    When it comes to ourselves, how often are we asking the really tough questions in a way that results in action or real insight? The right questions can be uncomfortable to respond to. Why? Do we not ask them because we don’t care about other people or about ourselves? Or is it because we’re afraid someone will ask us about stuff we don’t want to talk about? Maybe it’s why I direct a lot of conversation focus back to other people.

    One of the worst things we do is assume we know everything we need to know from work to friendships. Without questions, we are left to assume what we don’t know, and Assuming takes you to dangerous places. So don’t be too taken aback if I ask lots of questions. It means I care and I don’t want to miss something along the way.

     

  • You Won’t Believe How You Feel After Reading This

    I don’t know about you, the reader, but I grow more concerned and fearful every day that our culture is falling deeper into this trap of wanting more “wow factor” out of just about everything we experience. And of course, these experiences cannot come from a longer drawn out process. No, they must be instant, emotionally touching (but only positive), and promise to change how you view the world. This has become a noteworthy characteristic of places like Upworthy and similar viral content focused sites. Social media sharing has primarily become about the feel good moment.

    However, leave it to news outlets to pick up the slack on the other end of the spectrum. We all know by now how the news (perhaps a misused term these days) use outlandish titles and exaggerated terminology to describe just about everything to keep us hooked in. This is nothing new and has been a tactic used for decades.

    Social media, and us as creators of most of that media, have fallen right into the same patterns that has made us hate the news and write that way in status updates. We even do it in our day to day conversation. Our stories must be dramatic, “epic”, “amazeballs”, or whatever other terms are in now. (I’m clearly showing some age now.) It hasn’t helped that we’ve been telling our kids and each other we’re all “different and unique” in our own special ways. So now we all think we have some great story to tell – and really some of us do. I have wondered before how the Internet and social media channels have increased our narcissism or simply given us an outlet for what was always there. And thanks to Facebook, we all have a mini montage of our lives with a emotion-inducing soundtrack to watch and share in case you weren’t there the first when you posted all of it.

    I’m waiting to see the day when this one-upping of everything bubble will burst like the early 2000’s tech bubble or the mid 2000’s housing bubble. This can’t go on for much longer without it imploding.  In ways, I look forward to seeing where we can do next. Perhaps it’ll be a world where solid content speaks for itself and we can analyze and identify it for what it truly is instead of being told it’s the best thing we’ve ever read. No seriously – THE BEST.

  • The Difference Between Inaction and Reflection

    Action vs Reflection

    A few months back, I wrote a post about The Ache of Inaction and the effects of a season in my life where activity levels were low in a number of areas. Life, in ways, has been jump started again back into a flurry of actions, projects, and more mental and physical stimulation than I’ve experienced for some months.

    Action/Play

    As is common when new initiatives or goals are identified, we naturally throw ourselves into it 100%. You stay late at work because you want to, or keep reading that book because the story has pulled you in or the ideas being presented are sparking ideas you’ve never had before, or you’re at the gym 5 days a week pushing yourself to the max and loving every second of it. This is an exciting time and with good reason. These times are indicative of change and progress, two things which many people want whether or not they know it. It feels like progress is happening.

    Reflection/Pause

    However, it’s impossible to be on the move all the time. Our own bodies remind us of that daily. In the midst of action, it’s not uncommon to take moments of pause. I believe it’s in the pause that the real work is being done.

    It’s that moment of non-movement where the real work begins. That information you’ve been soaking in needs to be processed. The story you read opens up as you ponder upon the author’s words and draw your own conclusions. Connections are being made in your brain that were just waiting for you sit down for a minute and not do anything else. Training programs for large goals like marathons specifically call for a day of rest because the body needs to take a break! The same must happen for us mentally to truly thrive and succeed.

    If we constantly try to stuff ourselves with information, when are we going to actually do anything with that data? Not stopping to analyze anything creates a dangerous behavioral pattern of just taking in and stuffing ourselves with information that we ultimately do nothing with moments later.
    This year, I am planning to embark on a lot of initiatives and am setting what I consider to be significant goals for myself. I have new (to be defined) goals and responsibilities at work. I’m seriously considering training for and running a marathon this year. I want to be more well read and to write more in the midst of all this too. It will be critical for my physical, mental, and spiritual health that I maintain a healthy cycle of action and reflection. Too much of either and I will fall short of where I want and need to be. I either will burn myself out if I don’t ever stop or fail miserably if I just lay around on the couch for too long. Let’s hope neither happens.

  • The Ache of Inaction

    Too tired to care

    The longer you’re in a state of inaction, the more difficult it is to get out of it.

    Recenly, I’ve learned some lessons that can unfortunately only be learned with time. Over the last few months, I spent way too much sprawled out on my couch consuming too much Netflix.  I should’ve been exercising, reading books, or writing more on this blog.  I started noticing things in myself by the end of the summer both physically and mentally that gave me concern and an impetus to act.

    Sitting or laying around for too long caused literal physical aches and soreness. Not only was I not hitting the gym or running outside to keep myself in good shape, my inactivity was discouraging me from even doing minimal stuff some days – and weeks. A similar challenge was affecting me mentally. Ideas that were trying to make their way out onto paper or blog were held back; books that were begging to be read were left on digital and physical bookshelves. Personal growth has been stunted by the amazing power of non-movement. You don’t realize what it can do you to emotionally until you’re snapped out of it and recognize that you’ve been missing out. Inertia is something that should never be underestimated.

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