Watching The Wise

I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Stoic.

The stoic says to pick a wise person to aspire to. Over the last year I’ve discovered that doing that can lead to some negative thoughts when I fail to mimic that person. I have my own make up and past that makes it very difficult for me to aspire to be this person or that person. I think we do the best we can and look to improve ourselves bit by bit. Those people have their own demons and I don’t they’re perfect.

Jeff Bagwell is someone I looked up to growing up. How he played baseball and went about his business. Years later it was discovered that some of that business was cheating with another woman. He went to court and lost some credibility. I think we watch the wise and take what we can and aspire to be our own best person.

Identifying the Future

I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done.

The action point for today was to look at market trends and look at the longevity on impact on my organization and life. Being in healthcare and one that is trying to disrupt the healthcare model by bringing direct to healthcare to members via employers is a good position to be in. We as a company shifted to virtual healthcare and saw a huge positive from that. I’m not privy to our current talks with clients. We seem to be in a good position with a lot of them. I imagine the PR is bad if you get rid of your healthcare provider during a pandemic. We have had to shift a lot of activities like everyone else.

I expect that virtual health will have a huge spike for the next two or three years. As more companies get back into the office I believe we’ll see more in person care return. I believe working from home will be a fade for the time period. As companies start seeing cracks in productivity and worker health we’ll start to see companies bring their employees back on site. Working from home is really hard for managers and I believe a majority of managers are not prepared for what needs to be done. What’s required is more communication. Micromanagement is a phrase being used more and more these days. Often overused for things like regularly reporting and communication.

The other side of my arena is IT security. It’s been a hot market and is predicted to continue to be a hot market. Especially with a lot of people working from home. There are challenges in ensuring we can protect those people while they’re at home. Combining security and healthcare will mean I have job security for an extended period of time.

The Three Areas of Training

I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Stoic.

To find real clarity and success I must evaluate my desires and aversions; impulses to act; and my judgement. There’s not really a how to, just that we must train in these three areas and understand them. Put thought and energy into our lives. I feel like I’m doing this. Maybe not deliberately enough. I am constantly trying to evaluate myself and how I can improve. How I can improve the impact I have on the people around me. There’s still a lot of work to be done. Some times I feel lost in those thoughts.

The Daily Drucker(s)

I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done.

This is similar to the daily stoics I do. I’ve been in management for over two years now and I’m always looking for ways to improve. Peter Drucker is someone I’ve heard about quite a bit in those past two years. Yet I have yet to pick up a book by him. That changed today when I was at Barnes and Nobles and saw this book. My mother had gotten me a gift card at the store and I decided this would be a great place to start and blog my thoughts.

Integrity in Leadership

The action point is to evaluate the character at the top of an organization prior to accepting a job offer. This is something I recommend to people when talking about job opportunities. In my own life I try to do that research. Executives are pretty easy to find talking or writing about their views on management and the world. For my current organization I was able to find videos online. Everything he said lined up with my beliefs. That held true as I started to work at the company. That alignment gave me the confidence to start making decisions on my own when I got into certain situations.

The Power Of A Mantra

I am blogging everyday (or nearly everyday) on The Daily Stoic.

Use a mantra to find clarity. This is today’s guidance. I like it. I don’t know what a mantra for me would be. I have the word integrity, do what I say I’m going to do. I feel I need one for the times when I struggle. I’m in my head more and I’m noticing thoughts that I feel are holding me back and bringing some negativity into my life. I’m trying to rewire some of that thinking. I think a mantra can help. Nothing comes to me and I don’t know that I need to seek it. I feel at some point something will come to me. I think this is where meditation may help.