Missing Link

I forgot how much fun Home Automation can be!

When I moved into my previous house I went a little nuts with home automation.  I had a blank canvas, I could do all the cool things I’d wanted to do, but never had the ability to before.  It was awesome.

Most of the lights in the house were controllable via the automation system – including the outside lights.  In fact – the system turned the outside lights on and off based on sunset and sunrise, which it knew the times for every day.   I also had our thermostat hooked up to the automation system so it could automatically adjust the temperature based on a variety of factors.

The really cool thing – at least as far as I was concerned – was that my house would wake me up in the morning, read me the weather report, then start playing music while I got ready for work.

When we moved into our current house I never got around to doing anything with home automation.  The longer I went without doing anything, the more mental resistance I built up.

A couple of nights ago I finally broke free of the resistance and started playing around with it again.  Before long I had a half dozen lights configured and a flood of ideas for what I could hook up next.

Aside from the ability to control lights from my iPhone,  this kind of setup actually has a practical use as well.

When we are going to be out of town we can set the house to “away” mode, where it will randomly turn lights on and off (but only after dark, and before the time we would normally go to bed).  You can do something similar using timers,  however that’s easy to spot because the lights always go on and off at the same time.    By adding randomization it more closely mimics how it would look were somebody home.

Have a cool idea for home automation?   I’d love to hear about it!

It’s interesting that the slightest hiccup in the operation of a piece of technology can cause vast amounts of anger and frustration.

As technology has permeated nearly every facet of life we’ve begun to take it for granted.  When the wireless connection is slow on the airplane flying at 30,000 feet I get frustrated.  When I get in my car and the magic that let’s me stream music from my phone to my car stereo wirelessly doesn’t automatically start working, I get annoyed.

It’s easy to become frustrated and annoyed when something doesn’t work the way we expect it to.

When it happens, though, it’s important to maintain perspective and be glad we live in a future where these technologies are possible at all.

In the race to get ahead in life it can be very tempting to spend more and more of your time doing work.   After all – if you spend 80 hours a week working you’ll surely come out ahead of the person who only spends 40-50 hours doing it, right?

Wrong.

The key isn’t to work more hours.  The key is to be smarter about how you use your time.  Do the work that really matters.  Always know what you’re doing (and what you’re not doing, and be OK with it).  Perhaps most importantly…

…Don’t forget to live your life.  Take time to do things you enjoy.  Find a hobby.  Spend time with friends and family.   Those are the important things.

Work smarter, not harder.

As I’ve been cycling this year, I’ve been steadily improving various aspects of my rides.  I’ve increased my average pace from around 14mph to just shy of 17mph.  I’ve steadily increased my distance per ride from ~12 miles to 32 miles (goal reached this past Saturday). I don’t get winded easily and climbs don’t suck nearly as much as they used to. In every appreciable way I’m improving.

Up until recently, I haven’t been doing any of this with a particular goal in mind other than improving my abilities and challenging myself.

I finally found a worthy goal, however, and am now working towards something measurable.  On July 4th I will be participating in a 50 mile ride to support the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

My current milestones (no pun intended) are to complete a 40 mile ride by the end of May, and a 50 mile ride by the end of June.  Both are doable and I look forward to the challenge.

I’m excited to have a clear goal to work towards, and am equally happy that the end goal will be in support of a worthy cause.

A common pitfall I see in those new to managing others is a desire (whether conscious or unconscious) to hire people less capable than themselves.

This is done mostly out of a sense of insecurity – the new manager doesn’t want his new hire to outshine him (and thus unseat him).

This is nothing but self-sabotage.  By doing this the manager makes his job much more difficult, and obtains less than stellar results.

It is far better to hire someone smarter than yourself,  and equally as driven.   Your job will be easier, and you’ll get better results – all of which reflects positively on you.

Seek out great talent.  Lead it.  Do great things.