Category: motivation

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motivation

Appropriate Modes of Transportation

Cartoon of of an angel waiting at a bus stop.

Commuting sure looks different this year as opposed to last year. Who would have thought a bus stop would be considered a risky endeavor before COVID-19?

Angelic transportation may be the way to go. We may feel safer at a bus stop if we knew a guardian angel was at our side. But would the angel be wearing a mask? Would he be giving you one?

Many people are considering what it will look like when they begin commuting to work once again. This article from Healthline.com says the CDC’s guidelines suggest solo commuting is the safest option. That’s what I’ve had to do most of my professional life, out of necessity. But what if that isn’t an option for you? What if you work in a city where public transportation is the only viable option?

In that case, the usual recommendations of wearing a mask, practice social distancing, and washing your hands frequently become that much more important. The article also says not to touch anything on your commute. Easier said than done, I know. Then again the trains and buses I have been on had quite a layer of gunk on surfaces. Maybe that layer would be great motivation to refrain from touching, or breathing anything while on that bus!

Cartoon of of an angel waiting at a bus stop.
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motivation

Can you really understand the other side?

Cartoon of two boys. One has a decoder ring

There are so many opinions out there. One side is determined the other side is crazy or stupid. The other side is convinced anyone who doesn’t think like them is off their rocker. Can one side truly understand the other in the current climate?

When I drew this cartoon, I was the parent of teens and working with kids. I realized kids can be just as puzzled at the way adults act. Parents frequently wonder where their kids are coming from. Guess what? Kids may think the same as well.

We may not have decoder rings to figure out what someone is thinking, but we have some great tools. We can…

  • Listen more than we speak
  • Be humble enough to learn from another
  • Realize there can be some legitimate points on both sides of a disagreement
  • Consider a third option that will satisfy all sides

If you do find a decoder ring, I’m not opposed to that solution either. In fact, I think I’ll have a bowl of cereal and check if there is one at the bottom of the box.

Cartoon of two boys. One has a decoder ring
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motivation

Do you know why with certainty?

Cartoon of birds on a wire

When something happens, it’s easy to assume we know the answer to the event. But what if the “obvious answer” isn’t all that obvious? Our assumptions can deceive us, can’t they?

The little bird in my cartoon thinks he knows why his yellow friend is so large. Naturally, he must be eating some killer birdseed! But is the bird’s assumption correct? What if another factor caused the yellow bird to have some hefty prominence?

  • What if the yellow bird was an escapee from a science experiment?
  • Could the yellow bird have an overactive pituitary gland?
  • Maybe he had been on Sesame Street and birds naturally get yellow and large there
  • What if he is a she and in this species of bird, the females are larger?
  • Perhaps he is simply a different species?

Humor works because a joke or a cartoon sets us up to think in one direction, then the punchline takes us in another. It’s a bit of mental whiplash. Henny Youngman was great at it.

“If at first you don’t succeed…so much for skydiving.”

Henny Youngman

We make assumptions all the time. Could it be we shouldn’t be as certain of our assumptions as we are? Perhaps we need to be humble enough to consider there are other answers to why something is the way it is. It could lead to creativity…and perhaps a breakthrough.

Cartoon of birds on a wire
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motivation

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure

Man with son. "Welcome to the computer age, Son! I got you the finest Commodore 64 money can buy."

How would you like to be the kid in this cartoon? Dads can be clueless, can’t they? He may be surprised to discover his find doesn’t have a way to connect to the Internet. It would be a nice machine for someone looking for a trip back in time. But it wouldn’t be very practical for today’s computer needs. The father had not considered what his son truly needs.

This cartoon was for a book I illustrated entitled New Rider’s Official Internet Pages. It seems silly today, but at the time, a book about how to find what you were looking for on the Web was a good idea. Search engines were still a bit clunky. Google wouldn’t exist for another three years. So why not use a paper book to search on the Web? Today, that book is about as cutting-edge as a Commodore 64 computer.

You can still buy Commodore 64’s. E-bay has plenty of them for sale. While they don’t cost as much as when they were new, they still appear to cost as much as a new tablet or laptop. Today, you wouldn’t buy one for its power, but for nostalgia.

We can get stuck in thinking we know what the solution is when it isn’t appropriate. Old technology won’t work for today’s students. Yet, someone with an eye for eighties technology would love it. When considering a solution, be sure you know your audience. You want someone to be surprised in a good way.

In the meantime, who wants to play Ace of Aces on an old Commodore 64?

Man with son. "Welcome to the computer age, Son! I got you the finest Commodore 64 money can buy."
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motivation

When we have unrealistic expectations

Cartoon of a dog washing dishes

I wrote a post in 2014 entitled How do you know when criticism isn’t working. We all face criticism if we do anything of value. One of the most common reasons we face criticism is unrealistic expectations.

We don’t expect a dog to wash dishes, much less do it perfectly. We can’t expect a child to act like an adult. Yesterday, I witnessed a mom trying to reason with a toddler about leaving the playground. I felt for the mom because the child wasn’t interested in a logical argument. It just wasn’t going to work!

The pandemic has caused all of us to reevaluate our expectations. It’s going to be a while before business and society get back-to-normal. We don’t know what normal will look like in six months, much less a year!

When you have unrealistic expectations…

  • Rethink if you need to wait for better conditions
  • Give yourself and others grace
  • Consider if there is an alternative to meeting similar goals
  • Find ways to be positive while acknowledging the situation is less than ideal

You probably can’t have your dog wash the dishes or the cat tidy up the kitchen. But you may find a better way to meet the goal. And perhaps an alternative timeline is the way to go.

Cartoon of a dog washing dishes