Tag: impact

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The Most of My Time

Bob McInnisLeave a comment

If I want to be a legend what do I need to do with my years to make the best use of the 80ish years I have? Can I have a more positive impact in the next 20 years than the last 20? Who is important in my life and how do I add value to theirs? What will be the measure of legendary when my times- relationships, money, influence, change, charity? All of them?

To make 20 years count I need to make each year count and each month and each week and each day. I need to be discerning and judicious without being an evangelical pain in the butt about each hour. “Is this the best way that I can spend this hour?” ” Will this move me closer to my goals or stall me in the mud?” ” Can I be closer to my grandsons if I choose to do X?” “What gift does this hour bring to a life lived fully?”

I can be a bit of a zealot when I reframe my path and need to find some ‘goofing off’ time for personal harmony. If I understand that I am recharged by certain activities that don’t have an easy metric towards the preferred future then I can cut myself some slack. 1 hour a day do do whatever I want seems reasonable for me. Is 1/24 somewhere near what you need? The 4% slack is what I am striving for this year  and I am keeping an eye  on how I feel and what I achieve. If I need more or less slack, I will adjust on the fly.

Do get where I want my life to be in 2036, I need to read, write, run, rest, relate, recreate, recompense and refresh. If about 30% of my day is in resting and 4% assigned  to slack then I need to be thinking about where I put an hour running, two hours writing, six hours working I still have 8-10 hours to add value to myself and those around me.

Sounds like a plan. Another easy to say, harder to do practice.

B

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What is Normal?

Bob McInnisLeave a comment

There are people that I have met whose life choices I don’t understand. Their normal is so outside my frame of reference as to appear insane. I can’t imagine the journey that lead them to the worldview they espouse and demonstrate.

The normal might include a parent who deprives herself of basic necessities and enjoyment so she can ensure that her adult children will receive a generous inheritance. Our kids have been told that “if there is anything left when we die, it was a mistake.”

The normal might be a man in his early 60’s (I call him Vince) who gets out of bed at 5:30 and despite his physical and mental illness gets on a bus to downtown , regardless of weather, to stand on the same corner with his hat extended and a smile on his face. After the morning rush, he gets on the bus and heads home from his job only to return for a second shift later in the afternoon.

The normal might be an executive who hasn’t really seen nor talked to his children in months because he is working 10,11,12 hours every day to ‘make ends meet’.

The normal might be a single mom struggling to keep her three kids clothed and schooled who accesses a school lunch program and shops where she gets the best bang for her bucks.

It might be a couple in their later years who supplement their retirement with risky (some would say) behaviour. Or the young man who bets it all on the spin of a wheel. Or the young woman who bets it all on the spin of an idea.

Is normal just perspective? Is it  just adaptation in the face of circumstances? Is it just a defensive reaction to stressors?

I recognize that I am not normal but I am ok with that and likely foster abnormal quirks from my perspective and in order to adapt.

Make Today Normal, whatever that means for you,

B

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Are they Entitled?

Bob McInnisLeave a comment

About a year ago, CanadaHelps published an article Canada’s charities deserve better on their website written by Brad Offman, Managing Director of the Mackenzie Charitable Giving Fund. While I agree with some of his assertions that community benefit investors (donors) have been coached to use some largely irrelevant metrics like admin or fundraising %s, I think he has missed the mark. 

“the fact remains that over 85,000 other charities are doing precisely the work that most of us admire: feeding the needy, housing the homeless, nursing the sick and educating the young.” doesn’t earn them exclusive and ongoing support without discernment and investigation. 

I wrote a comment to the blog that was posted on the site for a short time but has disappeared. Their post, their rules – I accept that.

I need to make the case that any metric other than impact towards solving the issue is largely irrelevant. Homeless shelters can warehouse people for a much lower cost per head than transition housing but if you are paid for the heads on mats there is little incentive to lift these people off the mats and onto their own feet. If I could find a shelter that was rapidly raising men, women and families from poverty to sustainability while honouring their dignity, it wouldn’t matter to me what their administration costs were as a percentage of expenses.Helping people out of homelessness rather than helping them live in their homelessness is something I would support.

Raising awareness about an issue is important but if it doesn’t lead to immediate, relevant and concrete action, it is just more air being blown in the wind.I understand that reinforcement and multiple messages are important factors but if you stand on your soapbox for a year and nothing changes, you need to think about your message and your tactics.

Tom Suddes post this week Does it Make the Boat Go Faster drove me back to this article and has me wondering if urgency should be the measure.

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Does Collaboration Work?

Bob McInnis1 Comment

collaboration

Sometimes.

I have watched individuals, organizations, businesses, corporations, governments come together to tackle issues, improve services, build a better mousetrap, and defeat injustice. In a few cases the partnering of resources and expertise has worked but more often than not impact wasn’t magnified.

Tension, distrust, bureaucracy, memorandums, policies, processes, egos, lethargy, all work against success in collaborative efforts.

Last year I volunteered with a group of five social agencies purportedly trying to solve a critical issue. After four meetings establishing terms of reference, roles and responsibilities, budget and meeting schedules one of the participants said ” This is going to be great. None of us are going to have to work as hard with all of us working together.” I was surprised by the nods around the room and dismayed that they didn’t realize that with all of them pulling on the rope together they could move the ship faster and further if they didn’t reduce their efforts.

Governments come together to reduce CO2, battle terrorism, fight poverty, solve economic problems and it seems way more effort goes into getting along than finding and implementing action. (I know my action bias is showing) National agendas clash, credit is misrepresented, commitments lapse and it appears that the joint effort is more about photo ops and lip service than solutions.

Individuals seem to fair better at working together, formally or informally. Agreement on goals and action needed comes faster and shorter timelines are established. My experience in cocreation with others has been mostly positive because in a group of 2,3, or 4 there isn’t much hiding or dodging. We can get down to business.

I am not saying that businesses, governments and charities shouldn’t work together, I am suggesting that there must be a better way of wrangling the horses and getting them to pull as a team.

Thoughts, suggestions, comments?