by Gary Mintchell | Dec 2, 2024 | Personal Development, Productivity
Have you ever watched a blacksmith or potter or glass-blower at work?
I watch with utter fascination. What a magnificent set of skill, knowledge, creativity.
When you make something from start to finish like that, there is a little piece of you in that thing. You are passing your skill and creativity along to someone else.
Karl Marx observed workers at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s. He theorized something he called alienation. Humans had become alienated from the output of their work. As factories multiplied and grew, most of humanity was no longer involved in this combination of skill and creativity in the production of something useful or beautiful for someone else.
I thought of that today while listening to Cal Newport’s latest podcast. (https://thedeeplife.com episode 329 not posted yet, you can find on Overcast or your podcast app of choice)
He studies life in a digital world. Humans working at a computer pushing messages over digital networks are alienated from the eventual product of the organization—indeed, even if they know what it is and how it serves the market.
That thought had never really sunk into my consciousness. Of course, much of my digital work does have a direct impact. Those who work in larger organizations, though just perform a role which is one of hundreds just pushing bits through a wire.
Can we think of a better way to organize work?
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 22, 2024 | Personal Development
One day a group of consultants appeared at our shop. Equipped with clipboards and stop watches (it was 1974), they observed, timed, made notes. They must have been “real” industrial engineers. My role at the time being fresh from university included production/inventory control plus anything else required.
They left. A few bench assembly stations were rearranged. I assume they picked up a nice check. I thought, I might be new, but what they did was far from earth-shaking.
I recently picked up Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed of Procrustes, to leaf through. This aphorism caught my attention: “A mathematician starts with a problem and creates a solution; a consultant starts by offering a ‘solution’ and creates a problem.”
We might poke fun at consultants (often rightly so). More to the point—how does this apply to our problem solving? How often do we begin at the end?
by Gary Mintchell | Oct 15, 2024 | Personal Development
Personal productivity writer Oliver Burkeman asks of us—you’re merely the kind of person who spends your life drawing up plans for how you’re going to become a different kind of person later on. This will sometimes garner you the admiration of others, since it can look from the outside like you’re busily making improvements. But it isn’t the same at all.
This could be our personal life.
It could be our business life.
We read. We think. We make lists. We sketch out plans.
But, do we ever ship a product?
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 26, 2024 | Personal Development
Publicity people deserve much empathy. They often undertake considerable work and ingenuity to meet the goals of their client’s over-optimistic marketing plans.
I accidentally got on a press news list. Few people check for compatibility. They just send me stuff.
This is one of those. Far from my core interest, but perhaps useful to some of you in your personal life and travels, comes news relevant to your smart phone. I’ve had no problems with my carrier traveling over much of Europe, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Mexico. But perhaps you have had either difficulty connecting or discovered exorbitantly high bills for the few days in another country.
Enter a South African company called Know Roaming. Their product is an eSIM for your smart phone. An eSIM, short for embedded SIM, is a SIM card that’s built into your smartphone and cannot be physically removed. Unlike traditional SIM cards, which require swapping when changing carriers or traveling abroad, eSIMs are programmable directly onto your phone.
Depending upon your travels, this could be a solution well worth checking out.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 19, 2024 | News, Personal Development, Productivity, Workforce
- • ResumeTemplates.com Survey Finds ChatGPT Helps 4 in 10 Users Get Raises, as Workers’ Fears of AI Fizzle
- Workers report that ChatGPT helps them save time, complete tasks more efficiently, and increase their productivity
Everyone performs surveys these days. This company would not normally hit my radar. ResumeTemplates (think CV, not beginning again) provides a platform for free professional resume templates and examples. It recently surveyed 1,666 employees in the United States in order to determine the extent of usefulness or fear of Large Language Model (LLM) AI. Namely they questioned use of ChatGPT.
600 of the 1,666 reported using ChatGPT at least once a month. The survey is based on results of these 600.
According to the survey, 36 percent of workers use ChatGPT at least once a month at work. Specifically, 22 percent use it daily, 12 percent weekly, and 2 percent monthly. Workers primarily use ChatGPT to summarize documents, summarize topics, and write emails. Other common uses include brainstorming, interpreting data, writing articles or content, and translating text.
These types of results often drive my skepticism meter toward red, but they are interesting. Define saving time…
These ChatGPT users claim the AI tool has helped them save time at work. Notably, 16 percent of workers report saving one to two hours per week, 22 percent save three to four hours, and 30 percent save five to eight hours. Additionally, 11 percent save nine to 10 hours, and 18 percent save more than 10 hours per week. With the time saved, 94 percent of respondents say they reinvest “all” or “some” of that time back into the company.
“Workers report that ChatGPT assists them in completing assignments more quickly and delivering higher quality results,” says ResumeTemplates’ executive resume writer and career coach Andrew Stoner. This combination creates a win-win scenario for employers and workers, and I believe signals an eagerness on the part of workers to learn and adapt to new technology.”
Survey findings also suggest a significant impact of ChatGPT on respondents’ professional careers. In fact, 38 percent report earning a raise as a result of using ChatGPT. Furthermore, workers say ChatGPT has led to faster task completion, increased productivity, reduced stress levels, and enhanced problem-solving capabilities. Looking ahead, workers believe ChatGPT will continue to benefit their careers by helping them secure promotions, raises, more advanced roles, and better job offers.
View the complete report.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 17, 2024 | Personal Development
Cal Newport, computer science professor and author (Slow Productivity), noticed a sign while on book promotion tour in England regarding the noxious effects of overly processed food, aka junk food.
The message caused a companion thought—junk food for the mind. He had been thinking about how social media, over reliance on smart phones, and the like have corrupted the minds of many throughout the world.
What foods do you allow to fill your appetite? (In my case despite watching what I eat, I just drank 16 oz. of sugar—fruit juice plus ginger ale—just before a blood test. Really stupid.) Normally, I am careful about what goes in.
Likewise, what do you allow to fill your mind? Social media or quality fiction and poetry? TV or walking in nature?
Let us maintain a healthy body and mind.
