Everyone has had a ‘to do’ list. There are many forms of to do lists out there. To do lists appear on paper, on an electronic notebook, on calendars or diaries, in a database, in spreadsheets. I think I’ve tried them all at some point through my life.

Another tactic for productivity and time management is establishing, every now and then, a “to don’t” list. These are activities or tasks that you’ve consciously and purposefully said ‘no’ to. For a time, anyway.

Currently, for the month of June, on my ‘to don’t’ list is scrolling social media on my smartphone.

Habits and repetitive workflows help the workday run a bit more smoothly.

Habits and procedures protect us from decision fatigue. They help by being a ‘given’, so there’s no decision. Like deciding whether to have coffee or tea in the morning (coffee. Always coffee).

Habits are “freedom in routine”. Performing the same actions in the same context or location or decision point means that there really isn’t a decision, there’s no emotion, it’s automatic and situational.

The brain can function more smoothly when it spots patterns and can respond without too much effort.

Create repetitive workflows or habits wherever possible.

It goes without saying that there are plenty of problems in the world. Be they personal, cultural, political, or any other possible adjective to describe whatever problem you thought of when you read that title. There always have been problems, and there always will be problems.

The thing is, observing a problem doesn’t solve it. I read many articles and blogs and essays describing problems in all levels of depth and investigation. Millions are being spent to better describe the problems.

Defining a problem is certainly part of solving it, but being really good at defining it doesn’t solve it.

Searching “engineering skills” online yields these results: communication, problem solving, creativity, leadership, teamwork, attention to detail, design, management, critical thinking, collaboration. “Technical knowledge” is just one line item amongst all the others.

I think this is a huge shift in the view of engineering skills. I like it. In my early days, 30 years ago, engineers did do the calculations (by hand, on paper), and worked in the background. What a shift in role through my work life. Engineers are, and should be, collaborators and critically-thinking problem solvers. Importantly, we have an applied sciences background underpinning our approach to work.

Humility is an important factor in career development, and in leadership. Being able to recognise the complexity of current topics and challenges includes the ability to start a conversation with “I might be wrong”.

But it is a slippery slope, as saying that is also fraught with appearing apologetic and uncertain.

So, being humble and gracious is important in a leader, but can also backfire and look like inability to lead, or that you’re unskilled or incompetent. Yikes.

I suppose the “I might be wrong” needs to be stated in the context of strength, confidence, and openness to other information.

I’ve mentioned these four factors before, but I can’t help bringing it up again. Especially while we navigate the new awakening going on, which feels good.

Careers are built on four concepts: connection, mastery, impact and autonomy.

Mastery requires commitment and dedication, impact requires knowing in yourself what makes you feel proud about what you do, and autonomy means you have initiative and drive. But the most important one is first: connection.

Every successful career story is built on connection with others. Engineering is not a solo sport, and so please make sure to connect with people along the way.

Whenever productivity is brought up as a discussion point, the solutions are something around “smarter”, “better”, and “faster”.

A large, and growing, portion of the working population is engaged in ‘thought’ work, aka knowledge work. These are roles that basically create or move documents around, adding value to them (hopefully) as they go past. At its basic level, knowledge work is not much more complex than moving value-added information around.

Adding value to, and moving, documents around, takes thought, assessment, and analysis. Unfortunately, to do that better, it often can’t be done faster. Smart knowledge work should be done slower.

Adam Grant’s LinkedIn post yesterday resonated with me.

“When groups defer to the most assertive person in the room, they reward confidence over competence”.

And, even better: “we learn more from people who explore ideas than those who attack and defend”.

I agree. I’ve experienced conversations with very (over)confident people. It kind of backfires.

Especially for nuanced and complex topics, we definitely need more exploration of ideas, over bluster and telling(yelling) with conviction. Curiosity and exploration of alternatives is so important in these uncertain times.

Don’t be so convinced about complex topics, that you stifle critical thinking and silence dissent.

Six years ago, I registered Sage Consulting Solutions Pty Ltd as a business in Australia. It emerged from the ashes of three too many redundancies. In hindsight, those hurt me more than I realised, each time I went through it.

Being a soloist has been a good fit for me. Though it’s a hard way to make an easy living. But when it’s good, it’s very, very good.

Looking over past the six years, and into the future, I like what I see. The future is bright in the areas of infrastructure engineering, risk and quality management, and skills development.

The word project is a homonym. It has two interpretations with the same spelling, though pronounced differently. Another example of a homonym is write and right. But project and project are harder to discern: one is a noun and the other a verb.

As a noun, a project is a thing or a concept. It’s a planned piece of work or activity, finished over a set period of time, intended to achieve a particular purpose.

As a verb, to project is to extend outwards, forecast, or, proclaim.

Working on projects is satisfying. It’s also important to project professionalism and reliability.

A good life is a life that has meaning. Similarly, a good career has meaning, a purpose and a goal, and, strong principles.

A simple exercise to see if our life is being lived with meaning, is to imagine our own obituary. What would we be remembered for? Hopefully not being the one who was always negative or never had anything nice to say.

With our careers, we also want to think about what impact we’re leaving behind. At our retirement parties (if anyone is having real retirement parties anymore), what are we being remembered for? Hopefully, something with meaning.

Welcome back. You’re welcome. A welcome mat. All of these uses of ‘welcome’: they all make me feel good. Even the recent inclusion of welcomes to country, while sometimes awkward, do have the intention of making good. So: where there’s welcome, there’s goodness.

What’s the opposite of welcome? I had to look that up. There were several unappealing, unpleasant, and nasty words, but a direct opposite is simply, unwelcome.

When we’re unwelcome, we don’t feel good.

The #100words point is, if you’re looking for goodness, look for where you’re welcomed. Be it work, socialising, or shopping. Stay where you’re welcomed.

Through all my life including all the years in the endurance event game, I’ve never broken a bone. I’ve certainly had a plethora of pulled muscles and twisted tendons, but never a break. All those kilometres cycling and running, and no bone breaks. It’s not good to break bones.

But there are good types of breaks. Like the one I’ll be taking for the next month or so. There are too many holidays, and too many visiting family members in life, for the next month, to properly attend to 100 words about something or other. I’ll be back in mid-May.

For almost three years, I’ve posted one hundred words each day except Saturdays. (And, there have been some month-long breaks as well). Precisely one hundred words. Each one is written on the day posted (except, I’ve repeated some recently). Each day, a fresh idea, condensed into 100 words, no more, no less.

I like the rhythm of the daily task, but it’s time to take the pressure off. I’ll still write “100 words about” something, and probably every day, but it won’t be “100 words a day”. You’ll hardly notice the change, but for me, the pressure will be off.

When we are using someone else’s ideas in our writing or presenting our own ideas, it’s not right to claim it as our own. Plagiarism is the ultimate poor form: direct copy of someone else’s work is never okay.

Yet here, a few of my recent posts, have not been original; they have been copies of my own work from previous years. So, some posts in the past week have been copies. Only five, mind you. But, funny enough, I kind of feel guilty not attributing the ‘repeat’, of my own work. Weird, as it’s my own work I’ve copied.

In three years of writing 100 words about all sorts of topics, almost 700 posts to date, it’s remarkable that I’d not yet had one titled “book”. I’ve written about textbooks, and notebooks, but not plain ole books.

It’s nice to observe that books have not had the demise that many feared when electronic writing and communication became the norm. There are still bookstores, there are still public libraries, and there are still plenty of books being published.

You’d think we’d run out of things to write about, but no, here we are. Plenty of books, and plenty of words.

A capitalism system that works is based on the exchange of money for something of value. Customers decide if the perceived value is greater than the asking price, and if so, they’ll feel like they’ve got a ‘deal’.

The tricky part is, though, different customers will value different things, even at different times and in different situations. Pinning down value is more psychologically complicated than just price equals value.

Value can be found in functional improvements, emotional resolutions, or life-changing outcomes. But maybe that’s all a bit highbrow. Customers just want to know they’ve received value, whatever that looks like.

Anyone who has participated in knowledge transfer events (aka, training) has, I postulate, been bored during least one of them.

Whether in person, or online, it’s easier to be unengaged than engaged. Especially if the topic is not immediately relevant.

There’s a skill and a talent to being able to teach or train others. And nowadays, there’s an additional skill to be able to do it online, via looking into a camera.

Whether receiving or delivering it, training, knowledge transfer, teaching or whatever we want to call it, is an important part of working life, and key to lifelong learning.

In the construction workspace, safety inductions for the workers are legislated, expected, tolerated, and, simply, done. You wouldn’t (can’t) start a construction project without an induction.

Besides being legally required, and also potentially tedious and repetitive, there are still benefits to safety inductions: they can set behaviour expectations and introduce site specific hazard identification.

For office-based knowledge workers, perhaps there is opportunity for an induction approach to quality of work. A “permit to work” system for those who produce the pictures and words. A “knowledge induction” that presents design knowledge expectations, scope limits, and company or project specific technical hazards.

It’s hard for a credentialed person to say, “I don’t know”. Many years ago, a co-worker asked if I could help him design his concrete garage flooring. It was really hard to admit, “I don’t know how to do that anymore” – because, doesn’t every civil engineer know that? Alas, not this one.

With a credential that points to expected knowledge, it’s even harder to say. And so, there’s a choice: admit it (‘I don’t know’), or, go figure it out. That’s ok too, in some circumstances, especially if you want to learn. But it should start with “I don’t know”.