If there’s one instrument that’s universally mocked and ridiculed it has to be the accordion.  No other instrument (with the exception, perhaps, of the bagpipe) comes close. Yet in this video we see that the accordion can sound beautiful when handled by a master. This brings me to something I hear a lot of people say – “I don’t like my job, I want a new one.”  What does this have anything to do with an accordion?  Well, just like ...

I’m an avid fan of video games.  A few years ago that would have made me a social outcast.  But times they are a changin’ and video games have gone from obscure hobby to mainstream entertainment.  Virtually (no pun intended) everyone plays a video game whether it’s World of Warcraft, the Wii, or on Facebook.  When I play games I often feel compelled to chase after completely meaningless things.  For instance I put in more hours than I’d care to admit into a game called Diablo 2 just to get rare armor so I could brag about it to my ...

I bought an android phone a few months ago.  Actually it was the Nexus One from Google.  I bought it because I love technology.  And although I’m rarely an early adopter, I desperately needed a new phone.  In a world where business and life merge everywhere, I needed something more than my outdated blackberry.  So I took the plunge and went with the Nexus One. For most of my life I’ve loved technology.  I remember walking to elementary school during the summer with my Dad to play Oregon Trail on an Apple IIgs.  I remember fondly hacking my old x386 Windows ...

We’re getting a lot of new readers these days, so I just wanted to take a moment to explain what this site is all about.  The whole point of this site is captured in its name: Meaning to Work. Most of us spend our lives searching for how to make our lives more meaningful.  We hop from job to job hoping that the next one will make our lives more meaningful.  But the truth is, no job brings meaning to our work. A friend of mine went to work for a non-profit.  He had worked as a marketer at a big marketing ...

I admit it.  I have a weakness.  No matter what I do I can’t seem to shake.  And it’s this: I love to learn. There I said it.  Now I can enroll in Learner’s Anonymous. Why is this a problem?  Because learning isn’t the same as doing.  And it’s in the doing that greatness happens.   Go ahead and pick anything you want.  A thought, a belief, an opinion.  But I can tell you it didn’t matter until someone did something about it.  You might have a great idea for a new TV product, but it won’t matter until you do it.  Do ...

We’ve all heard the advice that practice makes perfect.  But how many of us actually do that? Practice I mean. I’d be willing to bet that very few of us work hard at what we love. In a previous post I mentioned that we are all too often held in the grasp of a no growth mentality.  That it’s not change we fear, but failure. Practice is part of that. Many of us don’t practice because we figure “why bother?”  That type of mentality says, it’s ...

When I talk to various companies I am always intrigued by how they view working at home.  Some organizations readily embrace flexible hours and work from home.  But others treat working from home as evil.  As if the worst thing someone could do is spend time in comfort at their house (or apartment, or coffee shop, or, well you get the idea). The argument against working from home tends to revolve around “building relationships” and “being seen” at the office.  Both of these are good things, and work-from-home proponents tend to gloss over how important they are.  But a lot of ...

We live in world enamored with records, stats and facts.  We love people who know a lot.  But so often we confuse knowledge with skill.  Just because you know a lot doesn’t mean you are skilled.  I was thinking about this after a recent family visit to the dentist.  The long-term family dentist was retiring and they brought in a new, recent graduate from a prestigious school.  He graduated with honors, he was highly decorated and clearly qualified as a subject matter expert. The problem was, he wasn’t skilled.  At least not in bed side manner. He knew all of the ins ...

Be the Post Office.  That’s probably the easiest way to not make money. But if you want a more sophisticated answer it’s have an attitude of “it’s not my job.” I get paid to bring change to organizations.  That’s my job.  And I love it.  There are very few drawbacks to that line of work.  But one of the biggest is the fact that I can’t read a story about something without ...

Why is our first reaction to reach for the lawyers? If you haven’t heard, the Apple / Google wars heat up.  Both of these companies are poised to become huge players in the emerging “super phone” market.  Which means that billions, if not trillions, of dollars are at stake.  This is why Apple’s lobbing of legal grenades is so important.  With filings targeted at Google’s phones (specifically the HTC models), Apple is saying they won’t take iPhone encroachment lightly. This isn’t new. Apple and Microsoft used to be at war.  ...