Days

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A Sunday blog post

If we live to be 80 years old, we will encounter and participate in about 29,200 rotations of the earth with respect to the sun; sun rising, sun setting, one day to the next. That’s a lot of days. Let’s break down just the days between age 18 and age 75 and assume them to be productive days of choice as adults. That’s still 20,805 days. Still a lot of days, yet a finite number.

What’s the visual look like? If 6 grains per second fall through the neck of a hourglass, the device contains about 21,600 grains. So the number of days in our reality on planet earth are similar to the number of grains of sand in an hour glass, each grain equating to a day, or about 24 hours.

The Old Testament Prophet in the book of Lamentations writes in Chapter 3 verses 22 and 23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

New every morning. New each revolution. Every morning. One day at a time.

We get a new day every day. New mercy, new refreshment, new opportunity, new choices, new love that doesn’t consume us, if we choose it.

Choices, awareness, opportunity.

How then shall we live today?

Telling the “Story”

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When your material strength-to-weight ratio has not been optimized in the aluminum and steel buy-out items and you are spending more than you need to (or more than what’s in budget)…….

When there’s a leak on the carpeting in the CEO’s corner suite in the new corporate headquarters and no one can trace where it’s coming from…

When the wall has allegedly been designed to meet thermal criteria but occupants are uncomfortable with excessive cold or warm air entering their space…

When the vapor barrier has been breached and what seems like a leak in the wall is actually condensation flowing from exposed metal….

When the transitions between wall systems have been left to “by others” and now there are endless call backs about water infiltration in an occupied building….

When that “Value Engineered” item is now a 2′ x 2′ metal panel blowing in the wind after being pulled off the building, and has become a life-safety issue….

These are all introductory statements to real-world experiences we’ve been called in on, or for which we’ve been able to show a better way.

What’s the cost of engaging a consultant or specialty engineer on “that project”?

What’s the cost of “not”?

Choose wisely.

The Podcast

Posted on by johnlwheaton1

Today is my every-other-Wednesday Creating Structure Podcast day. This afternoon I’ll record an hour session on Building Envelope Consulting, backgrounds, contexts, and values. This will be the 11th session and will be the 2nd one with people from my company, Wheaton Sprague Building Envelope. We will post the session next week around this same time. I hope you’ll listen and join our podcast community. We talk about people’s backgrounds, values, education, business, entrepreneurship, architecture, facade, glass, glazing, curtain wall, engineering, products, innovation, life, value, relationships and more. It’s quite organic, but we manage to hit the important points of the topics we want to discuss.

We’ve got 10 other podcast posts on our Buzzsprout platform. You can also listen via most of the other major podcasting platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, IHeart Radio podcast, and more.

Podcasting is a terrific platform and I am blessed to have a studio, a production engineer-content manager, and great guests. You are invited to subscribe. Make it a great day out there!

https://creatingstructure.buzzsprout.com/

http://www.wheatonsprague.com

Disruption and Change

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Love Disrupts Hate

Light disrupts darkness
Truth disrupts lies
Peace disrupts violence
Unity disrupts separation
Inclusion disrupts exclusion
Integration disrupts Segregation
Justice disrupts injustice
Resurrection disrupts death

These disruptions are not met with ease and appreciation by the systems and people that create them (systems and attitudes governed by power, fear, division, etc.)

Change doesn’t happen by fighting the symptoms of the problem in the same manner as they are manifested. Change happens by disrupting it in the opposite manner.

A fire isn’t stopped by adding fuel. Arguments stop not when the last person has their say or outlasts the other, but when one of the persons chooses to seek understanding, listen, or create a boundary. If we want to change something and bring about a different consequence, we’ve got to do the opposite of “the thing.” Shouting loudly when others are shouting only works when we have the loudest voice. Try whispering instead.

Change happens first on the individual level. We can model bringing positive change in our homes, families, businesses, workplaces, and broader circle of relationships. We don’t have to wait for others to do it. We own our responses and attitudes. When this is connected together in common cause with others, it can bring significant change in communities. Darkness can’t stand against light. Light drives out darkness. The brighter the light, The less the darkness. The more lights strung together, the bigger the impact.


Jesus, the God-Human, who bodily resurrected from the grave embodies all those qualities of change and more. I’m not talking about the versions of Jesus that are manipulated in the wrong way for personal gain. I’m talking about the real, authentic, middle eastern, Jewish carpenter, Jesus, the Son of God who is the way, truth and life. Light in the darkness. Healing in pain. Resurrection instead of death. Love instead of hate. Disruptive to a world set in it’s ways. A still soft voice. May those of us who are Christians, show it by our love.

Authenticity

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“Authenticity is the new apologetic.” I heard this quote from James Thomas Talbot, one of the brothers and pastors at our church, Citizen’s Akron. But this isn’t about church. This is about the quote; about the statement; about the truth portrayed in it. I’ve been seeing this and stewing on it for some time. I’m watching the reality of it unfold more and more.

“Apologetic” is about one’s ability to defend, justify, appropriately argue a belief, belief system, theory or religious doctrine; systematic argumentation and discourse.

But people are tired of words. I’m tired of words (as I type words). Actions and realities are the best defense. People and groups can sniff out a lie quickly these days. So many words, so little fruit. So many words, so many incongruencies.

Authenticity, the visible reality of the manifestations and consequences around our life, this is the new apologetic. Our life, the fruit of the life, what we do, how we act, these are the defenses. “Show me don’t tell me.” It’s not easy to argue against a life well lived, or against specific results surrounding our life. It isn’t about what we say, it’s about what we do.

Our actions, which flow from our identity, should support our words which support our thoughts. What’s visible on the outside of our life is a result of our choices, behaviors, thoughts. Rather than speaking and expecting people to believe us, we should be doing.

We may as well choose authenticity. We aren’t fooling anyone forever if we are saying one thing and doing another. The person that is typically most deceived in that way is ourselves, but that’s another topic for another day.

Authenticity is the new apologetic. In business, in spirituality, in life, in relationships. Thanks James.

The Wilderness

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Ah. The wilderness. What is it about the wilderness?

“And the child (John the Baptist) grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.” Luke 1:80.

John the Baptist came out of the wilderness before many came to hear his message; before he created a real stir. It says that he became strong in spirit in the wilderness. The wilderness has a way of making us or breaking us. It could be a physical wilderness, literally in the wild, alone, humbled by the magnitude of nature and the need to survive. But there’s many more wildernesses. The wilderness of isolation, pain, regret, doubt, struggle, COVID19, being misunderstood, and more. We can live in a wilderness of a particular day, negative family news, a new diagnosis, endless cloud cover, and more.

Jesus spent time in the wilderness according to the accounts from the gospel writers. He was there 40 days, alone, fasting, and hungry. He knows the pain of wilderness, and also the victory of conquering the loneliness and preparation.

We can learn in the wilderness. We can grow in the wilderness. Something as simple as a quiet walk alone, reflecting, can be cleansing, meaningful, allowing the important stuff in our mind to surface to the top. The more we come to the end of ourselves, the more the clarity.

There are forced, chosen wildernesses, that we create in an effort to grow, and then there are those which are brought upon us through circumstance or providence. But it feels uncomfortable until we get familiar with it.

Often in the wilderness it feels as if there’s no fruit. The wilderness of preparation can feel endless unless we have some idea of what’s on the horizon. The horizon requires vision in order to stay on the path through the wilderness.

Training, education, new ventures, relationships, new places, transitions, can be part of a wilderness experience.

The wilderness; the unknown, the wandering, the refinement, the experience, the message, the growth, if we allow our mindset to help shape the experience instead of simply letting it shape us.

What’s your wilderness right now?

1994 and 2020- A Parallel

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In 1994 I started the business of www.wheatonsprague.com working out of my home in a 12′ x 13′ bedroom that had been temporarily converted into an office. There were two of us in the office (my business partner and I.) I had a computer, a land line phone, an inkjet printer and some software. No email. No internet. We didn’t have an office until after 5 or 6 weeks, at which time we were able to move. The home office wasn’t a “remote office. “It was just an office. There was no such thing as a “remote work” label back then.

In April and May of 2020, and now in December, I find myself working once again full time from a home office. This one is a basement office of about 8′ x 10′. It’s all mine. I don’t have to share it, and it’s too small to do so anyway. I have a computer, software (mostly cloud based), a copier that I don’t use (everything is electronically done) and a phone. The phone happens to be a mobile phone and is more powerful than the computer from 1994. I could work in our business’s office but it’s closed temporarily due to COVID19. Everyone in the company is working from their home office.

Isn’t it a bit ironic? I mean, I started in 1994 with a computer, a phone and a home office. Now in 2020 I am working in the same context. Of course there’s more connectivity, and the internet gives almost unlimited options in the ability to do work and communicate with staff.

Microchips, a screen, a phone, and a home office. Sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same.

What’s your experience?

Remote work: Time Give and Take

Posted on by johnlwheaton1

Our offices, our entire business, are presently working 100% remote (not working in physical Wheaton Sprague office locations) due to COVID19 considerations. Even when we returned to office from Mid-June through November 26th, we were probably 50% remote on any given day. Here’s some reflections on how I view my time thus far, associated with remote work.

I save 30-40 minutes per day not driving back and forth to work

I need an extra 30 minutes per day with slower technology, not having triple monitors, and less access to my best “gear” from home; plus a dozen other little I.T. issues.

I save 15 minutes per day not making my lunch (yes I make my lunch)

I need an extra 15 to 30 minutes per day in extra work of engaging with staff via remote means.

I save days and days not traveling to see clients across the country

I need days to connect remotely with clients and drive engagement, do virtual meetings, track people down. I lose the energy and connectivity that being with people face to face brings.

What’s the net? Is it a gain, or a loss? Is it equivalent in the time equation? I’d say it’s almost equal. We gain and we lose. There’s the PERCEPTION of having “way more time.” It’s all contextual. I like the convenience that some of it brings. I dislike the lack of community, in a place, building energy and momentum. I like not having to drive as much, but I miss the transition driving to and from another space; the demarcation. I like being in my own space, but I miss being able to go interact with people (in three dimensions not two.)

I know this; we were made to need each other; to work together; to be in community. We have a form of it now, but it’s not quite the same.

It’s not better or worse to be 100% remote. It’s just different.

Friday the 13th

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Friday the 13th, November, 2020, was one of the best days of the year at our company. It was an increasingly positive end to one of the best weeks of the year as well. We had six specific outcomes that manifested themselves in one day after many months of ongoing work, engagement and investment (time, energy, etc.) Those six outcomes included three new hires, one client-initiated interaction around additional monies due to extended project costs, and two contract extensions.

I don’t ever think about Friday the 13th and the superstition around that date. In fact, I didn’t even remember it was “Friday the 13th” when I went to the office. It just was a Friday in November. I brought the best Friday version of myself to that particular day, along with the best Friday version of our people. I engaged in the work, responded to clients, and took care of the business of the day.

Positive, thoughtful, caring, innovative, connected, collaborative, actions and stewardship over an extended period of time, day after day, week after week, month after month, eventually produce in-kind; in like manner. When we are on a really good path as well, assessing what’s working by monitoring results and running with it further, these actions can produce multiplied, positively-leveraged outcomes.

Superstition about a numbered day, or a specific number, like “13” is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not showing up due to a doubt or worry is just a self-created setback. It helps to bring about the very outcome one may fear.

Keep standing, keep showing up. Trust in the provision of God as truth is acted upon and deployed in actionable behavior and energy.

Communication- Alignment

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We should have all heard it by now. Communication is the number one predictor of project success, client retention, risk minimization, sales capture rate, and more. It is the differentiator in so many ways.

One tangible activity and expression of communication is “alignment” and it is a big-impact activity. Anyone can seek to align with clients and to understand their reality, the reality of the work, and to seek mutuality.

Aligning with clients is about working to share the same realities. It’s improves by working in a concurrent manner. Do things like scheduling project kickoff meetings, creating “real-time” dialogue through appropriate platforms like phone, virtual meetings, email, text, frequent check-in’s, and more.

We often work in a “box” and assume everyone knows what each other is doing. It doesn’t work that way. Life and work are too dynamic. Be the initiator. Passivity leads to more opportunity for failure.

Adapt a mentality of fluid conversation, relationship building, and listening. Share work products. Begin with the end in mind. “Work backwards” from the client’s goal definition in order to build a project plan, assess the value proposition, find the unique selling propositions, to build a schedule, and more.

I find alignment to be one of the single biggest predictors of success with clients. It’s just one manifestation of communication.

How’s your alignment today?