Featured Commentary:
How do you eat an Elephant?

by Bill Gray, CCSP Staff Writer
April 15, 2004

Well the answer is easy, really... one bite at a time! ...which brings me to the world of one liners. We are all familiar with the odd comment that brightens up a boring conversation but how do we actually use these in our conversation?

Some are self explanatory... "No woman ever shot her husband while he was doing the dishes" or "Never go around with another mans wife unless you can go a round with her husband" Some define how to deal with situations... "A closed mouth gathers no feet", "Better to be a coward for a minute than dead for the rest of your life"

Some are great advice... "Contraceptives should be used on all conceivable occasions" or "There is nothing like horse riding to make a person feel better off"

And some just tell it like it is "He may drink to forget but he never forgets to drink" and of course "All my life I've been doubtful now I'm not so sure"

The trick to using them in conversation is to use them. Find a few that you like and throw them into the conversation when they fit. By listening to what is being said you will soon develop a second sense and you will be surprised at how easily they slip off the tongue.

It's all about listening for the word. Someone may be talking about crime and you can drop in the line "Yeah, Crime doesn't pay but the hours are optional" Fitness is a great subject and allows for so great lines to be dropped in "Yeah, I stay fit by wrestling with my conscience" and "My wife stays fit by jumping… to conclusions"

Of course, to be able to use them you have to get out and have a conversation which brings us to the next topic….

Balance and life in a forum community ...and I'm not talking about the high wire either.

Balance; A harmonious or satisfying arrangement or proportion of parts or elements
Proportion; Agreeable or harmonious relation of parts within a whole; balance or symmetry

The subject of burnout is something we all hear about, from sick of work through to people throwing themselves into a task only to give it up within a few weeks.

You see it on forums all the time, a new member joins up and posts away to his or her hearts content. They are always online, posting away until one day they don't turn up again. The forums usually haven't changed (once a forum, always a forum) the person just stops. So what happened here?

Well life has a very annoying habit of forcing balance on us when we don't do it for ourselves. Take this example of the forums, usually what happens is we join up and post, see people responding and ideas are exchanged, challenges handled and we feel part of the community. We stay online, leaving other parts of our life in limbo while we follow the next thread. Miss a few hours sleep, log on before breakfast, the list goes on. But what happened to the things we did before the forum? Did they suddenly vanish? Well no, they just failed to impinge as much, on our lives. Sooner or later, the important ones impinge again and we are required to deal with them. So we take leave of our new found community and resolve the challenges in our life

Now is there another way to handle all this?

Yes, it's called Balance. Instead of ignoring everything in your life cycle to remain in this new community, become more scrupulous with your time and tasks. Don't ignore them! Incorporate your new community into your time, by being scrupulous on yourself. It is better to log off while you are still rearing to add a couple more posts than to keep going despite your other obligations.

Communities need participants who become involved and you will become more respected the longer you belong. You have a valuable contribution to make but you will serve yourself and your community far better by balancing out all your life than being involved despite your life.

.........

...and as we started with the subject of elephants...
One reason elephants drink so much water is that nobody ever offers them anything else
cheers, Bill

by Bill Gray aka Blast, ComputerCops Staff Writer

Bill is a Business Coach. Working with Businesses and Organisations to create better environments and to develop and enhance business 'potential', into successful business practices.

Website in the Company of Coaches

Copyright ©Bill Gray All Rights Reserved 2004.