Progress Report 2: running

When I was in kindergarten we took a bus home from school that dropped us off at the bottom of a large hill. I had lots of energy so often I liked to run home. I didn't run the hill all at once though. Instead I picked chunks. I would look at a car in the distance and say “I'm going to run until I get past that car.” And I'd do it. Then I'd pick the next object. It felt neat to get to each object. It felt like I had accomplished something. This week I expressed to Gina some of my doubts about the direction that Denis and I are taking and whether we would succeed in the end. She counseled me to stop worrying so much about things far far away and make very concrete goals and accomplish them. Smart lady. The thing is that if we take this route the project will be rewarding no matter what. But I think that it will succeed. Right now there are not very many routes to failure. We can't go bankrupt because we have no expenses. Pretty much the only way we can fail is by quitting. And that comes from either discouragement, distraction, or boredom. And those come from either forgetting to look at the big picture or forgetting to go for and then appreciate the small successes along the way. This blog is meant to help me avoid both of those pitfalls.

Now I still take the bus for school. (I guess some of us grow up slowly!) I take the bus to campus and then walk across campus and finally across a major street called Lomas to get to the UNM physics building. The stop light for Lomas is lopsided. It is green for a long long time for the traffic (mostly cars) that goes east and west. And then it is green for a short time for the traffic (a lot of pedestrians as well as some buses and cars) that goes north and south. So there is a short window of opportunity and a bona fide penalty if you miss it. Anyway, when I learned this I began to run when I saw the light turn green even if I was a fair ways from the intersection. I would sometimes make it across in the nick of time. This week I had stayed a little too long on the south side of campus helping students solve physics problems and I was going to be late for the information physics group meeting. A new thought occurred to me: why not jog while the light was red? Then when it turned green I would be there ready. So I did. I think that is a pretty significant change in thinking. In the beginning I didn't recognize that a green light was an opportunity. So I didn't really notice it. Later I recognized it and got up the energy to go for it. Finally, just recently I began anticipating the opportunity in advance and getting myself into the perfect position to take advantage of it. Anyway, what I've learned is that if you want something there may be an opportunity that will come up. Your job is to move now while it isn't there so that when it does come you are ready.

I don't know that this business was the best choice of the 100 and some odd. But in a way it doesn't matter. This business is a way to begin running, a way to move forward so that as the future arrives we are prepared. Have a good week. Doug