Worse than Quiet

I have found something worse than quiet...Waiting. Sometimes quiet is inherent in waiting, such as not speaking until it's your turn, or being in line for the catalog searching computer at the library. (I did NOT say card catalog.) Being a Taurus, I often act like the proverbial bull in a china shop, pushing forward on what I want or what I see is the right thing to do, forcing others into a position to actively stop me if they have a better idea or see I am going in the wrong direction.

I *know* it's better to go slow at times and gather more input, and I am actually pretty good at it, but some times, dammit make a decision!

So if you could imaging my perfect hell, it would be in a continuous loop of waiting. No progress, no decisions, nothing new. Like the meeting that never ends and is just like all the other meetings we've had. You know the ones, where people forget everything that was mentioned at the last one. Sure, I forget stuff, but seriously? Every meeting? And if people don't want to get things done, can't they just get out of the way of those of us who do?

I know I'm not perfect, nor do I have all the best ideas. But trying something and failing in a week is infinitely better than discussing it for 6 months to a year and never doing anything. (Except in certain obvious cases, like heart surgery.) Fail fast and often, then learn from it and try again to make it better. The entire world needs to go that way, and its already started. Look at The Toyota Way (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toyota_Way) also known as Lean Management. Continuous incremental improvement. Try something that makes sense, measure the before and after to see if you made a difference, and if not, try something else. Even better, let the people who know the work best try something new. Novel, eh?

Isn't the definition of insanity always doing what you've always done, yet expecting different results? Well, it's the same in the work world, and honestly everywhere else. So why aren't we all doing that? At work, try, just try, something different. See what happens. Play the worst case scenario in your head. Say, it totally blows up. You're what, embarrassed? Is that really life-threatening? Or at home, instead of always having the same argument, try something new. Start a point system to award people for chores. Play a game called "Finish My Sentence" in an argument to bring in humor (or anger, depending on the couple and their definition of 'new').

Just try it. What can it really hurt? And in the grand scheme of things, isn't the most minute chance that you might make things better worth a little risk?

And remember, even if you fail gloriously, at least you have great fodder for your next blog post...