Meet om te Weet!

Meet om te weet is ’n spreekwoord wat baie maklik kwistig gebruik kan word.

Só ‘n gemeet kan baie keer tot ontdekkings lei waarvan ’n mens dalk liewer nie wíl weet nie.  Soos om op die skaal te klim. In die meeste gevalle is dit baie geriefliker om nie te weet hoeveel jy weeg nie!

Miskien is dit hier aan die einde van die eerste derde van die jaar tog nodig om ten minste iets te meet.

Kom ons vra ons af of dít wat ons gedoen het besonders was of net weer plain doodgewoon?

Om jou hiermee te help, kan jy jou lewe/skool/besigheid aan die volgende verhaaltjie uit Seth Godin se boek The Big Moo meet:  

Reggie fixes bikes in Mt. Kisco, New York. For every bike he fixes he does his best. Then he spends five extra minutes doing something special.

During that first hour, Reggie is a perfectly fine bike mechanic. He pays attention to detail and follows established protocol. He is careful and focused and diligent. Like one thousand other very good bike mechanics, he gets the job done and earns his pay.

In the last five minutes, though, Reggie transforms himself from a workman into an artist. In those few extra minutes, he becomes remarkable.

Sometimes, all he does is carefully clean the chain. Other times, he’ll take the bike out to the potholed parking lot and be sure the gears are adjusted properly. And sometimes, especially if the bike is for a cute kid, he’ll attach a horn or some tassels – anything worth noticing.

The astonishing thing isn’t how unusual Reggie is. The astonishing thing is how easy it is what Reggie does, and how many people don’t do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing accounts payable or product design.  Those last five minutes make it easy for your customers to find the difference between you and everyone else.

It takes 99 percent of the time you spend just to be average. The remarkable stuff can happen in a flash.

Beslis iets om aan te kou.

Foto: m_bartosch

Social Media

Ek gaan nie oor Graeme Smith of oor die Proteas praat nie!

Dié pynlike gebeurtenis is verby.  Afgehandel, kapoet, water onder die brug, maar vir almal wat dink die Kaap is weer Hollands, wil ek net sê: dié littekens gaan nog lank wys!

Ná ons verstikking in die kiwivrug het ek skielik baie tyd tot my beskikking en het ek ‘n nuwe uitdaging in my lewe gekort. 

Iets soos Facebook.

I can hear teacups rattling and people choking on their sandwiches. Can’t you find something more edifying? Something safe?  More your age?  Never thought you would go that way!

I thought so too.  But now that I have taken the brave step and finding that I am still alive, I am beginning to like it.  Even thinking about starting to twit, or is it tweet?

But why? I hear you ask.  I have a few close friends that also shake their heads in dismay and promise me that they will rather die than be on Facebook. Why so extreme? I will rather Facebook and be alive.  Sounds like a better choice to me!

Let me tell you why and what I have discovered over the last weeks:

·        First, it’s not that difficult. If you’re able to read and know how to access the internet, you can do it.  Tip: let the youngsters help you.  They love to share their superior knowledge.

·        Facebook is not from the devil. Same with MXit and the other social sites.  In a lot of these cases the unknown lends itself to wrongful and evil interpretations.  But I won’t disagree that the devil may also know about these tools.

·        Facebook helps me to communicate with my friends and family. It facilitates the sharing of knowledge … or so they say!

·        It’s the biggest photo album in the world.  You don’t have to wait for your children to come back from holiday to see their photographs.  You can view it the moment they share it on Facebook.

·        News is instant.  Much like the old plaastelefoon in days gone by.  It feels if you are eavesdropping on your friends.  The only difference; it’s legal!

·        But be warned!  Facebook can also be dangerous.

·        Say only on Facebook what you would be prepared to say in public.  The same with photographs.  Only post pictures that you would be proud to see printed on the back page of a national newspaper.

·        Watch out whom you allow as your friends. Everybody is not your friend.  You don’t have to accept their invitation to become friends.  Especially people who haven’t been friends with you over the last fifty years.  Suddenly they want to be your friend.  Nonsense! Just remember that you already have enough friends as it is.

·        I have discovered that there is a difference between a personal profile and a page for a business.  A lot of people don’t know this fact and open a personal page for their business. Do a bit of research before you dive into the ocean of social media …

Dat daar altyd doemprofete oor enige nuwe tendens/uitvindsel sal wees, is ‘n feit soos ‘n koei.  Maar ek het my les jare gelede met die sage van die vrotmelkkultuur geleer!  Toe ek na maande se wik en weeg besluit om tot dié geledere toe te tree, toe val die bedryf se boom uit …

Nie weer nie.  Ek onderskryf nou Jack MacAllister se motto if you don’t make dust, you eat dust.

Afskop

Hierdie is die begin van my langbeplande blog!

Hou hierdie spasie dop vir my mening, opmerking en waarneming van leierskap, onderwys, inspirasie en sommer net die lewe ook!

Die titel, Piesangs en Jellietots, sal ek later verduidelik.

Afrikaans of Engels? 

'n Bietjie van beide.  Hierdie blog is vir Suid-Afrikaners bedoel wat beide die twee tale magtig is.

Genoeg vir eers.