18-Jun-2011 Farmington Build

Started of this day like a shot from a gun! I got there 0830 hrs on the dot, parked my car, and almost literally ran to the build house. I looked at Lou, "Those wall sanded?" "Nope", and then I went straight in and proceeded to sand those walls. Didn't bother with the morning pep talk or introductions, I wanted that job done. Sadly it still took up most of my day.

One of the nice things, for me, with H4H is the low ego environment. Many of you have interacted with me either in a professional setting or in a competitive gaming environment. In any case you'll be familiar with my tendency to lead or, in plainer tongue, my pushiness. Well that pushiness started percolating to the top of my head as I went through my day. I found this one simple truth: The guys in charge are very competent just overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed would imply out of depth or beyond experience or competency which is not the case at all. Overwhelmed by so many things going on at once with people who may or may not be experience or up to speed on current projects. They spend their morning time getting tasks identified, projects initiated, personnel motivated and engaged, as well as any equipment or supply issues. This is just the short list for this blog, the essential point is that there exists more chaos than order at the beginning of every day and it is these people's jobs to change that.

So my pushiness, by any other name, was in fact a small blessing. As I started taking charge of my own activities and influencing those within the same activities I freed up the "bosses" to worry about other things. As they moved onto other areas it left me free to alter processes that effected more than just my own efforts or group. Another benefit of my pushiness is that the gentleman I'd turn to for guidance, "Lou", was now freed up enough to actually put his hand to tools and be productive himself.

I could do a whole lot of Eve Online analogies here but instead I'll just go with one that is most poignant - here with H4H and online gaming. Everyone involved, in either activity, is seeking enjoyment and leadership is rarely enjoyable (barring salary considerations or high ego-defectives). So pitching in to lighten the burden of leaders, usually in small innocuous ways, provides them the opportunity to get some personal level of enjoyment as well.

So this weekend I got to be a bit more "me" in perspective and, in doing so, got to be more impressed with the character of those in charge. One learns to enjoy such rare moments.