That’s what I told the Toggle team last Thursday at our weekly staff meeting.  You should have seen the blank stares and raised eyebrows looking back at me.  I know most of the team thinks I’ve already gone off the deep end, but this statement still managed to cause a stir.  Fortunately for them I followed up “Stop Cooperating!” with:

Start Collaborating!

I distinctly remember a half cocked expression smacked across Jered’s face and words uttering from his mouth saying “What’s the difference? They’re the same!”.  Jered was completely justified in his reaction, as any thesaurus will tell you cooperate and collaborate are synonyms of each other.  Sure their definitions in a dictionary are almost identical and both roughly mean “to work with others”.  But this is one of those times when the “real” world definition of certain words has come to mean something quite different.  Not so much for the word “collaborate”, but “cooperate” definitely has a different “real” world meaning when applied to most structured organizations where authority is exercised.  Toggle is no different, and I as its self-appointed leader have been asking people to cooperate with me for the last 6 years.  Think about it for a second…what does cooperate really mean.  How about…”do what I say or you’re fired!”…or…”I told you to cooperate with me!”…etc. 

We are taught how to cooperate when we are very young and I think it’s likely the dictionary’s definition is not consulted in this time honored educational right of passage.  It starts as children with our parents telling us to cooperate with them.  Not optionally I might add.  We are then told to cooperate throughout school by our teachers and parents again.  And finally into the business world as most organizations are structured top down with “cooperation” in mind.

So let’s ask ourselves the question, “What would happen if we stopped ‘cooperating’ and started ‘collaborating’ instead?”.  What does that mean?  What would happen to authoritative power?  Would anarchy ensue?  Will people wander aimlessly through the halls of institutions everywhere?  Well, in our organization for the last 3 business days I am happy to report that Chaos Theory hasn’t taken a hold of Toggle…yet.  We’ll have to see what happens in the coming weeks, but so far the idea of collaborating with one another has created a very positive change in our company.  It has generated a level of leadership, creativity and productivity seconded only to the day before a long weekend.  Which is this Friday I might add.  Who knows what will happen!

I’ll leave you with that for now and if I don’t have a mutiny on my hands in the next few days, maybe someone on the team will collaborate with me and post a blog on what it means to “Start Collaborating”.

Being in an IT related job generally tends to be rather stressful.  People tend to think that because us IT people don’t have to do any physically demanding work and just sit at a desk, that the work must not be that hard.  The truth is that nothing could be further from the truth!  Being a developer is very stressful and the further you move up the chain (project management, client management, etc), the more stress compounds.  Obviously, as one who has survived mountains of stress with some level of sanity, I have learned tactics to keep my stress levels at a minimum.  Since I have seen one too many developer and IT person crack terribly under the stress of their job, I figured I would share some of the things that have helped me in the past to tolerate obscene amounts of stress.

1) Clean Up

There is something strangely satisfying about cleaning.  You can clean your house, your car, your work station; whatever needs to be tidied around you.  Not only will you feel immense satisfaction at having solved a problem, you will also take pride in whatever it is you have just spic and spanned.  Working and living in a clean environment that you can be proud of makes you feel in less of a slump and therefore less stressed.

2) Exercise

I cannot emphasize this enough.  If you expect to have a sound mind, you will need a sound body.  Exercise is an excellent outlet for stress relief and contains many, many benefits.  Besides allowing you to clear your mind and escape the stress for a while, exercise allows you to focus and refine your body so that you feel better about yourself.  You will also sleep like a baby if you are getting enough exercise as your body will be tired and relaxed.

3) Vacation

Yes, you should take a vacation once and a while.  I have never seen anyone that could work continuously forever without eventually burning out without taking a break.  I have seen some incredibly strong people go for incredibly long times but in the end everyone needs a break.  I recommend taking at least two weeks a year and it is probably best to not do them together but to stagger them.  I also recommend taking the odd day off.  If you are hyper stressed and you keep working, you will not do very good work.  However, if you take a day off you will likely feel refreshed and motivated and come back and do more work than you ever would have while you were stressed.  Don’t be afraid to take a break.

4) Cut out Caffeine / Alcohol

These two substances can cause lots of issues for their own reasons.  Caffeine will make you wired and keep you going but will ultimately cause you to be jittery, paranoid, nervous and stressed.  Now granted, a little caffeine won’t hurt and is actually good for you, but pounding back a pot to yourself will only irritate you in the long run.  I recommend a good cup of green tea.

Alcohol is on a whole level in itself.  The deadly thing about alcohol is that it self sustains itself.  The deadly circle is to come home and have a drink because you had a hard day.  This can quickly become a cycle where you get through the day just to see that glass of booze at the end of the day.  It is strange in that booze seems like a solution but in actuality your days will begin to get hard simply because of the booze the night before thus sustaining the vicious cycle.  A drink every so often is not bad for you but try to keep it to a minimum when possible and do not use it for stress relief on a regular basis.

5) Get things done

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  The truth of the matter is, when we have a seemingly impossible stack of work to finish, it is easy to get overwhelmed and fuss and fret and get nothing done.  The best thing to do in a situation like this is to simply pick a project, ignore everything else, and get it done!  You will find that as you finish things, you will feel better and better and become more motivated to get things done.  In a worst case scenario, pick the smallest and / or easiest projects and at least get them done.  That way you can still be productive without sitting there worrying about the massive stack of work.

6) Put things in perspective

Note to self.  The world isn’t going to end if a project does not complete on time.  This is a really tough one to get around for people with a high work ethic.  If you have done your best and things have happened that are outside of your area of control, don’t be so hard on yourself.  The world will not end!  Sure, people might get upset (as people tend to do), but if you explain how hard you are working, apologize for the inconvenience and do everything in your power to rectify the situation, most people will be pretty reasonable.  And, if they are not, you have to accept that some things are beyond your control and you should feel proud of yourself for trying as hard as you possibly can.  Remember, you need to take care of yourself so that you can take care of your clients.

It’ been a long time coming.  I finally joined the ranks of ultimate dork-dom and bought myself a pocket protector…oops, I mean Bluetooth headset.  Yes, I have now completely integrated myself into the digital world of communications by attaching technology to my body.  It’s already bad enough that I’m walking around with my BlackBerry hanging off my hip at all times.  Now I feel like I just had an implant inserted into my brain…which will likely be the next step after my new Bluetooth headset.

Why Ryan would ever do such a thing?  Like pocket protectors, it definitely isn’t to make a fashion statement.  It comes from my need for function and the desire to decrease the odds of getting brain cancer from excessive cell phone usage.  There is much debate over cell phones causing harm to our bodies.   Even if it is false and they are totally safe, why take the risk.  I can’t get rid of my phone and want to live a long and healthy life; so if I can take some preventative measures, why not?

The only problem I’ve had so far with the new Bluetooth headset is the overwhelming insecurity I feel wearing it in public.  I’m told by fellow super dork Lee that my insecurities will pass once I embrace the true dork that lies within all of us!

Even if my cell phone won’t kill me, the car accident I may one day have while driving with my knees, with a phone in one hand and a drink in the other will probably get the job done much quicker!

I know Lee is sooo impressed with his new iPhone, but I’m still diggin’ Blackberry. I’m not entirely sure how Lee managed to go from a brand new Blackberry Curve to an iPhone in under 2 months…but I’m not complaining. I snatched his “old” Blackberry Curve first thing this morning before anyone else could upgrade from their Blackberry 8700!

I know Lee is writing cutting edge iPhone apps because iPhones are “cool”, however I don’t think he relized what he just gave up. This Curve is seriously loaded with everything a person needs in a cell phone packed with a media player, camera, email, internet, messaging, video, Google maps, GPS, Facebook and much much more. I’m even writing this blog entry from it right now. It’s absolutely the best communication device I have ever had, bar-none!

Lee can keep his trendy iPhone. Blackberry is still the best business communication device in my opinion!

It’s T-minus 36 hours and counting till noon Saturday when I’ll be tormented by a very perplexing question.  Do I work or do I play?  Why so perplexing you ask.  Well it’s not too often that my wife and kids leave the city without me for an entire week.  Jae is off to be a counselor at a summer camp, and the kids are going with their Nana and Buba camping at the lake.  

So here I am stuck with a question I usually have no problem answering.  Work is fun and I give it my all each and everyday as a business owner and passionate industry professional.  Play is not something I ever worry about, it just happens for me.   I have a life full of tons of fun with my wife, goofing around with the kids or hanging out with friends and family.  My days are usually so jam packed with family and work that the decision is always made for me.  Was bachelorhood so difficult?  I honestly can’t remember.

Part of me wants to work 24 hours a day stopping only for fluid breaks while pulling repeated all nighters like I did in years past.  The other part is saying beer, pizza, Wii, tee-times, action movies, more pizza and way more beer!!  9 years ago I wouldn’t have hesitated, jumping head long into anything that began and ended with beer…but here I am. 

Maybe I’ll compromise.  I’ll work 16 hours and play for 8, work 16, … hmmm…umm…oh man…I’m not going to make it past the first round of beer.  I’m so confused.  Maybe I’ll just stick to longer than average work days and going to bed early.

Anyone want to join Souk and I at our Sunday morning tee-time?

I did it.  I never thought I would or could, but I did.  Cancelled my HD satellite TV subscription 2 days ago.

You did what?!?   That’s right!  Its gone baby gone.  I guess I’ll have a lot more time to work…um…work…work…crap.  I wonder if I can cancel my cancellation when the “Loyalty Care Team” tracks me down and likely offers me even more than 20% off my subscription if I stay.

As you can tell I’m going through withdrawal.  I’ve been considering cancelling TV for some time now, as I feel the time I spend flipping channels to “come down” at night after a good days work, could be put to much better use.  I’m looking to be more productive, find more balance and explore more creative endeavors instead of plugging in to the “Read Only” world of TV.

I know my wife and kids already appreciate it and I’m confident that I’ll find more rest and rejuvenation with activities that give back.  In the end, I think Toggle will find I’m more productive and you will definitely see a lot more blog entries posted by yours truly!

Now if I could only figure out how to stop drinking coffee?