It is not exactly "winter wonderland" weather in Finland at the moment, with the temperature hovering above freezing. The last few weeks of lots of clean snow, has been replaced by slush and slick ice, making walking unpleasant ad dangerous. Then there is the wind. And at the end of the week, there will be industrial actions that will disrupt most services.
There are strikes in France too, so most of the French team had to cancel.
Perfect time to showcase Finland's efficiency and functionality.
Two minutes after the bus was meant to arrive, and people at the bus stop, including myself, it was cancelled.
I will be late.
That is annoying. I was all prepared and good to go. I would have arrived a bit early, dropped my bag at the hotel reception, and headed to the venue for a rehearsal. Now, I have to lug my bag with me, then back to the hotel after, but still too early to check in. Unnecessary hassle.
My wife was away last night in Helsinki for the Presidential election vote count. Her candidate of choice won the first round, and is likely a strong favorite for the second, which would make him the President for the next six years.
Because of this, I was getting Smallsteps ready in the morning, which can often be a rush. However, I got up a couple minutes before her alarm, read a few updates on things, then when she came into the bedroom, we spent 5 minutes snuggling. While she didn't exactly want to get out of bed and get ready for school, she didn't protest too much, got dressed quickly, and ate breakfast while we talked about dreams.
But most importantly, we discussed being organized and prepared so we don't have to "chicken panic" in the mornings.
That is her term for running around like a headless chicken.
When we have these discussions, I often wonder if they will affect her later life by onboarding them. Will it come to mind at times so she is slightly more organized than I was ad often still am. Will Life be a little easier, so she can focus on more important things.
Convenience can save us time, but it doesn't mean we use the time saved well. But, if we are saying time through being more organized in preparation for what we need or want to do, it has a compound effect on us, because it impacts something already chosen. Conversely, when we are unprepared and have to chicken panic, it puts stress on what we want to pay attention to, taking away from the quality of experience.
So many times the start of an event has been ruined by being unprepared, leaving things to the last minute, having to rush out the door. Often, the situation is made worse because in that panic, some people lose focus on what needs to be done, often adding unnecessary tasks that hae no bearing on what the real objective should be.
More stress.
I think I am getting better at managing these things, but mostly I hope Smallsteps will learn from her parents, and do the opposite, saving herself the drama and at least some instances of chicken panic. Chicken panicking never does anyone any good, as it is a state of poor decision making, and can influence others to panic more also, costing resources that are better allocated elsewhere.
And speaking of allocating resources...
It is time to get into facilitation mode, clean up slides I might use, contact all stakeholders and ensure they are on point with their roles, and run through my run of show to do the best I can for my parts to run smoothly. Since I am checking it through early, I have uncovered a couple things that needed attending to, and would have otherwise slipped through the cracks. I am so used to leaving things to the last minute and chicken panicking my way through on a wing and a prayer, that I feel that I must be missing something in my preparations.
But for now, it is time to join colleagues for the welcome reception for the week ahead.
Right after I call Smallsteps and ask about her day.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
