Sprint update 17/7- 31/7 2021

Leadership

During this sprint, I really started to come to grips with the ‘connection’ thing my book is pushing on me. For my leadership course, I’m reading Frans Wilms’ ‘Groeien in Leiderschap’ (Growing in Leadership). The message basically boils down to: stop trying to lead people, or worse, managing them. Instead, just listen to them. Stop pushing your agenda, and listen. 

Which is really hard for me. I tend to have something on my mind. I have a problem. And the solution thought out already, as well. I’m talking to you because I need your buy-in. 

Of course, sometimes people notice that, and they feel manipulated or left out. Or they don’t notice my agenda, but they notice their input is not required for the department to run. Either way, they’re not engaged. 

The book takes it to an extreme, I think. And I’m exaggerating my own behavior a bit. But could I be a bit less focused on my agenda? Yes. Am I standing in the way of other people contributing to the department, or not seeing their contribution because I’m too focused on my todo list? Sometimes, definitely. So that’s something for me to work on. 

PMI certification

Learned about project environments, which I will summarize as ‘parameters within which the project manager has to operate and which they, in some cases, can even leverage to their benefit’. Those parameters can be divided into many separate groups. Many separate groups. 

Running

A poor sprint, in terms of amount of runs, but a good sprint in terms of distance ran. I’m training for the 10km under an hour. During my best run this sprint, I ran a maximum of 7.2 km in 40 minutes. And in what felt like a very maintainable rhythm, a pace I could keep up for 20 minutes more.

So I thought I’d made some good progress. Then I spoke to a friend and found out they run 5 km every morning.

Tuesday: 6.6km, 2/2/10/2/10/2/10/2

Friday: 5km, 2/2/12/2/12/2

Monday: 7.2km, 2/2/12/2/12/2/10/2

Saturday: 6.0km, 2/2/12/2/12/2/8/2 – ran in hilly terrain

Books 

  • Laura Vanderkam, 168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think:  A week has 168 hours. Are you spending your hours the way you want to? Probably not. This book gives you some tips on how to live more intentionally. Which is supposed to make you happier. Thinking about writing a blog post about this, and the other book I’m reading next: Work Won’t Love You Back, which I suspect will be the antithese to 168 Hours
  • Frans Wilms, Groeien in Leiderschap: homework for the Leading Others course I’m participating in. I tend to be very task-oriented, and Wilms makes clear how to change that behavior, and why you should.
  • (Finished) Gerda Blees, Wij Zijn Licht (link in English), about a group of modern hippies that have stopped eating because they think they can subsist on sunlight alone. Then one of them dies. A pretty funny satire based on real events. I really enjoyed this: funny perspectives, and written in a very effective style.  
  • (Finished) Neal Stephenson, Seveneves: Tip from a friend, was on my list for years, finally got around to it. More of a page turner than I expected, and more like The Martian than I care for. Both books read a bit as if the physics teacher is moonlighting as a creative writing professor. Was expecting something a bit more cerebral and poetic. But still good fun. Update: I didn’t read till the end, as the ‘5000 years into the future’ part was pretty damn dull.