Constant Improvement

"Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer" - Rick Pitino

For me its impossible to not try to improve in whatever I'm doing.  Whether it was figuring out the most efficient way to fill orders when I worked at Bar Louie while still flirting with a certain waitress (who is still dating me 3 years later) or optimizing the number of clicks it took to open an account at IB, I find a need to be constantly improving.

A  few months ago I was stuck on a project where we had a list optometry facilities across the nation and we were supposed to google the facilities and fill into a spread sheet the name of the physicians at each office.  I don't think I need to tell you how incredibly boring this is.  While I did find a few gems like Thomas Turtle, the majority of my day was spent googling name after name after name after name.  As a testament of how bored I was, I began to keep stats on my self to see how many records I could get in 15 minutes and compare against my personal best.  I evaluated trends to see if I was more earlier or later in the day then graphed my self over time to see my progress.

While this all seems ridiculous, its the only way that I would keep myself engaged enough to get through it.  I knew that it was unlikely that I was improving, but I needed to see myself making progress on something.  Just seeing the numbers add up of how many I had completed made me feel like I had accomplished something to show for my hours of labor.

I compare this experience to times when I have more work than I feel like can ever get done in one day and the strange thing is that I'm happier being busy.  Being busy can be a blessing because before you look at the clock its already 4pm (although sometimes that just means you're going to be there even later).  Doing good work is gratifying and doing repetitive work is not.

The key question here is how do you motivate yourself to do something boring / repetitive.  I decided to make a game out of it and then keep intricate stats.  It proved just enough of an incentive to keep me focused (ish) and motivated to keep working.  We all need to see progress and need to feel a sense of achievement in order to feel that our work is valuable.

Why its great to be a Michigan Wolverine

"The Team, The Team, The Team" -Bo Schembechler (Legendary Michigan Football coach)

I have a friend who didn't get why everyone was so obsessed with Michigan.  She didn't get why 114K+ fill into a stadium a handful of times every fall to watch a football game.  She didn't get why we would be glued to the couch every Saturday and pausing for all bathroom breaks to ensure we saw every play. Then everything changed...

To date the best Michigan game I have ever watched.  First of all it was the first night game at Michigan Stadium, EVER in over 80 years of its existence.  Under the bright lights the national spot light, Notre Dame dominated Michigan for 3 quarters jumping out to a 24-7 lead.  Then the 4th quarter out of no where, Michigan rattles off 3 unanswered TDs to take the lead with 1:12 remaining in the game. But just as quick as Michigan gained the lead, Notre Dame took it back with only 30 seconds left in the game.  Then Denard took over:

Michigan scored on 16 yard pass from Denard to Roundtree (who fought through a pass interference penalty) to win the game.

My friend was at that game.  She said that she couldn't bear to watch the final play, because she was too nervous at that point.  Fast forward to last week and she was trying to get my netflix to send her the HBO documentary about the Michigan OSU rivalry and asking me where she would watch the game if I'm out of town this weekend.

Oh yea, by the way she has no affiliation to Michigan (the school or the state) she only went because she was curious about seeing a game at Michigan and just happened to go to the best game potentially in history.  

What intrigued me about all of this is a something that she after the game, "Michigan people are really obsessed with Michigan. Walking around Ann Arbor people just kept saying “Go Blue” to each other on the street.  You're in Ann Arbor, you're all blue I don't get it."

I had no good response for her when she asked me this.  Why do we always say Go Blue on the street when you see another Michigan fan, even in Ann Arbor?  The answer: I don't know, we just do.

Maybe it’s just hard to understand if you've never been to a game but there is a sense of comrade-re that develops when you are walking (or sometimes stumbling) to the Big House with a street full of people wearing the same bright Maize shirts.  Maybe its incomprehensible the bond that forms when you are packed like sardines in the student section next to people you don't know at the start of the game (you'll be high fiving or chest bumping by the end rest assured).  Michigan football is an experience that is shared by the entire community.  Everyone playing, watching, even following the game on their phone shares one goal, to experience another Michigan win.

My friend learned that lesson that night. She shared in an experience that made a lasting impression.  An hour after the game, the stadium was still full and had transitioned into a dance party.  Everyone being there and sharing that moment, that's what it’s all about.

As ridiculous as that sounds, that's just how it is and why it’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.