ADMIN DOJO

Right. I’m not going to go on about The Matrix again. Won’t even mention it today.

I am however, interested in how we download information and skill into our lives. Here’s a thing I’ve noticed:

I’m naturally rubbish at admin. Like, super-terrible. I forget to pay bills, I don’t email people back, and I double-book my self all the time. I’m the kind of person who continually baffles and irritates the organisational beavers.

I’m more of an otter, when it comes down to it. But... I love people. And I hate letting them down! So in teams of lovely friends, where I can’t delegate to the super-switched-on-planning gurus, I have to be extra careful, and much more attentive to the admin.

So I try to be more organised. I texted my pal Chris today, once we’d sorted out some dates for a thing we’re doing.

“... Admin is not my thing. I’m learning though.”

“Cheers bro,” replied he. “You do fine.”

And there you have it. In an effort to focus on a weakness, I’m slowly turning it into a strength. I’m forcing myself to ‘download’ the administration module I need because I’m conscious I wasn’t born with it. Soon, I won’t be able to say I’m rubbish at admin because it won’t be true any more. Right?

It occurs to me that this is exactly like learning anything, from pastoring to rock climbing to helicopter piloting. Musical instruments are my thing: a few of them I found I could just play without thinking about when I was young. People would be amazed but I wondered why most people couldn’t do the same. However, for some of those early instruments, skill and training are still essential. And you won’t hear me teach anything else.

All this reinforces what my Year 6 teacher taught me: there’s no such thing as ‘can’t’... and, as George McFly later reminded me in Back to The Future... if you put your mind to it...

Well anyway. I’m not sure I necessarily enjoy the admin. And that might continue to be a difference between me and those organisational beavers. I would hate to be labouring over a thing that’s someone else’s passion.

That’s another great reason for finding out where everyone is at! What makes you tick? Are you doing it? Would you like to?

Otherwise, you’ll find me downloading the next Kung-Fu-level admin module straight from the code and into The Matrix.

Bother.