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The Box Enforcer looked confident as it stepped into the alley behind the unassuming office building. Quietly, it slipped unnoticed through the lobby and into the myriad maze of identical cubicles. Waiting for its moment of opportunity, it lurked and listened to the surrounding clicking of keyboards and ringing phones. Suddenly, it perked up in excitement. A manager was in a heated dispute with one of the workers:

“So you sent a direct response to the customer without first getting approval?” the manager was angrily asking.

The Box Enforcer moved closer in anticipation.

“The customer had a very simple question and I already knew the answer,” the worker replied. “It would have been very time consuming for everyone to fill out all of the request forms for something so small. The customer is happy not to have spent the additional two hours for a two minute question. Maybe we don’t need the forms for some of our requests.”

The manager looked thoughtful, momentarily considering the worker’s response. Concerned that the manager might be slipping, the Box Enforcer moved in and took over.

“That’s not part of our process.” the Box Enforcer spoke flatly in the guise of the manager. “You were told that those forms needed to be filled out every time you spoke with a customer. No exceptions! That’s the rule.”

The worker abruptly screamed as a heavy box slammed down from the ceiling and trapped the worker inescapably inside.

Carefully picking up the shaking box, the Box Enforcer smiled and moved away to its next destination, satisfied that it had saved yet another company from the evils of innovation that day.

Today I spent a good part of the afternoon in Everquest 2 on the Isle of Mara taking multiple screenshots of the scenery to use as a header for the character portfolio page I’m creating for this website. I wanted to capture the sky at just the right time, so I had to wait through at least one cycle of the night and part of the day, and took screenshots throughout those cycles.

I was reminded of the time I watched the extras on the DVD of Hero, one of my favorite movies. The director, Zhang Yimou, wanted to create a lasting impressions with audiences even if they forget everything that happened in the actual story. He created an emotional blend of color, sound, and mood, and wanted this blending to be perfect.

One example is in a blue water scene that took place in an obscure part of China. Zhang would only agree to shoot when the water was perfectly still, and it was only still within a window of two hours each day, between 10am and noon. Crews had to start setting up in preparation before 5am. It took 20 days to film this scene.

Another example is even more astounding. Zhang had a camera crew stationed at an oak field in Mongolia so that they could monitor the leaves changing color. When the leaves turned a precise shade of yellow, he raced everyone to that location so that they could gather and sort through all of the leaves. The leaves were blown past the cameras in front of the actors, and then they were gathered up once again, resorted, and individually cleaned so that they could be used in the next pass. Since the leaves only kept for three days, they had a very mininal timeframe to complete this scene.

Zhang thought that even if the audience forgot the story, they would remember two ladies in red in a sea of golden leaves.

While I wasn’t in the process of making an epic film like Hero, I could have easily just snapped a couple of screenshots and just used what I had at the time I entered the game, just like Zhang could have used whatever was in the oak forest at the time. The leaves were probably still beautiful just like Mara in Everquest 2 is still charming at any time of day.

But that perfectly still water and the perfectly golden leaves created a much more profound effect than just whatever was just good enough that day. It made the difference between what was just good and what was spectacular.

Tonight, one of my Everquest 2 characters achieved 450 adorning, the maximum skill level currently possible for the adorning tradeskill. I also spent only about 15 minutes in the game tonight, but not because I somehow managed to gain all 450 points in one night. Adorning is actually a very time consuming skill to raise, particularly dreadful before adorning writs were available and players had to gather their own materials. Even with the writs, it is time consuming since a character can only get one writ per day and each writ only allows 11 attempts. It is also highly unlikely to get a skill point for all 11 attempts.

This character built adorning entirely by writs at maybe about seven or eight points a day at most, and I didn’t play the game every day, so one could imagine how many weeks it took me to get up to 450. It seemed like an almost insurmountable task when starting out at nearly zero points, but I just did a little bit on most days that I decided to play, even if only for 5, 15, or 20 minutes, and tonight…this character is finally at maximum skill level in adorning!

Big deal, it’s just a game, right? Well yes and no. Yes, Everquest 2 is a game, and adorning isn’t all that important outside of the game, but there’s a lesson here that can apply anywhere.

Think of some of the larger, unfinished projects in your home, school, or work. Sometimes these projects can seem insurmountable if you try to take them on all at once. They’re just too large, too impossible, too overwhelming!

But what if you made just a tiny bit of progress on one of these projects each day? You got rid of one piece of worn clothing in your overstuffed closet, filed or shredded just one sheet of the papers piled up on your desk, or wrote one small paragraph of your term paper? It may not seem like much at first. For a few days, it may even seem like you’ve accomplished nothing. The closet still looks messy. The desk is still overflowing with papers. You’re nowhere near finishing the term paper.

Impossible, right?

Not so! You’ve made progress. You are one item of clothing, piece of paper, or paragraph closer to your goal.

If you keep chipping away at it, little by little, you will eventually notice changes. They will be small at first, but they’ll become more and more noticeable until finally that closet is decluttered and organized, the desk is clear, and the term paper complete. Best of all, it only took just a few short moments each day. You did not have to spend your entire weekend emergency cleaning for company, or pulling a couple of all nighters to get that paper done before the deadline.

With a little persistence, you can achieve great things in just five to fifteen minutes.

I attempt to be a  reasonably diplomatic person most of the time (really, I do), but every now and then I just royally piss somebody off, and you know what? I’m okay with it. People may not like something I do or say, or the way I look, or that I may not answer the phone the moment it rings (or at all), or even the fact that I hate green peas. It happens. It even happens to people who literally stress and strain themselves trying desperately to please everyone at all times.

The wishy-washy people pleaser type. Don’t be one. If you are one, then stop!

Best to be yourself, even if people get angry about it. You are the only you that will ever exist, so take the opportunity to make the most of it.

I’d bet that there aren’t many cats who hear this accusation, “Kumbaya! You just don’t get it!” That’s because cats get it just fine. I’ll explain.

There’s this neighborhood cat that’s been hanging out on my back deck for the past few evenings. Yesterday evening the cat was there, loosely curled in one of the deck’s far corners. It remained in that position the entire time I made dinner. During dinner, I started watching an episode of Due South, a show from the 90′s about a Mountie and his wolf who find themselves living in Chicago.

Some few minutes into the show, I returned to the kitchen and the cat was still out there, still snoozing happily. After the show was over, I again returned to the kitchen and there was the cat, its head lazily lifted and peering squinty-eyed at me through the door.  I continued with my after dinner cleanup, and the kitty, having decided everything was still okay in its world, put its head back down and continued its restful occupation.

For over an hour at least, that cat was out there resting, happy, and relaxed. The cat was enjoying the here and now, content, and living in the moment.

In stark contrast, many of us humans feel obligated to keep busy for the sake of busyness, to “do! do! do!” every moment of every day, twenty four by seven. We do not slow down to think, to dream, to meditate, or to just be. 

The cats get it. Unfortunately, we don’t.