Writers
Posts by Dominique
The Writer’s Mind
0I always know Chuck needs to write when he begins to tell complicated stories about the other drivers while we are on our way to Santa Fe. If a lady is traveling at 85 MPH in a 45 MPH zone, her daughter has just been brought to the hospital with a broken elbow and she is trying to get there as quickly as she can. If a young man forgets to use his blinker or his tail light is out, he has been handed down an American car and is in the process of learning about all the electrical problems American cars experience over time.
Having a poet’s mind, and not a fiction writer’s mind, I used to wonder why he wasted his time making things up. Didn’t he realize he was making assumptions? Couldn’t he see he could not possibly understand why another driver did what they did? Did he not know his job was to avoid their erratic behavior on the road and keep plenty of space between us and the other cars? Not sidle up to them and look at them in order to create characters in a new tale.
Then, one day at lunch in a small office cafe on Kirtland Air Force Base when we were both government contractors, I broached the question.
“What would you do if you could do anything?”
He chewed pastrami for a long moment.
“I would write books and movies.”
Now we were moving! I suddenly understood his motivation in making up all the stories about our daily lives. Chuck is a writer. He needs to make up stories about the situations we experience in even our most mundane moments because that is the way he is wired and the story is his primary communication tool.
Since then, he has delved ever more deeply into his craft and has revealed himself a fantastic storyteller. And he doesn’t bring his unwritten stories into our conversations nearly so often.
If you have a writer’s mind, how did you discover it? Did you compensate for your unwritten works in another area of life? We welcome your comments!
What is a Technology Coach?
014 years
by Dominique
in Technology
A technology coach helps you take positive action to close the gap between your current level of technology literacy and where you would like to be.
A lot of people can envision themselves using technology to help achieve a goal in their lives, but they are stopped from getting there by one or more barriers. Some people are part of an organization that has adopted a new technology, and they are mired in a chaos not of their own making. People also experience what we call the iceberg moment–when they are asked to do something that seems simple to someone else, but there is an iceberg of knowledge they would need before they can do it, and the task at hand is only the tip of the iceberg.
While we are asked to adopt software and hardware tools faster than we can drill out our failed hard drives, there is a still small voice that whispers about wisdom in the use of technology–if you listen. Sometimes, that voice is honored and honored very well by people, teams, and organizations. More often, however, there is chaos around the acceptance of a new, complex and expensive tool or set of tools and techniques we label a “system.”
This type of support exists to help you listen to the voice of wisdom in your relationship with technology. The tech coach’s job skills include compassion, understanding, determination, critical thinking, and also mature technical and business skills. A candidate technology coach would have many years experience in information technology and a broad range of knowledge. She would have an avid interest in human motivation as well–psychology, sociology, and perhaps the arts, anthropology and philosophy. He has formed the physical and psychological connections to understand how to incorporate technology into life. In essence, a technology coach has integrated software, hardware, and computer equipment creatively into their lives. They view it as an art or craft form and can help you do the same.
Tech coaches will not promise that they will make technology easy for you. Nor that you will be able to avoid the chaos and hype surrounding its use. Instead, they will help ground you, provide a sounding board, and give you a safe place to express how you feel about the problems in front of you. Then, they will help you find and choose options for moving forward. Often, once those options are identified and the pressure to perform is alleviated, people find they can relax and have more fun learning a new craft.
Lastly, a technology coach is optimistic about your potential and cares about you.
If you can benefit from coaching, please contact us at Larntz Enterprises any time to discuss your situation.