Marlow's Musings 3/10/24
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
When GE was the largest and most profitable company in the world, it could be surprisingly tight with money. I remember at one point, we went a whole year without purchasing any office supplies. One of my bosses justified it, saying, “We didn’t get to be a $100 billion company by spending money wastefully.”
You can imagine my surprise when the company replaced our rather expensive and perfectly functional Black and White Sun Sparc Workstations with brand new workstations with color screens.
This was the era before inexpensive PCs, and UNIX-based workstations like these could cost as much as $20,000 which is closer to $50,000 in today’s money.
Every engineer on our team got a brand new color version.
A study found that when black-and-white workstation screens were replaced by color screens, productivity increased by 30%.
GE was all about productivity back then, heard about the study, and made the purchase.
We loved it. I was on my workstation eight hours a day, and the color and customizable screen made working on them more fun.
A year or so later, I read about a follow-up study where researchers switched people back to black-and-white screens, and guess what?
Productivity went up again!
It turns out the increase in productivity wasn’t the color at all; it was change. Making a noticeable change reset our interest and energy. Even the change back to black and white provided a similar boost in interest and focus.
Thankfully, our bosses didn’t bring the old machines back.
Change like this doesn’t always require a $20,000 purchase, either. It can be as simple as moving things around.
That story has stuck with me and inspired me to look for opportunities in life to mix things up now and again.
Word of the Week
Redivivus (adj.)
red·u·vī·vus
1: To be reborn or come back to life.
Originally from Latin, meaning ‘reused, second-hand’, later interpretations (from re(d)- ‘again’ + vivus ‘living’) speak to living again or being reborn.
In case you missed it…
Podquest Episode 4 is now available…Talking Dreams with the Dream Dude: A Conversation with Mark Cumicek
In this episode, we explore the transformative power of pursuing one's dreams.
Mark discusses his personal story of experiencing outward success yet internal turmoil, leading to a career shift focused on helping individuals and businesses articulate and pursue their dreams.
Perhaps no surprise, we even managed to discuss our love of coffee and running—all that and more in this episode of Podquest.
This week’s Ikigai Thought for Today was Things that Need Doing…
This was a reflection on the questions I receive most often about how best to uncover our Ikigai. This Thought for Today has a bonus section with reflection questions for Ikiquest+ subscribers.
Ikiquest+
This week’s Coffee Contemplation for Ikiquest+ subscribers was Look, Mom, No Hands…A mediation and contemplation on being seen.
Ikiquest+ subscribers can listen to it in audio narration or read the transcription.
If you aren’t yet an Ikiquest+ Subscriber, give it a try for free by clicking the box here.
Comment of the Week:
The comment of the week comes from Joe T on last week’s Marlow’s Musing about authenticity and my Slime Neon Green running shoes.
Man! I’ve never seen the slime green. I’d love to have those! Be you, not some cheap knockoff of someone else!
It would clash with my running kilt. But I’ve never cared about fashion so why start now?
Nothing worse than something that clashes with the running kilt Joe. 🤣 As you say, kilt or no kilt, we’ve got to be ourselves.
Quote I’m Pondering
This thought is derived from C.S. Lewis…
"You can't go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are
and change the ending."
C.S. Lewis
Interesting Thing I Saw This Week
Ever wonder what spending part of the year in rural France or maybe Latin America would be like?
Tim Leffel does more than ponder it, he lives it and writes about it. Once a year, he puts together rankings and recommendations of where the best bargains are, for short visits or extended stays around the world.
Final Thoughts
This week, my mind has been on rebirth and living life as it was meant to be.
No doubt the advent of early spring, and some long-dormant dreams being revived has played a part.
The biggest thing, though, is my grandson E’s birthday. Just short of a decade ago now, I became a grandfather, and the birth of that beautiful little boy provided a redivivus in my life.
I lost many things that year, including my father and my career. Yet, my primary memory is of the blessing that came and remains in my life. I can point to a handful of events that changed me. Welcoming ‘E’ to the world was one of the best.
Quest well.
May you have the most epic trip around the sun yet E while your grandad leads the collective dream...to help cocreate...dreams!
Also, I can empathize with your daughter David...I loved every minute of living out a dream to play (a mid-sized Dusty Strings) harp. Thank goodness it had a case with a shoulder strap...making it portable and a very eccentric instructor at the local university who taught me & my daughter in tandem!
A lovely example of refreshing change, and a great reminder that there is always time to create change.