A Geek Leader Podcast - inspiring technical and creative leaders around the world

Today we have Andy Davis from Venturi Group on the podcast. Andy is the host of Venturi’s Voice podcast (itunes) and currently the Director of Marketing at Venturi Group, an IT Recruitment agency based in the UK, New York & Berlin. Andy has an interesting story and background.  He started out working for seed level startups and even worked on the now famous Hyperloop project that was spawned by a paper from Elon Musk. We talk about startup culture and some of the things Andy learned while working for startups and some advice to folks wanting to go down the startup path. We talk about some securities that you get when working for a larger more established companies, but also some things that you learn when working for startups.  Andy has a unique perspective when it comes to this as he has worked in both realms. During our talk today we discussed the importance of personal branding and some tips on how to build your personal brand in a way that is beneficial to your career even if you're not looking for a new job. We talked about the benefits of using recruiters and why you should build a relationship with recruiters whether you're hiring or not. I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you listen to the interview I did on Venturi's Voice where we talk more about leadership here.   I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

Today we have one of my favorite people, Nicole Greer, with us from Vibrant Coaching.  Nicole Greer works with leaders in organizations who want to develop their talent, increase the bottom line, and coach individuals to engage with the vision. As the principal coach and CEO of Vibrant Coaching, she helps individuals, corporations, government entities and non-profits become the people they were created to be and make what is possible…probable! In addition to speaking and coaching, Nicole is an active blogger, hosts a podcast and writes articles for womens' magazines, government and business journals. She is on a mission to energize, impact and influence individuals and organizations to lead a vibrant life through engaging the possibilities. Disclaimer alert... I met Nicole about 4 years ago when we were both invited to do a TEDx talk in Hickory, NC. I've also been a student in Nicole's leadership training course. Follow Nicole on Twitter @TheVibrantCoach Today we talked about leadership in general, the advantages of a coach/mentor and a lot about perspective.  Nicole said that there are two powerful questions a leader should ask themselves... Two Powerful Questions a Leader Should Ask What is it like to experience me? What word would others use to describe me? S.H.I.N.E S - Self Assessment - Use path element profile. H - Habits - 1. Weekly reflection and positive focus, 2. Giving Feedback, 3. Plan your week I - Integrity - Not your perspective of integrity, your peers perspective. N -Next Right Steps - What is the next right step? E - Energy - 6 energies that we need to pay attention to (listen to find out more). Nicole says we should give 8 pieces of positive feedback for each piece of corrective feedback we give.  This means, we really need praise our team more than we criticize them... 8 times more to be exact! In this episode we talked about the importance of one-on-one conversations and that performance reviews should never be a surprise.  People should know what they are being scored before they come into the review. She recommended one-on-ones quarterly at the minimum.  Below are some questions Nicole said leaders should ask during one-on-ones. Leaders should ask during a one-on-one What do you need from me? What are you feeling? What are you learning? We referenced a lot of books during this episode. I put links to them on Amazon if anyone is interested in checking them. I know I'll be putting some in my Audible queue. Books to Reference One Minute Manager - Ken Blancher The e-Myth Book - Michael E. Gerber Fifth Discipline - Peter Senge The Dream Manager - Matthew Kelly Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday The Human Condition - Thomas Keating Nicole's TEDx Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1qYzx0F5jc   I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

Energy If you're like me, you wish you had more energy to tackle the things you want to tackle in a day.  I hope that this episode (last in our 5 day blitz) will help you discover a few ways to manage the finite amounts of energy that we have a little better. Below are some tips for getting more energy throughout the day.  Remember, I'm an IT Geek, not a doctor.  Consult your doctor or a medical professional before taking my advice on diet and exercise. Coffee If you know me, you know that I drink lots of coffee.  Probably more than I should. I drink coffee all day and evening.  My first cup of coffee is before 8am and my last is usually around 10pm.  I do believe coffee (which contains caffeine) gives you energy, but more than that, I think the  process of getting up and walking into another room to make myself a wonderful cup of joe is what helps my energy levels the most.  Sometimes just the break of getting up and moving can boost my energy.  Now, I'm not saying the caffeine doesn't help. Breathe We talked about this in episode 36 but breath is important.  Doing breathing exercises can help give you energy.  There is science to this.  Taking deep breaths pushes out carbon dioxide and increases your oxygen levels.  More oxygen in your blood makes you feel as though you have more energy.  If you start to get tired... take some deep breaths.  It helps me. Take a Walk Like I said a few minutes ago, taking a walk to make a cup of coffee gives me a little boost. At my office, there are a couple of ponds.  I find that getting up and walking around outside makes a big difference.  I'm not 100% sure if its the walking or the outside or most likely, the combination of the two, but after a walk, I feel super energized and ready to tackle the next task on my todo list. Have a Talk Stopping and talking (verbally, not on slack, email or text) can help give you new life when you find your energy failing. Stand up, walk to another cube or office and talk about something.  I usually stick to work related topics, like upcoming projects or tasks that I have question on.  I find that talking helps motivate me.  I also believe that the human interaction of talking with someone gives us a little charge in our brains to keep us active and give us more energy. Exercise Exercise is important.  That goes without saying. Its important to keep our body in tune and our mind healthy.  When our body is in shape, we have more energy.  Ask anyone that started exercising regularly for a few months.  They have more energy now than before.  I recommend running, because I enjoy it. Its an easy way to start exercising without any equipment (except shoes).  It builds your cardiovascular health and gives you lots more energy.  Its one of the fastest ways to loose weight and boost your energy.  When I get in a rut and don't work out for a while, I really notice my energy falling off after lunch.  But, when I workout regularly, I notice my energy levels stay strong throughout the day and evening. Diet I don't always follow a healthy diet. I know I should do better but I like carbs!  Carbs give you short-term boost of energy, but they drain you in the long run.  One of the newest diets people are discussing online is the keto diet.  The keto diet consist of eating high fat, moderate protein and zero carbs.  I did this for a while and I must say my energy levels stabilized throughout the day and my hunger decreased.  I am no longer following this diet, but I have noticed when I just reduce my dependency on carbs, my energy levels don't rise and fall nearly as much as they did before.  I do feel it when I fall off the wagon and eat pizza or something. Sleep Getting enough sleep is super important to having energy throughout the day. Everyone is different and everyone needs different amounts of sleep.  One thing we know, is that if you're getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night, you're getting too little.

Time I get asked about time management more than I do any other question.  People ask, how is it that you have time with your family, work a full-time job, teach part-time, build apps, host a podcast, and do side hustles regularly?  Well, its all about time management.  We all have the same finite amount of time.  24 hours in a day.  We choose to spend it differently. One thing I recommend before changing the way you spend your time, is to document it.  Use this link to download a template for time tracking. I actually make my DIFD 321 students do this as a learning tool... and a little secret, I do it too.  I find that its important to track your time regularly because your schedules and responsibilities change over time.  I think once a year is good for me. Do what works for you. Once you've tracked and documented your time over a typical week (be sure to do 15-30 minute intervals) you'll have a baseline to move forward. The first time I did this, I was shocked at the amount of time I spent in my car doing nothing.  I was also shocked at the time I spent watching TV.  So I made some changes.  I started using the car trips to learn.  I got a subscription to Audible and committed to reading (listening) to one leadership book per month.  I also listen to a number of podcast that keep me informed on things I'm interested in.  I cut back the TV watching significantly.  I also started scheduling time to spend with the family and kids.  When I get home from work, usually 5:30pm or 6pm, until the kids go to bed is their time.  No work emails, no work calls, to podcasts, not side hustles.  Just family time. I used the time chart to find time when I had no other obligations and I was wasting the time.  One of the big holes I found was lunch.  I started writing and recording podcast episodes during lunch. This freed up my evenings (when I used to do my recording).  Now I could watch movies or shows with the wife after the kids go to bed, or build a website for a client, update an app, etc.  I also set time limits on the work that I do.  I won't spend more than 4 hours per week doing side hustle work.  Once I exhaust the 4 hours, I'm done until the next week. It could all happen in one evening, but usually its an hour here or there during lunch, in the morning or late at night. Some of my tips for time management are as follows: Equate time to money.  Create time budgets and stick to them. Understand the the 80/20 rule (Pareto's Law). Create daily todo lists.  For this I use the reminder app and I add 3 things I "must" do before lunch to it.  Checking them off gives me that dopamine hit I've talked about so many times before. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Step Goals - small goals you can complete in less than a day. Sprint Goals - medium goals, made up fo step goals, that you can complete in less than a sprint (2 weeks). Stretch Goals - larger goals, made up of sprint goals, that you can complete in a quarter or a year. Tackle the most uncomfortable tasks first (not usually the ones that take the longest, just the ones you don't want to do).  If you have to eat 3 frogs, eat the biggest, ugliest one first. Batch requests and tasks. Email, only after you've got your 3 tasks done.  Opening outlook in the morning is the fastest way to get derailed from your planned activities. Your inbox is full of distractions. Understand Efficiency vs. Effectiveness.  Don't Procrastinate - Parkinson's law. Understand that doing things at the last minute is expensive. When it comes to things that matter, exchange money for time.  We can earn more money, but the time we have on this earth is limited and once its gone, we can never get it back.   Below is one of my favorite talks.  Randy Pausch's Time Management talk.  Randy was a computer science professor that is no longer with us, but his talks and wisdom live on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0

Assets What's your biggest asset?  Could it be your programming skills?  Your education?  Your experience? For me its the people I surround myself with. At home and in life its my wife.  She's my biggest asset.  At the office, its my team.  I have a great team of people and they are by far my biggest asset. So, how do you manage your assets?  Well I'm going to list some common assets that we may or may not think of and how I try to manage them to improve my productivity. Personal Finance is important too.  If you're struggling with your personal finances, that stress may bleed into your work.  Take care of your assets and liabilities.  Do a debt to equity ratio, like they do before you get a mortgage to make sure you're not over extending yourselves.  Be sure you're putting away for retirement, etc. Some other important assets to you should be managing at work as as follows: My Team - As I said earlier, at work, my biggest asset is my team.  With any team there are different dynamics and relationships in place. You have to understand them and manage them. One-on-ones is probably the best way I stay in the loop and manage those individual relationships.  But you also have to manage the relationship to the team as a whole.  Team building is important. Regular lunch n learns and group meetings are also a must. My Budget - When I first became a manager, managing budgets scared the crap out of me.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I didn't know anything about negotiation, contract renews, or planning for capital projects.  I had to learn that over time.  And now that I've been in management at a few companies, I see that the process is very different at different places.  What works best for me is to budget a little on the high side of things, because you never know what could come up and as a developer at heart, I'm very optimistic when setting time budgets. I've also learned that it takes a lot of work to save money and come under budget, but if you take the time and negotiate properly, there are lots of deals to be found and money to be saved.  I found that just emailing or calling vendors before renewing software maintenance agreements can lead to big savings. Also be honest and up front with vendors about pricing, most people don't like talking about it, so be pleasant, and talk about it early.  That helps me get the best deal. My Tech Skills - When you get into management its very hard to keep your tech skills current.  You love coding or server administration, but you know as a leader and manager you have step back and give your team the opportunity to grow and do those tasks. I've found that one of the best ways to keep current is to have a side hustle doing the skills that you need to know.  This will help you stay on top of the new changes in technology and bring things from the outside into your company. Another way I keep current is to go to tech conferences a few times a year.  One way I keep my budget in check for these is to apply and speak at the events. If you speak at the conference, you get to go for free! My Network - Linkedin isn't enough to manage your entire network. I mean, its a good start, but there is more to it than that. You need to reach out to those in the area, go to lunch with them from time to time, make phone calls and send text messages. Communicate with your network regularly.  Staying in touch is actually a hard thing, but a text every now and again is a great way to let those in our network know that they still matter and it will pay off big in the long run. They will be there for advice and help when you need it.  But remember, you have to be there for them first.  Give at least 51% in the relationship. If your network is important to you, and it should be, you need to spend the time to stay connected.  This is one of the reasons I'm doing more interviews now, its away I can connect with great thought leaders in the technical leadership space.

Focus We all have a finite amount of focus.  We may think of focus as something you do, but I think it is something you have.  You either have focus for something, or you don't.  And focusing on something is like contracting a muscle.  It uses energy and wears on you.  And the longer you focus on something, the more tired you get and the harder it is to keep focusing.  I notice this when I drive on long road trips.  After 4 hours or so, its hard to keep focusing on the road and traffic.  I need a break.  The same is true when it comes to your work.  After hours of focus, getting into what Cal Newport calls "Deep Work," you get tired and need to recharge your focus.  There was a great experiment in 1998 called the "Chocolate and Radish" experiment where the Psychologist, Roy Baumeister, discovered the modern concept of willpower.  That it is a like a muscle and becomes exhausted.  Be sure to listen to the episode to find out more about this experiment.  But I believe the same is true with focus.  It is finite.  It will become exhausted over time. This is why its important to take breaks to recharge your "focus battery."  Below are some tips to help you focus. Prepare to focus - Just like anything you're working on, you need to have a plan.  Plan to focus on whatever it is you need to work on.  I use outlook for that purpose. I schedule time for focusing.  If you look at my outlook calendar, you would think I'm slammed with meetings, but only about 1/2 of those things are actual meetings.  The rest are times I've allotted for focused deep work.  When I schedule my focus, it is easier to get into the mindset necessary to hunker down and focus. Remove distractions - When its time to focus, turn off outlook, close slack, shut your door, turn off the ringer to your phone and put your cell phone in airplane mode. This may sound extreme, but its necessary for me.  I'm super easily distracted.  For more tips on beating distractions check out episode 3. If you like music, turn on music (but not with words, words can lead to you singing and causing more distractions.  Grab your coffee, use the restroom, make sure the temperature is good. Basically you are removing any excuse for you to get up and do something else. Take breaks - Like we said above, your focus can be like a battery and it needs to be charged.  We've learned that going outside and taking walks can help recharge this battery like a Tesla Supercharger.  So take a stroll outside for a few minutes, then come back and start again.  One technique that I've found effective is the Pomodoro technique.  There are different variations of this, but what I do is turn off everything for 25 minutes of uninterrupted focus, then take 5 minutes to check email, slack, texts, etc.  Get up refill the coffee if needed, take a restroom break, walk around a bit, and repeat the 25 minutes of focus.  I've found that 5 minutes is all I usually need to recharge my focus battery. If you have more tips on improving focus, please tweet them to me @johnrouda. I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

Today I'm going to do something totally different.  I'm going to do a blitz week.  5 episodes in 5 days.  These will be on the topic of managing your F.A.T.E.  The acronym F.A.T.E stands for your finite resources, your Focus, Assets, Time and Energy. I first heard about this from Toddy Henry, host of The Accidental Creative. I highly recommend you check out his podcast and his books. I interviewed him a while back about his book, Louder than Words, Click Here to listen to that conversation. In this episode I'll set the stage for what's time come.  I'm breaking these four finite resources into their own shows so that you can go back and re-listen to the ones that you need the most work on managing.  These are also perfect shows to share with those around you that might could use a boost in one of those areas as well.  Stay tuned, we'll dive into managing your focus tomorrow. Focus - Remove distractions, pomodoro technique, batch email and slack, setup creative and brainstorming times on your calendar.  Use deep work. Assets - Manage your assets.  Your team, your money, your resources, your systems, your software, etc. Time - Time management will be a longer podcast or training class at some point in the future, but here are some of the basics that I talk about when dealing with time management plus a bonus with the video of Randy Pausch's time management talk (He's my CSCI hero). Energy - exercise, coffee, take breaks, work on things you love, Velocity & Inertia.  Find your best time to work. I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

It's easy to stop a train that's not moving...But its hard to stop one that has already started. Velocity is defined as the speed of something in a given direction.  Have you ever started on a project, task, program, or something and got into the "flow" state?  What is flow you ask?  Flow is being in the Zone.  If you've played or watched basketball you're familiar with this term.  It's that state where Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Steph Curry or Lebron James get into where it seems as though they cannot miss.  Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (notice I didn't try to pronounce that on the podcast) coined the term "flow" in 1975 as a feeling of full engagement, energized focus and complete enjoyment. I get into a flow state sometimes when I'm teaching or speaking.  Its like the words just come out of mouth and knowledge pours out of my brain. And when the talk is over, I have little to no idea what I just said.  You can get into a flow state doing about anything.  I've been there playing basketball when I was younger and more athletic; I've been there speaking and teaching; I've been there recording podcasts.  When you're in that state, time seems to slow way down for some reason. The bad part about getting into a flow state or having good velocity while working on a problem is when it get's interrupted.  Its like you're on train that comes to an abrupt halt.  Things going flying around in your brain and it takes a good bit of time to sort out where everything goes so you can get started again. The size and length of the interruption can determine the time it takes to get moving again.  I like to imagine that the work you're doing is a big locomotive.  It takes time to get started and to get stopped. If you stop fast, it means you crashed.  So why is that?  Well, physics tells us its because of Inertia. Inertia is defined as a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged; or a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force. The bigger the locomotive you're on, the greater the inertia.  The greater the tendency is to keep doing what you're doing.  I fall back on my running examples when I talk about this stuff... so if you're not a runner or don't play one on tv, sorry.  When I'm training for a race or running on a consistent basis, its easy to keep running. My brain wants to keep running.  I want to remain in that pattern of behavior.  Its inertia.  The same is true when you're working on projects and tasks. When you're seeing results, making progress, and building a habit of positivity, its easy to keep going due to inertia.  At least I attribute it to inertia, even though in physics they say inertia only affects physical items.  I believe it effects emotional and behavioral items as well. So once you get started, things get easy. So how do you get started? How to get started There are lots of blogs, motivational speeches, and podcasts to help you out with this question, but my take on it is probably a bit simpler.  Before writing this, I Googled "How to start"  and I found dozens blogs about "10 simple tips to start something new" and lots of click bait like that.  But here's my take on it. Use physics.  In physics, its hard to move a large object, but its easy to move a smaller one. So start small... very small. If you want to start being a better leader, and doing some of the things I talk about in this podcast, start small. If you want to start a habit of running, start small.  Get some running shoes... step 1 complete, check that off the list.  Go for a walk in the shoes... step 2 complete, check that off the list. Run down to the end of the driveway, step 3 check that off the list, etc. You first day of running could be just that.  Down to the end of the driveway and back. Start seriously small, but build a habit of consistency.  People trust consistency.

The Power of a Field Trip One way to inspire creativity and to motivate yourself or your team is to take a field trip. This will work if wherever you work for a nonprofit organization or a traditional office. Take a field trip. I’m going to tell you two stories to prove how beneficial field trips of any size can be.  Small Field Trips My team took a little field trip a couple of years ago. We rode around with some technicians in their trucks. We wanted to see how they were using our products. We created a way for them to look at trouble tickets on their mobile phones. The close button was located at the bottom of the ticket, beneath all the notes, and they had to scroll all the way down to get to it. We thought that it worked well since they could work on the ticket, look at the notes, and then close it. But it just wasn’t working for them for some reason… We found out that the technicians would read the notes going down, work on the ticket, then go straight to the next one and do the same thing. At the end of the day, they would have to close the tickets. That meant right before they got to go home and relax with their families, they had to scroll, scroll, scroll, close ticket, scroll, scroll, scroll…. on and on. They’d only spend 5 minutes or so on each ticket, but multiply that times ten to twelve tickets per day over a hundred technicians. That’s real time! That’s not time that the company could get back. That’s time that we could give back to the employees so that they could get home quicker. That’s what a little field trip can do to inspire you. So we made a 30 second change and moved the button... giving our guys time with their friends and families. Big Field Trips The next story involves a little more impact. Doug Dietz designs MRI machines. Have you ever had an MRI? I tore my ACL and had to get one. They’re not fun. They are loud, smell sterile, and are covered in warning stickers. Not to mention, they look terrifying. Almost like you're going into a barrel of a gun. It’s not a great experience. Doug designed an MRI machine and he wanted to watch it in action; to see if he could make any improvements. He was so excited. That is, until the first pediatric patient came. She walked down the hall crying. She wasn’t afraid of her diagnosis, but she was afraid of the machine. She came into the room that was painted beige, on gray, on beige and covered in warning stickers. She saw a machine that had a huge hole in it and smelled the room’s sterile hospital smell and she lost it. Her parents lost it. Doug lost it. He left broken, but also inspired to fix this. He brought in a team of children to help him get that creative spark. He turned a scary machine into something from a fairy tale. Doug turned a machine that looks like this… Into one that looks like this Just a little bit of paint and some aromatherapy, and everything changed. Kids would walk down that hospital hall filled with bright, white walls and lights, into an adventure land. When they saw the machines, their fears would settle a little bit. Their parents also benefited. They would come in and smell that relaxing beach smell and smile. Before that, their biggest fear was how to get their kid through the procedure. Now they were relieved to see that their kid wasn’t scared anymore. Children would see their parents smile and calm down even more. Prior to Doug’s changes, 80% of pediatric patients had to be sedated to go through an MRI. Now that number has dropped to less than 20%. That’s the impact you can get from a field trip. https://vimeo.com/39861611   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jajduxPD6H4   I hope you enjoyed this show, please head over to iTunes and subscribe and leave me a rating and review, even one sentence will help spread the word.  Thanks again!

When we react to situations, we're on defense.  You rarely score on defense.  Its much easier to score when you're on offense.  On offense, you're responding to the situation, not reacting.  There is a difference.  Responses are thought-out, planned and not usually emotionally driven.  Reactions are usually hap-hazardous, emotionally driven, and not thought through.  Mistakes often happen when we react instead of respond.  In this episode I talk about the need to respond instead of react, what happens when we overreact to situations, and some ways to avoid stress so that we learn to respond and not react.   What Happens When We Overreact A couple of weeks ago I talked about building trust with your team. Overreacting to situations is one sure-fire way to make them trust you less.  If you can't keep your cool, people want follow you when times get tough.  When you overreact to situations you allow the situation to overtake you.  You stop looking through a practical, logical lens and begin looking at the world through a panicked lens. Your cortisol levels increase in your body, and you being to hyper focus on situations, probably the wrong situations.  Remember when I spoke about the biology of leadership, cortisol is the stress chemical.  It does good things when we're in danger, but it comes at a cost.  It slows down our metabolism, and weakens our immune system.  Its only supposed to be in us for a brief period of time, when it persist, and we overreact, it causes serious health issues. We tend to make bad decisions when we overreact. The first thing that comes to our mind we move forward with it.  Its hard to think things through when we're trying to stay on top of a tense situation.  Overreaction makes tense situations more tense.   Why Do We Get Stressed Out at Work? The Unexpected Happens.  Sometimes we're confronted with events that we didn't see coming and we're not sure what to do.  When that happens, we might panic and get stressed. Fear. We're all afraid of something.  I've done 2 episodes on fear and anxiety and being brave in the past.  Take a listen to them to learn how to battle against your fears. Overwhelmed. If you've been in Technology for any amount of time, you've felt overwhelmed.  We all get overwhelmed from time to time.  When I get overwhelmed, I get stressed.  honestly, I don't know anyone that doesn't get stressed when they are overwhelmed. Competition. At the workplace, we are sometimes compared and contrasted against our peers.  This creates competition.  Sometimes competition is a good thing. It can inspire and encourage innovation.  But it also leads to stress. Non-Work Situations. Things that happen outside of work, can creep into our office life. People say you should separate work and home, and I agree, but its super hard to do... no, its impossible to completely do.  You are You.  Whether you are at work or at home, you are still you.  You carry your life with you everywhere you go.  Now, that doesn't mean you should bring your drama into work, but understand that things that happen outside of work, can influence your stress levels at work and vice versa. Remember somethings are more important than work.   Ten Ways to Stay Calm at Work Understand the big picture. Many times things that are big to us, are small outside of our perspective.  Think about the big picture.  Unless your an emergency response person, in the military, or in the medical arena, no one is going to die due to the thing you are currently working on. I regularly tell my team "relax, no one's going to die."  I think about my kids.  My son will panic and pitch a fit over not being able to get his straw into his juice box sometimes.  To him, that is the biggest problem in the world right now.  To me, that's silly, just ask for help.  Work can be the same way sometimes.  We're just like my son, trying to get that straw into a juice box.  Getting stressed out over something that is small i...