Sparkle & Kick It!
Traveling south of Sacramento along Interstate 5, Mike and Matt discuss the wildfires occurring in the Pacific Northwest, noting the visible haze around them. They reflect on a book of inspirational messages, titled “Sparkle and Kick It” and written by a spiritual leader in Columbus, which advises appreciating the small successes throughout your day and building upon their momentum to achieve larger goals.
Good afternoon Facebook land, this is Mike George here, along with Matthew “Equality” Gutierrez, and we are coming at you guys live from south of Sacramento on the I-5 corridor. We kind of had a late start to the morning, as we slept in on the holiday, and we were waiting for other folks during the holiday to fix the damned trailer.
Matt:
Yeah, because I don't roll with things that might potentially put me or my bestie in harm's way.
Mike:
So, a good safety moment to kind of start off with is to secure your load and inspect it, even if it’s secured by somebody else, to make sure that their work is sound.
Matt:
Trust and verify, y'all!
Mike:
As we like to do on our little trips, we like to kind of start off the day with some inspiration or maybe a little anecdote from our friend Dr. Frank Tennyson, author of the book “Sparkle and Kick It!” We are south of Sacramento, California, kind of going through I-5. This isn't the Central Valley area, is it? We’re just north of Napa Valley and the areas comprising wine country.
Mike:
I don't know, it's hazy out; it looks like this might be some light haze coming in from the nearby wildfires. In case you guys haven't heard, there are a lot of wildfires going on in the Pacific Northwest. I think Montana is where a lot of the big ones are, and Oregon has more localized fires. Nonetheless, there is a lot of fire, smoke, drought, and heat out there. I want to send my best wishes to the brave men and women who are out there on the front lines combating the wildfires. We’ve actually passed by a few staging sites for emergency personnel, with helicopters and crop-dusting planes retooled for dumping water. Good luck to those brave men and women out there; be safe, we appreciate you.
Mike:
I did hear though that Los Angeles is getting some wildfires that are kind of creeping into some residential spots.
Matt:
For those facing harrowing situations, just remember: things can be replaced, your life cannot.
Mike:
Amen, that’s true.
Matt:
And don't forget about your pets! They're family! I've seen some really heartbreaking articles about pets that were being left in their cages.
Mike:
Okay, so let's go back to “Sparkle and Kick It!” Today's wisdom is, "Thank God for the little successes, for they add momentum to the big ones." I think a lot of times we're faced with problems or tasks in our job that, at first glance, look like insurmountable projects.
I'm an overthinker, and I spend a lot of time in my head trying to figure out how I'm going to conquer a large problem when I think a lot of the time can be spent just doing it. I've had to kind of step back from that mentality just to say, you know, let's just “fucking do it,” and have a more iterative approach.
The hardest part of any new project or endeavor, or a paper you have to write, is that initial start — opening the book. Once I open the book or start on that assignment, my brain kind of just takes over from there. If you first open a book and read that first paragraph, a lot of times you get sucked into the second paragraph without even realizing it.
Matt:
Definitely, the way that I kind of interpreted the quote is not to get overwhelmed with the big picture. Sometimes you need to look at the small picture in order to accomplish the small task first, which helps you gain that momentum to get the larger tasks done.
With school, there is nothing worse than writing a paper and just staring at a blank page or a blank screen. The advice is: just get the words out, get it on paper; then you can edit it from there. You find out that it wasn't as hard as you were making it out to be.
For work projects that seem daunting, you have to break them down. You gather a group of people, find their strengths, and next thing you know, you're all running full steam ahead. It's about starting with the small thing and gaining momentum.
Mike:
I'll say on that note, one mistake that I found myself making with team projects, even at the beginning stages, is having trying to have too much of the planning up front. I've always had the bad habit of making a super-defined agenda for meetings, often because I have anxiety that if I don't structure it enough, it'll just run on and on with a million tangents. But a kickoff meeting is really supposed to be free-flowing to petition for ideas and perspectives that fall outside of your initial organization.
Matt:
I'm totally guilty of doing that, but I've done both extremes. You have to find a happy balance because **not every organization is the same**. For example, in the organization I served, officer meetings had to be super structured, but member meetings were more free-flowing because the organization was all about the membership.
Mike:
I think institutions are like an engine. Passion and excitement are the fuel, but if your engine's not built properly, that fuel just causes an explosion. You need the passionate zealots who bring the fervor, but you also need those who do the administrative work of taking that energy and organizing it into productive efforts, like planning events or fundraising.
Matt:
There is a huge tactic with asking for money. It's sometimes as easy as hey, this is what our project is, this is the amount of money that we're asking for, can we count on you being on board?
Mike:
I'm bad with asking for money, though; that's always been my weak suit. Fundraising was never my forte. I loved doing the operations and logistics stuff.
Matt:
I love fundraising so much, because it's not specifically for me, but rather for some larger initiative.
Mike:
It’s funny, I've kind of gone from being the "sugar daddy" in previous relationships to kind of this one being where I’m being supported. I mean, you know, in a few more months, when I get my job, maybe I could balance out the equation here financially.
Matt:
As far as monetary contribution to this relationship, I'm a firm believer that a relationship requires compromise, but also people have to be able to give 50/50. I'm not saying monetarily 50/50, but as long as the person is putting forth the effort. I knew your situation when I asked you to come on the road with me, but I also knew that you wouldn't sit on your hands and be content with that. I knew you were going to get a fire lit under your ass.
Mike:
That’s good, babe, I'm really glad to hear that.
One thing that really impresses me when hurricanes strike and we have big disasters is seeing the **logistical response effort** being waged on all levels—you have the federal government doing its thing (FEMA), but you also have neighbors picking up neighbors in the back of their fishing boat. So much of that disaster relief effort is **improvised**. The **art of improv is not just a theater skill; it's a life skill**. The chaos of the job is what makes it stressful on one hand, but it also prevents you from falling into a repetitive rut.
Matt:
These are dried up almond trees. There's a whole new grove that has been replanted now.
Mike:
Yeah, we are seeing a lot of wide-open land in this part of California. Oh, and look, the **California Aqueduct is filled with water**—yay, that's a good sign!
Matt:
So, I picked up a load of lumber that somebody transferred to us. We're racing against the clock because this load is due before 14:00. We met a beautifully tattooed forklift driver during the pickup; she was fabulous!
Mike:
We just passed Exit 391. The crazy thing about California is that the exit numbers extend so high up here, sometimes into the 700’s, due to the length of the freeway north-to-south.
And here's a substation. Those substations basically serve as the junction points for the transmission lines that you’ve undoubtedly seen on your travels on our fair American interstate system.
Mike:
This has been Mike and Matt. It is a holiday weekend. If you do drink, get a designated driver or use Uber/Lyft. Law enforcement officials will be out there in full force, so don't give them easy money.
Matt:
No, no, no, no, no.
Mike:
Stay safe out there!
