This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lie', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck', 'breaking the ice', 'cracking the code', 'when it rains it pours', 'bigger fish to fry', 'ball is in your court', 'back to the drawing board', 'square peg in a round hole', 'don't rock the boat', 'a whole new ball game', 'burning the midnight oil', 'never say never', 'get all your ducks in a row', 'make the hay while the sun shines', 'tick all the boxes', 'a leopard cannot change its spots', 'fools rush in', 'final straw that broke the camel's back', 'tip of iceberg', 'hold the fort', 'draw a line in the sand', 'sour grapes', 'missing the mark', 'a walk in the park', 'seat at the table' and 'trust your gut'.
A year comes to a close, and a new one begins.
A milestone. A time reset. A moment of reflection.
How did we perform at work or school in the past year? Has life been good? All goals achieved?
A post-mortem. A KPI review. An honest assessment of our hits and missess, weaknesses and strengths, successes and failures, peaks of happiness and depths of despair.
* * *
Truth be told, I'm usually not big on making New Year's resolution.
For me, the passing from 31 December to 1 January every year is just like any other stroke of midnight. The sun sets in the west and rises in the east. The cycle continues every day. The number assigned to days, months and years are merely artificial constructs of humanity for the sake of societal order.
And yet, the year 2022 has somewhat been special in many ways. Never have I experienced so many highs and lows in the space of 365 days. The year will definitely go down in memory as one of the turning points of my lifetime.
I won't list down all the milestones here. I've de-personalised this blog (for want of a better word) a long time ago. Actually, it's never been that personal to begin with. Yes, there are many personal anecdotes shared. But I've taken intricate care to anonymise the characters and refrained from sharing too many details that will allow for indirect identification. For the sake of protecting the privacy of myself and others.
Now that a new year has begun, I find myself rather uncharacteristically thinking about what changes should I make to my life and public persona in the year to come.
* * *
Why the change in policy from not making resolutions? Maybe it's due to aging. I'm not getting any younger. My time on Earth is running out. No time to live someone else's life (and hopefully, no time to die?). Time to live each day with a greater sense of purpose and direction.
Time to set annual goals, or even quarterly ones? Maybe. I already have an ikigai, and have a habit of setting very detailed time-sensitive milestones for work and personal projects. It's just a matter of filling in more details - and perhaps, setting even loftier ambitions.
I haven't quite figured out what those goals are just yet. But I should get things firmed up by the end of January. And the goals needs to be publicised - to turn up the pressure to perform and ensure greater self-accountability. Not here, of course - but in the right channels.
Goodbye, 2022. The last 365 days had been a tumultous back-and-forth journey from heaven to hell. Hopefully, in 2023, I'll be chilling more on Cloud Nine rather than languishing in the Nine Circles of Hell...
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lie', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck', 'breaking the ice', 'cracking the code', 'when it rains it pours', 'bigger fish to fry', 'ball is in your court', 'back to the drawing board', 'square peg in a round hole', 'don't rock the boat', 'a whole new ball game', 'burning the midnight oil', 'never say never', 'get all your ducks in a row', 'make the hay while the sun shines', 'tick all the boxes', 'a leopard cannot change its spots', 'fools rush in', 'final straw that broke the camel's back', 'tip of iceberg' and 'hold the fort'.
Everyone has their limits. Our minimum and maximum standards might differ, but there are still limits to how much we can push our body, mind, and spirit to complete an important task.
We're all quite aware of our personal limits. That's the the easy part.
But how do we let know others know about - and more importantly, understand and accept - personal limits? Especially if our standards on what needs to be done, when, and how, may wildly diverge?
* * *
That's the perennial problem of working in teams. How do we, as individual members, draw a line in the sand?
We've all heard the mantra brewing in recent times: work life balance, quiet quitting, disconnect, etc.
There's even a movement - and laws in some countries - of how employees are entitled to tune out from work after office hours and be free from email communications. The days of slaving away as a worker ant to the greater good of the ant colony seems like a distant past.
This is where the line gets blurry. On one hand, the advancement of digital technologies has allowed us to work more efficiently, by virtual meetings (Zoom) and file-sharing (Dropbox). On the other hand, the multiple streams and rapid pace of communications has resulted to an influx of messages.
For every work project, there seems to be over 5 different channels for communications (internal team group chat, external group chat with client, email chains, private chats with different stakeholders). Multiply that number with the amount of projects that we're working at the same time, and the total is over 20 communication channels running concurrently on a daily basis.
Again, it's a question of preference. Some people lean towards over-communication out of caution. Better for people to talk more and know more rather than to miss out on some details and make errors. But not everyone has the same attention span and capacity to absorb so much information, so those details may be overlooked anyway despite being highlighted in one of the many channels.
* * *
The greater lesson here is the importance for everyone to draw the same line in the sand on a shared task. Discuss and decide early on what everyone's preferences and limits are. Find a common ground on the workflow standards.
But more importantly, everyone has to give and take. It's not a one-way street. Just because you're an early riser, you can't expect everyone else to accomodate to a recurring weekly update meeting at 8am every Monday. Also, some allowance ought to be made to young parents juggling with babies and children.
The best lines in the sands are not a bunch of criss-crossing doodles, but a single converging well-defined web. Lines must be drawn out of equal respect and deep empathy.
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lie', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck', 'breaking the ice', 'cracking the code', 'when it rains it pours', 'bigger fish to fry', 'ball is in your court', 'back to the drawing board', 'square peg in a round hole', 'don't rock the boat', 'a whole new ball game', 'burning the midnight oil', 'never say never', 'get all your ducks in a row' and 'make the hay while the sun shines'.
It's hard to find the perfect match. A soulmate. A good team player. A close friend.
All of us have different set of expectations, principles, and standards of morality. Everyone is different in their own special way. Just like how there are no two identical snowflakes in the world (or so scientists say), there are no identical who think and behave exactly alike.
Then again, as the saying goes, opposite attracts. Sometimes, we're not looking for someone similar to us. Rather, we prefer pairing up with someone who can complement us. Like a keyhole and a lock. Two different items, but both operating in tandem.
* * *
Whether we're drawn to people like us or different from us, most of us know exactly who we're looking for. We have a checklist, in which we measure people based on whether they tick all the boxes.
Of course, that's wistful thinking. No one will ever quite measure up to our lofty expectations. Some of our checklist stretches to a few pages with too many boxes to count. Those of us who keep to high standards tend to impose them upon others.
For myself, I'm not big on checklist. I don't overthink relationships much. I treat people as they are. I see through their masks and disguises. I accept people for who they wish to be.
As a teacher (though some may quibble with such description), I often tell my students that I only care about results - the end product. I don't care how many hours you put in to get a task done, or what sacrifices you had to make along the way. Everyone has their own share of personal hardship.
Have a boyfriend? I don't give a damn. Your workload is as much as everyone else. Got a part-time job? Yeah, everyone has money problems - just live within your means. Of course, I'm not so heartless - I do make exceptions for serious emergencies.
* * *
So as you can guess by now, I don't work by checklist. Rather, I operate by strike-outs. There are a few things that are deal-breakers in my book. Certain types of negative personality traits. Three strikes, and you're out. It's much simpler to count the ways that a person pisses me off, rather than the ways a person impresses me.
Actually, that isn't as negative as it sounds. Because by default, when meeting a person for very first time, all boxes are automatically ticked. Everyone has the benefit of doubt. Everyone starts with a clean slate - a full 100%.
The more I get to know someone, the meter can only go down. Points gradually get deducted. And once it gets below a certain minimum level, oh well, too bad, nice knowing you, all the best in your life...
It's truly sad how fast some people can get three strikes, or how far low people can drop. Especially those which I originally had high hopes for, and stayed in my good books for many years. But that's life. People change, or maybe I just misjudged them all along.
But striking people off my list is not necessarily a bad thing. That way, I can make more room for people who are genuinely worth my time and space.
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lies', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck', 'breaking the ice', 'cracking the code', 'when it rains it pours', 'bigger fish to fry', 'ball is in your court', 'back to the drawing board' and 'square peg in a round hole'.
When skies turn dark and the waves get choppy, that's not exactly the best time to start making a ruckus on a ricketty boat made out of wooden logs.
Even the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on what seemed like a pristine night out in the Atlantic ocean.
So whilist it's nice and dandy to have a friendly banter on gets to lie down for some relaxing sunbathing and keep a steady hand on the mast to look out for rough seas, all hands need to be on the deck once the storm hits. No point arguing who read the navigational charts wrong or followed the wrong star. No time for finger-pointing.
* * *
Yet, there are people who just can't keep their lid shut even when the tough gets going. They just enjoy the rush of emotional drama rather than actually figuring out solutions. There's a time and place to have an honest assessment of what went wrong and who screwed up. But in the middle of the stom, don't rock the boat!
Somehow, they think that yelling at the crew would make them feel guilty and buck up. That's not how morale works! Good leaders rule by respect, not fear. And no one respects a manager who's unduly harsh on underlings asked to do perform tasks that they're just not cut out for (covered in this last article - the futility of forcing a 'square peg in a round hole'.
In short, there's no point rocking the boat that's manned by an inexperienced crew. The middle of the storm is neither the time nor place to berate them for their flaws.
* * *
Recently, I had the unpleasant experience of being assigned under a project manager on a temporary basis (not at all by my full consent). No proper instructions on what I had to do, no respect that I'm standing in as a favour to keep the boat afloat while the usual crew is on leave with absence for a few months.
Somehow, I survived. Not sure whether I fared well or messed up more in my temporary role. I could have easily walked away, or mount a mutiny. But no, despite the hardship of adjusting to a new role under a taskmaster who had two officers quitting or being reassigned within a year, I held on till the end of the short voyage.
Because, unlike people with no clue of how to properly steer a boat under heavy weather, I know the sheer importance of not rocking the boat...
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lies', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck', 'breaking the ice', 'cracking the code', 'when it rains it pours' and 'bigger fish to fry'.
Work always flows. Work never ends.
There's no point trying to push things along. No case truly ever closes. No matter how well we weave, a masterpiece still leave some loose ends.
All we can do is complete a task, stage by stage. Once completed, you've hit a pause button and get to enjoy some breathing space. Even if you want to press on hard, there's always someone else higher up the chain who has the authority to take further action. So just do your part, and relax.
* * *
That's how many of us work, day in day out. It's just a matter of hitting the ball across the court.
But we have to be smart about when, to whom, and how hard to hit the ball. Hit too fast, and the ball bounces back in a flash. Hit the ball at the wrong person, and the ball will simply sail away into the void which counts as a 'miss' and requires you to hit another shot. Hit to hard, and the ball will returned even harder back at you with a vengeance.
Yes, timing and technique is everything. Keep an eye on the ball. Be alert who the receiver will likely be, and when the ball will return to your court. Don't swing wildly in desperation to get rid of the ball. Strike the ball wrongly, and you may be facing a dozen new balls hit at your direction...
* * *
It takes practice and experience to master your strokes. Once you've found the right balance of hitting the ball at the right place at the right time, you'll be able to fluidly clear all the balls in your court without much hassle and stress.
Of course, there are always difficult players on the side of the court trying to mess your rhythm with wayward shots and stress you out by shouting like a madman. Just take a deep breath, and stay patient. Be nice, be respectful. But always stand firmly on your ground, and don't allow yourself to be bullied into submission.
Life is full of curve balls and pesky jerks. The best way to knock them out cold is to take your sweet time and play the perfect shot...
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lies', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears', 'throwing in the towel', 'jump on the bandwagon', 'passing the buck' and 'breaking the ice'.
Each industry is split into different fields. Each field has its own share of practices, guidelines, and standard operating procedures (SOP).
Within each field, there are countless of organisations being created and growing. Each organisation has their own share of internal policies and processes.
So it can be rather daunting for anyone trying to move between organisations, or across fields. One would think that there should be a certain amount of shared identity and habits within the same industry. But that's far from reality. Each field and organisation tries to be different - too hard, perhaps - and ends up building moats around themselves.
And so, the barrier to entry can be rather high. There are many hoops to pass, and hurdles to jump over. Many of the barriers are purely formalistic - self-made procedures with little connection to core compentencies integral to industrial skill. Did that last sentence sound padded with obfuscating jargon? Don't quite follow? Well, that's the whole point of industrial barriers...
* * *
So if you're ever interested in making a move, the challenge lies in cracking the code. Or to put it more bluntly: knowing how to cut through all the bulls**t.
Understanding how a new system works is always time-consuming. Especially if the system is filled with man-made rules. Mission statement, code of ethics, house rules - the list is endless. Humans never cease to complicate life more than necessary.
That's how life works, and there's not much we can do but to deal with the bulls**t. When you're joining the club at the bottom, that is. Maybe one day, when you've climbed your way to the top, you finally have the power to bring about positive change, by cutting out the bureaucratic red-tape. But that's wistful thinking. More often than not, managers love to add more cogs to the system, so to leave a 'legacy'. No one is bold enough to say: "Know what? A lot of the processes we have are absolutely crap, let's do without them". It takes courage to undo your predecessors' work, to start afresh with a clean slate.
Of course, to each their own. Some people enjoy being shackled by systems. They yearn for certainties. They play by the book. They just want to know the rules of the games, and not stop to think about the logic behind the rules. Some people are happy enough settling with terms set by others.
* * *
But ultimately, you still need to master the code in order to excel in the system that you're in. And be quick to detect when the code changes.
And the best way to be a code-breaker is to be a code-maker. To know how systems work, you need to understand how people design such systems (whether designed well or poorly). And that means figuring out the logic behind the codes, and the motivations of the code-makers.
Sounds rather cryptic, eh? Well, this whole article itself is layered with coded language. Have fun having a crack at it...
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lies', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page', don't judge a book its cover', 'reinvent the wheel', 'shifting gears' and 'throwing in the towel'.
Ever feel like you're the only one in the meeting room feeling lost with what the person standing in front is saying? Everyone else nodding and taking notes while you're staring blankly into space?
Relax, it's normal to feel left out, once in a while. The impostor syndrome is especially acute when you're way ahead of the curve and actually the smartest person in the room.
We've all been there. A meeting with an agenda of milestones that you've done your part weeks ago. People discussing matters that should've been resolved, like, last month. Still stuck at the 'brainstorming' stage because giving ideas and shooting the ideas of others is much easier than doing actual work. All you can do is apoligise and excuse yourself from the meeting (or during a video call, just keep smiling at your webcam camera while your fingers feverishly tap on a different program).
* * *
But there's only so many excuses you can use and smiles you can force. Sooner or later, you have to bite the bullet (done this idiom before!), go with flow, and just jump on the bandwagon.
Some people just thrive on meetings and discussion. They can keep on talking till the cows come home (another idiom!). They genuinely enjoying the company of other people.
Not for some of us. Oh, how we wish that we could be left alone to work in peace. If everyone just talked less and did their part, they wouldn't be a need of meetings after meetings...
But a large part of work is getting along with other people, no matter how infuriating they are. There's no point picking fights. That would only lead to more 'emergency' meetings or worse of all, some team-building exercise. So it's best to just play along, and chalk the wasted time off as occupational hazard.
Take a deep breath, say a short prayer, quickly hop onto the bandwagon to find a good seat (ideally, far, far away from Tom from HR)...
* * *
I must say, past few weeks have been hectic and stressful. No, not because of my regular work. But all the nonsensical stuff that some people like to pass off as 'work'. There's no point in protesting. Just nod, smile, do what needs to be urgently done, and move on.
Then again, there's only so many bandwagons that you can hop onto at one time. You try to take a breather after one has stopped, but people from the back are impatiently jostling you into the next one.
But that's fine. It's never too late to jump out of the bandwagon. Especially if there's a spaceship waiting around the corner...
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lies', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error', 'look before you leap', 'lightning in a bottle', 'on the same page' and 'don't judge a book its cover'.
Be creative!
Think outside of the box!
Don't follow the crowd!
That's a common rallying call being blasted from the mountaintop, especially in this fast-moving digital era. Be nimble, be agile. Survival of the fittest. Those who can't evolve will eventually go extinct.
Sound advice. Still, danger lies in following it blidnly and taking it to the extreme. Sometimes, we don't have to fashion fancy and flashy solutions to problems that can be overcome with a simple fix...
* * *
Why complicate matters? Over-analysis can lead to paralysis. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
The problem arises when creativity becomes an end rather than the means. Hours after hours are spent on brainstorming. We want to place all options on the table. We're not satisfied until every path is explored.
But being overly meticulous has its drawbacks. Discussions get protracted. Debates get heated. Decisions get delayed.
Sure, sometimes the old way of doing things can be improved. Optimal solutions can save time and energy in the long run. It's admirable to strive for perfection.
It's fine to build a faster car. Or an energy-efficient engine which runs on batteries that's kind towards the environment. But not all core features need to be modified. Some fundamentals of physics stay the same. Cars move really fast on four wheels.
* * *
In short, don't fix something if it isn't broken. Creativity is a precious resource that has to be expended carefully.
Until the day comes where cars can fly, there is really no reason to reinvent the wheel.
This is part of a running series about English idioms - less about language, more about life itself. Previously, we covered 'missing the woods for the trees', 'the elephant in the room', 'practising what you preach', blowing hot and cold', 'no smoke without fire', 'one swallow does not make a summer', 'apples and oranges', 'cut to the chase', 'leave no stone unturned', 'that's the way the cookie crumbles', 'can't have your cake and eat it too', 'old is gold', 'putting the cart before the horse', 'mountain out of a molehill', 'pot calling the kettle black', 'bite the bullet', 'go the extra mile', 'silence is golden', 'the devil is in the details', 'sink or swim', 'once bitten twice shy', 'don't count your chickens before they hatch', 'don't put all your eggs into one basket', 'chicken and egg', 'walking on eggshells', 'flogging a dead horse', 'better late than never', 'storm in a teacup', 'between a rock and a hard place', 'darkest before dawn', 'empty vessels make the most noise', 'birds of a feather flock together', 'separate the wheat from the chaff', 'let sleeping dogs lies', 'open a can of worms', 'light at the end of the tunnel', 'trial and error' and 'look before you leap'.
Each passing day, we fervently hope against hope for a miracle to happen.
Days left to meet an unrealistic project deadline. A whole week packed with assignments and tests. There's no end to problems that can only be solved by a stroke of good fortune.
Yet, sometimes things just click together. An unexpected offer of help by a good Samaritan. A sudden surge of inspiration that cuts through your knotty predicaments. Almost as if there's someone up in the skies above that really like you...
* * *
Behold the awesome power! A divine intervention! Magic! Sometimes, we're lucky enough to catch a lightning in a bottle.
Once you've captured that bolt of energy, be sure to keep the bottle lid well-sealed. Lightning doesn't strike twice (another idiom!). Cherish your treasure. Don't let a once-in-a-million opportunity go to waste.
Yet, we often take our gifts for granted. We don't appreciate enough the charity of others. We assume that we're entitled for many more rewards to come.
Thus, a blessing can quickly turn into a curse. Complacency sets in. The true worth of our own abilities becomes inflated. We rest on laurels (another idiom!).
* * *
When lightning strikes, that's when we need to go hunting for more electricity. Step into the eye of the thunderstorm. Don't be afraid of getting your feet wet.
For no matter how solid the glass walls are made of, lightnings can't zap on forever. Fortune is fleeting. A lightning is merely a spark of catalyst.
It's not every day that we're lucky enough to catch a lightning in a bottle. But once we do, it's up to us to channel our own inner energies to keep the fire burning.
