by Ross Sivertsen | Nov 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
This might seem contradictory to someone who likes to hear themselves talk (yours truly), but it is something I continue to work on. Hey, I’m a work in progress, what else can I say?
Two things that always bug me though are, 1. Long voice mail messages, and 2. Long email messages. I read this article on the need to be concise in email communications and I really believe there is a strong message here.
We are bombarded daily with thousands of pieces of information, and long rambling emails are some of the main culprits, this article, from the Lifehacker website (www.Lifehacker.com) is a message of simplicity. The basic notion is to think of email as if they were SMS messages and keep them short, really short; like under five sentences short.
In fact if it can be said in the just the subject line relish say whatever you have to say in just the subject line. One Gmail trick is to add (EOM) to the end of the subject line and gmail won’t even ask for a confirmation it will simply send the message understanding that the message is already at its end.
Well said for a society overloaded in information.
The KISS principle never sounded so good.
http://ping.fm/t3M54
by Ross Sivertsen | Nov 7, 2010 | Uncategorized
3 Days 60 Miles, One Awesome Cause.
I can’t tell you how proud I am of my survivor wife. We finished 829 and 830 out of over 4000 registrants.
But it’s not about the number.
This has been one of the most inspiring weekends Jill and I have experienced.
The last three days I have never seen so many strong women who walked for their mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts or themselves.
Like over 80 survivors walking because they refused to give up and be defined by a disease.
Or the amazing 280 men including Bob, the top fundraiser (raising over $17,000 for this event alone AFTER raising money for the Boston 3 Day from earlier this summer), all walking for their wives, mothers, aunts, girlfriends and other loved ones. These people are all, in a word… invincible.
And yet this is a trivial accomplishment compared to the challenges experienced by so many close to me; Jill, her mother Diana, Connie, Sue Ellen, Janise, so many others that have made it… And those that haven’t.
We carried you with us for every one of the over 120,000 steps that made up the sixty miles we travelled.
And we hade some special friends along the way, Kayla, the young woman that travelled all the way from Nappa Valley to walk for her Aunt. The young woman that did the entire sixty miles in a wheel chair.
We saw the cheering sections that drove us forward, and all the crazy costumes, the Harley bikers, pink hair, and yes one pink Gorilla.
Will we do this again next year? You bet, in a heartbeat! But maybe we won’t have to because we will have a cure to this devastating disease.
Freedom of speech being what it is, there is a chance that I won’t get some future job because a potential employer will google me, read what I’m about to say and be offended. I’ll take that risk. (or maybe you’ll get a taste through this message of the perseverance drives me forward). That said my apologies in advance for offending your delicate sensibilities:
-NOTICE TO CANCER-
You took my father and brother from me, you took my mother in law and several friends from me.
You tried to take my wife and my dear friend Connie from me, you tried to take Haven, Sue, Jan, and Elizabeth, but you couldn’t. And this weekend we won, you lost! Fuck you cancer!
We will never give up!
We will never give up!
We will never give up!
by Ross Sivertsen | Nov 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
Tomorrow morning, Friday 11/4/2010, Jill and I start on the Komen 3 Day.
We will be walking 60 miles to end breast cancer. This adventure started in February this year when Jill (a 6 year breast cancer survivor herself) and I were coping with the recurrence of ovarian cancer in her mother, Diana.
As many of you know Diana lost a nearly two year battle with ovarian cancer earlier this year after being a 16 year breast cancer survivor.
I have been very fortunate in my life to be touched by so many amazingly strong women who have survived breast cancer (each of you know who you are) and my life would have turned out very differently had it not been for you.
There are many others in my life who have survived or succumbed to other cancers as well, my dad, my brother, Janise, Greg, Nancy, Paula, Polly, Chris, Sue, Harry, you all are never far from my thoughts.
But for this weekend, I’m walking in either celebration or remembrance for:
Jill B.
Diana M.
Connie F.
Haven J.
Holly B.
Margaret B.
Paula F.
Sue Ellen
If you’d like Tom omen cheer us on you can go to www.the3day.org and find the route. Friday 11/5, we will be starting at Collin Creek Mall and have lunch at Valley View Park.
If you’d like to donate, please use the link below. In any event I’m going to be tweeting and posting my journey along along the way.
You can follow my tweets here:
twitter.com/ross_sivertsen
Or donate to the 3 Day Here: http://bit.ly/dq6hMV
by Ross Sivertsen | Nov 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
24 hours before Jill and I start the Komen 3 Day; I have some fantastic women who’ve touched my life; watch for updates along the journey.
by Ross Sivertsen | Nov 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
“We were meant to give our lives away. Spend more time living your legacy instead of worrying about leaving it.” -Lee J. Colan
by Ross Sivertsen | Nov 3, 2010 | Blog, Uncategorized
I’m beginning this post with a deep sigh (*SIGH*). I’ve long envied the ability of some people to do more than one thing at a time. Multitasking is something I’m just not any good at.
There is plenty of recent study data to support the idea that multitasking not only inhibits productivity but increases lead times to project completion.
This study, of several judges in the Italian court system, shows that in addition to extending cycle times of project completion, multitasking contributes to an increase in the size of work backlog.
We work in an age where knowledge, not industrial work, is the preeminent means of gainful social progress for our civilization. Yet we work in such highly competitive industries, myself included, that the drive to get more done in less time has driven us to the need of being always ‘on.’
I’m not throughout stones here, in the worst offender, just ask my wife.
But it is that much more critical that strive to block out sections of true downtime, where we are completely present in the moment, without distraction, to take a time-out from life, even if forced; where we can take stock of our lives, identify the patterns of habit that are or aren’t working, and just be.
Maybe we can then ratchet down the squelch level and truly identify our dreams and at least get a taste of how are lives can look like something different than living on a harried treadmill…
Here’s my new campaign ‘Stop the Multitasking Madness!’
http://ping.fm/EHZp3
