johnmaconline

It’s freezing and snowy outside my window.

Makes me think of snowballs. Of course, when our kids were kids, snowballs played a large part of a snow day’s activities. Not so much now. Ah, good days.  

There’s the snowball rolling down the hill. It starts small, and at first, you have to push it. It doesn’t move without you. As you roll it, it gathers more snow and picks up mass and momentum. Until, at some point, it has enough mass and momentum to keep rolling on its own. The compound effect. 

There’s the snowball fight. Throw one. Dodge one. Feedback. Sometimes yours hits. Sometimes you miss. Either way, you learn. Adjust and toss again. 

There’s the snowballs that become a snowman. Grow it and shape it until it’s the right piece for its place in the stack. It started as just a snowball, but now it’s something more. A part of the whole. A creation greater than the sum of its parts. 

And finally, snowballs melt. They’re ephemeral. They don’t last forever. If you wait too long, or expose it to the wrong environment, it vanishes. Snowballs have a season.

A snowball is just the start. 

Keep rolling. 

The ultimate difference between the two men was their mood. Custer was never satisfied with where he was. He always aimed to go on the next higher station in his society. He was always in a state of becoming. Crazy Horse accepted the situations he found himself in and aimed only to be a brave and respected Sioux warrior. He was in a state of being. Custer believed that things could be better. Crazy Horse did not.

• Crazy Horse and Custer, Stephen Ambrose 

Which is better? Being or becoming?

We are both. The march of time always puts us in a state of becoming. The present moment always puts us in a state of being. 

You can be dissatisfied or satisfied in either state. 

It’s not about choosing one. It’s an “and,” not an “or.”

It’s about knowing when to move and when to stand still. 

P.S. This is a great book, by the way. Not only interesting history, but  Ambrose does a great job uncovering the contrast between the characters and their cultures. Like so much else in our world, good and bad here are relative, and it’s not that easy. 

Many people, or at least many organizations looking for funds, call this time of the year the season of joy.

It’s easy to be cynical about it, because you know they’re playing on people’s emotions around the holidays. People want to feel joy. Yes, people are more vulnerable. People are stressed. People feel the stuff from their past. 

However, we also have an opportunity. 

We can step in. We can notice. We can ask. We can offer. We can listen. We can hold space. 

People need help. 

So help. 

Many people, or at least many advertisers, call this time of the year the season of giving.

It’s easy to be cynical about it, because you know the advertisers want you to spend money on their stuff. Buy this so you can give it. It’s consumption, materialistic, and quite frankly, bald-faced. It’s not even thinly veiled.

However, we also have an opportunity. 

We can give generosity. We can give connection. We can give hope. We can give time. We can give leadership. We can give love. 

So give. 

The Romans built their structures to last. 

As it turns out, somebody envisioned what we can see today. They built their buildings to outlive them. The fact that we can visit the Colosseum today isn’t an accident. They did it on purpose. 

When Apple offered me a job on the iPod project in the mid-2000’s, their battery lifetime target was 18 months. They did that on purpose. They wanted you to buy a new iPod every 18-24 months. 

Gillette builds razor blades to last 10 shaves. Inkjet cartridges 200 pages. Toothbrushes 3 months. Incandescent light bulbs 1000 hours.

I know somebody who uses a Maytag washer from the 1960’s (in Harvest Gold). Could you imagine a shiny new washer from Costco/Best Buy/Lowes/Home Depot still working 50 years from now? 

The same thing can be said about any upgrade for any mobile app you have. Every time you get the upgrade notification, that’s the company telling you it’s time. Your old app is obsolete. You certainly wouldn’t want to use GPT-4 if you have access to GPT-5.1. 

Planned obsolescence is a Venn diagram that includes business case and engineering. 

The Colosseum still stands because nobody asked about the ROI on the hot-mixing process. Today, the market and a spreadsheet full of what-ifs determine longevity. 

However, just because your product has a planned obsolescence, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter, or it won’t make an impression. I can still remember how that first iPod felt in my hands, even though I haven’t had it in my hands since 2003. 

If you’re building something, you have a chance to make something that matters. Longevity is only one variable.