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Apprenticeship is said to have begun in the 1300’s, but I don’t buy that. It’s much older than that.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t so structured until then, but didn’t it really begin when a skilled, experienced person decided to teach somebody else – probably a younger person?

If you look at the Bible you read the story of a young prophet, Elisha, taking the mantle from the older prophet, Elijah. We’re talking 9th century BC – well before the 1300’s. Older people passing on the skills, wisdom and experiences, and the responsibility to the next generation.

From artisans to prophets, not every craft was the domain of everybody who wanted to hang out a sign advertising themselves to be something they’d not yet learned. These were the days before this whole “take permission” mess. Nobody would dare take permission without first earning the right to know what they were doing.

Imagine the blacksmith opening up without knowing how to properly shoe a horse, or fix a wagon wheel. Possession of a hammer and anvil doesn’t make a guy a blacksmith, no matter how burly he may be.

Poor guy. He needed to live in 2013. He can take permission without any talent, skill or no how. Forget that we don’t need blacksmiths any more. Minor detail.

Open the gate. Let everybody in. Just anybody.

Wait a minute.

Too late.

It’s happened.

And we’re not better for it. Where there is no barrier of entry, the crap can make it even harder for the competent, capable artisans to rise to the top. That gate is resistance that necessary to maintain the tradition of quality.

There are something like 3 million blog posts written daily. If one post requires 15 minutes of effort – and many of them likely require much longer – that represents 750,000 collective man/woman hours spent writing blog posts. Daily.

What a waste.

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Winston Churchill once said, 

If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.

In 1972 I stumbled onto a terrifically dry, witty book by James Boren, When In Doubt, Mumble. Dry. Witty. Funny. I instantly liked it and it’s among many books I’ve held onto for a long time.

As a lifelong student of communication, Boren’s message resonated with me, especially within a few years after it was released. America had a small scandal called Watergate that resulted in congressional hearings. I admit it was my first foray into congressional hearings and the mumbling that goes in our nation’s capital.

Prior to that I just thought Boren was a funny guy mocking the bureaucrats. I had no idea he either taught the master class in mumbling or he was just so incredibly observant as to capture the true essence of it. It was remarkable communication and I was fascinated at the skill required to talk for so long – many of these hearings went on for months and years – and say absolutely nothing. Most congressional hearings accomplished even less — a feat that defies logic and the laws of science. Our government is truly extraordinary!

This week, as the United States government went on hiatus, I started thinking about Boren’s book again. Naturally, that sparked thoughts about our communication skills and styles. Which, in turn, sparks today’s podcast.

Mentioned in today’s show:

• Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

• Genesis record of Adam & Eve blaming each other

• Leaning Toward Wisdom, the episode I reference is 4005

• Breaking Bad (like all things, it’s morphs into, “Now what?”)

• Kaizen

I love the Elvis song, but picking up chicks isn’t quite what I’ve got in mind today. Or any other day for that matter. I’m happily married.

How do you feel about these topics?

• Work flow

• Systems

• Processes

• Schedules

• Calendars

• Deadlines

• Standard Operating Procedures

I confess. Some days I embrace and love all these things. Other days, they plum evade me!

For me, it comes and goes in spurts. Some spurts last a long time. Others, not so much.

This week I had some big technology challenges – most notably Internet issues thanks to my ISP (Internet service provider). Since my wife and I both work from home offices and our work relies heavily on the Internet, it wasn’t a terribly productive week. Even when the Internet issues were repaired, I found myself completely discombobulated due to the disruption.

Does that ever happen to you? I imagine it happens to everybody.

It’s not a good sign when you start out a week having to cancel some online appointments. Things went downhill from there.

Oh, I was busy. But I wasn’t productive. So yesterday I Tweeted a message to help myself try to get back on track and salvage what’s left of the week.

I’m not busy but I’m productive.

No, it wasn’t a statement (Tweet) of fact. It was a statement (Tweet) of what I needed to do. I needed to stop being busy and start being productive.

That’s when Elvis entered my head singing, “A little less talk, a little action please!”

But, too much talk isn’t the cause of my current failures. It’s a confluence of factors that have converged on me in recent days. It happens.

Unexpected things. Expected things. Things just come up and knock our wheels off, making it hard to keep going down the track.

I admit it. Those are just excuses. Good ones, but still excuses!

I need to be more disciplined. That’s what the Elvis song means to me today. I need to get my butt in gear and start making meaningful progress. I need to stop talking, stalling and putting things off. It’s time to dive in and get after it.

You can chase getting things done, or you can let your work chase you! I’d rather chase than be chased.

Here are some things I’ve going to resolve to do:

– Release the podcast on a specific day of the week at a precise time. No, I’ve not settled on exactly when yet – but I’m working on it.

– Create an editorial schedule, too. I write a lot. Every day. I just don’t post a lot. I’d like to publish one post a week.

– Get back to my block scheduling – something I’ve almost always done, but I’ll allowed it to slip this year. And I can’t explain why. It just happened. Proof that if you don’t pay attention, things don’t improve.

– I’m almost always creating work flow, schedules, processes and systems for clients. It time for the cobbler to build himself some shoes.

– I’m getting back into chase mode. I’m always in chase mode when it comes to business, but I’ve allowed the work to chase me lately. I don’t enjoy being chased by work. I’d much rather do the chasing and hunt it down, tackle it and get it in a choke hold. So WORK, you’d better start running ’cause I’m coming. And I’m armed and dangerous.