Matthews Family Herald

There's this clock on my wall at work. It's not like other clocks on walls out there. No sir, this one is special. Not just cuz it's mine (aw, how sweet) but also because the hour hand is always off. The hour hand always stays close to the current hour no matter how close to the new hour the minute hand is getting. So at 4:45pm, for example, the minute hand looks right, but the position of the hour hand looks like it's still barely past 4pm. I'm likely not painting a great picture of what I'm talking about but trust me, it doesn't look right.

But the funny thing, though, is that the clock is as accurate as "all get out." Once you get used to the strange hour hand, you can easily get used to telling what time it is. But other colleagues before me had already written this clock off. I found it dusty and with an old battery that had been dead for months or perhaps years. (Well, mostly dead. The second hand continued to twitch and that's what caught my eye about it.)

Everyone just wanted to throw it away. (Who ever thought I could make someone cry with sympathy over a clock but I'm about to.) I picked it up, dusted it off, changed it's battery (my eyes are getting misty - with either sympathy or laughter. Not sure. You'd have to have seen Wall-E, I guess) and put it back on the nail it once hung on. Seriously, there was even a little ring on the wallpaper where you could tell it once sat. I gave it a chance, the lil guy, and it has done just great.

Sounds silly but this clock is a lot like me. Maybe a lot like you too. I've got my quirks and I definitely have my weaknesses. There are many out there who would or have already dismissed me as unimportant. But if you just give people a chance, you might find out that they are very dependable, useful, and make a great contribution to your life and to society...like my very special friend, Mr. Clocky.

And hey, it'll save a little money too. I didn't have to buy a new clock.

James Matthews
(in c/o Mr. McClock)

Timothy Ferriss, in his book "The 4-Hour Workweek" gave perhaps some of the best advice I've heard in years and had me laughing today.

He said that while in college, anytime any teacher or instructor gave him any grade of less than an A, he would either visit that instructor in their office after class or at some other time shortly after the grading and go over each and every mistake, point, question of decision, etc., and that he'd make sure that he compiled enough questions and discussion points to make the meeting last anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.

He said this strategy had two outcomes:

1. It helped him to thoroughly learn the teacher's grading technique, mindset, outlook, viewpoints, and prejudicies.

2. It caused the instructor to become much more careful and to think long and hard before finding something that Tim submitted for an answer to be false unless there was truely some firm ground in which the teacher could reasonably count the question wrong and defend their position.

I not only found this advice to be highly valuable, but I also found it hysterical and I laughed out loud after hearing it, several times. I'm grinning as I type this. It made my day.

I'm also thinking about how to apply this elsewhere. In the work environment, for example, persons (including me) are evaluated in writing. Where else could this strategy be applied? I'm not talking about making up false questions, but seriously, honing and training those in authority over you to be careful and to make sure they aren't messing with the outcome of your life through their ratings or comments unless they really have a point and are on firm ground.