Author Archives: David Truss

Photographs in my mind

We used to take our negatives to a film processor to have them developed. Then we waited. Long ago we waited for a week, and eventually that time was reduced to just an hour. We’d collect the envelopes of photographs and before we left the store we were going through our shots one-by-one.

This one isn’t focused. This one has a blurry arm from it moving during the shot. In this one her eyes are closed. In this one he looked away. And this one, yes this one goes in a frame.

I say this with a bit of nostalgia, for there was something I enjoyed about the process. About the not knowing how good a shot was until long after I took the shot. About the surprise of a shot being better or, sadly, worse than I thought.

Film also gave me something else that I miss. As a photographer using film, every click of the shutter costed money. This made me more selective about the shots I would take… and not take.

It is an odd thing that I have photographs burned into my memory, but they are photographs that I never took.

There is the lost kitten jumping after a minister’s tassels during a wedding. I was being paid as the photographer and didn’t want to ‘waste the shot’ since they paid me by the roll of film.

The shot I did not take of the salt flats of Utah that faded into the sky without a horizon line. A brilliant memory that probably would not have made a good photo anyway.

There was the shot I lined up at Pike Place in Seattle, of an older man sitting on the hood of a parked car enthralled in a book, while cops on the street behind him tended to a fender-bender. I can still see the image that I did not take, feeling like I was invading his privacy.

We seem so much more free to take photos now, always having a camera in our pocket, and not a concern of the cost of taking one more shot.

But of all the shots I didn’t take, the photographs that still linger in my memory. These come to me from an era when film was the only option and the cost of the next shot lingered in my mind.

Necessary evil

Life isn’t always great. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Tragedies happen. Friendships fall apart. Misunderstandings cause discomfort. And sometimes you have to interact with people who just aren’t nice.

No one likes situations like these, but we don’t strengthen our character or our convictions when everything is going our way.

We don’t learn perseverance, perspective, fortitude or patience without encountering challenges. We don’t build resilience or resolve when the stars align and our universe is unfolding ‘as it should’.

When we face challenges, by nature they are not easy, they are not desirable.

Yet they are necessary if we want to learn and grow.

Commute Time = Reading Time

My commute is very short. I get to work in about 7 or 8 minutes, but it will often take me over 10 minutes to get into the building. It takes longer because I end up sitting in my car listening to an audio book, waiting to find a good place to pause.

If I need to pick up one of my daughters, the ride to them is ‘reading time’ for me, listening to my book, and when I pick them up, I let them choose the music we listen to.

When I get on my treadmill or go for a run, I’m listening to my book. Travel and commute time, as well as cardio time, have become ‘reading’ opportunities for me.

Last year at this time, I’d read about 2 books. I find my eyes fatigued at the end of a work day, and so I don’t end up actually reading (rather than listening to) books all that often. In fact, I’m only half-done the one paper book I started reading in March. Meanwhile, I’ve listened to 11 audio books and am on my 12th now since January.

Audible has been great, and I’ve really enjoyed books like The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin and Essentialism by Greg McKeown. These insightful books are especially wonderful because they are read by the authors.

Thanks to audio books, my commute time is actually enjoyable learning time. I find myself wishing I had a slightly longer commute to work… how do you use your commute time?

Holiday in a cup

I just read an article: Vacations won’t help your burnout, which states: “…‪many of us stress out at work as we prepare to take a vacation, only to face a pile of things to do when we return. What’s better? Carving out small slices of relaxation every day.‬”

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a customer, when I worked as a manager.

I was working at a tiny Starbucks on Denman, not far from Davie Street, across from ‘The beaches”, in downtown Vancouver. Two doors down was a shoe repair shop. The cobbler worked 6 days a week, and he came in for a triple-tall latte, 2 times a day.

One day we were chatting about vacations and I said something like, “I’m not trying to lose you as a customer, but do you realize that if you didn’t have your 2 coffees a day, you could have a pretty amazing holiday with your wife and kids each year, for the cost of those coffees?”

He took a sip, held up his personal Starbucks logo mug he always used, and said pointing to the cup, “Dave, this is a holiday in a cup, and I get it twice a day!”

How do you, or can you, create your own daily ‘holiday in a cup’?

Expand Your Horizons

We were cleaning out our garage on Sunday and my wife was sorting things for a garage sale.

She came across 2 home repair books I’ve used in the past and asked me if we should keep them. “Yes”, I said, remembering one of the book’s usefulness when replacing a toilet. Then “Actually no”, I said, remembering that I haven’t looked at either of those books in years, having gone instead to YouTube.

Just the day before, I couldn’t figure out how to remove an old-style door knob from our basement, and I watched a young boy on YouTube show me how… with his small hands and an off-camera voice that could not have been more than 12 years old.

We are so lucky to live in an era where learning something new is always within our reach. Not just home repair, but new skills and new approaches to the way we think, learn, work, and play.

What are you currently trying to do that you couldn’t do before? How are you expanding your horizons?

“If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are.” ~ Shifu, Kung Fu Panda 3

Super Powers

When I was younger, I wanted to be Spider-Man. He was the superhero I most connected to because he was a ‘normal’ kid that gained super powers. Unlike Superman, born on another planet, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and was thus transformed from normal to super human.

I think that was what I was most attracted to: I couldn’t become Superman, but I could become Spider-Man.

In reality, we all have superpowers.

We have the ability to be kind, make someone’s day, change people’s minds, help people learn, and even change their luck.

We can equally use our superpowers for evil.

How will you use your superpowers?

Alphabet Soup

Vocabulary is a currency in our world.

Vulnerable learners, English language learners, students with reading and learning challenges, all start with a deficit of this currency.

What are we intentionally doing to reduce this deficit?

We don’t all have to use big fancy words, but if our students aren’t articulate and can’t thoughtfully get their messages across, their futures are likely to be hampered.

Be it learning challenges or environmental challenges (some kids grow up in homes where they aren’t read to by an adult, or lack a variety of books, or struggle with a new language), some kids start off with a vocabulary deficit.

But vocabulary is the currency of communication, and how we are able to express ourselves is becoming far more valuable in our amazingly connected world.

Embrace the suck

I’ve been meditating for at least 10 minutes every day for just over 6 months… and I suck at it.

There are days where I can’t concentrate on my breath for more than 3 breaths without my mind wondering off to a myriad of topics from the mundane to the ridiculous. This is when, in the past, I’d just give up. Before this attempt, I’ve never lasted more than a week without getting frustrated and quitting meditation.

Then in a number of podcasts (and audio books) I listen to I kept hearing things like: meditation isn’t about emptying your mind, it’s about bring yourself back when you realize your thoughts have drifted; And, meditation isn’t about a destination, but rather about the journey.

I tried to change my self-talk, but when I’m 9 minutes into a guided meditation and the guide says, “For the last minute I want you to…”, and I feel like I’ve been scattered for the full 9 minutes, the feeling of ‘I suck’ comes back whether I want it to or not.

So, rather than fight it, I decided to embrace it. Six months in, I still suck at meditation, but I’m less and less upset with my distractions. I’m more tolerant with myself when I recognize I’ve drifted into distracted thinking.

I couldn’t convince myself that I was getting better until I accepted and embraced the suck.

**UPDATE: August 12, 2019 – found this image and thought it was worth sharing:

Innovation Lag Time

When you’re innovating, it takes a considerable amount of time before the benefits of that innovation can be seen. What that means is that after the excitement of creating plans, and the thrill of collaborating towards a wonderful vision… You won’t arrive at the benefits of your labour right away. That lag time is not easy. It can be disheartening, discouraging, and even leave you doubting if you’re on the right path.

At some point you’re going to be stuck in an innovation time lag. When that happens, it’s the work ahead of time to create a vision, and to help get everybody on board, that will help to see you through to the rewards.

Vision before perspiration gets you past stagnation and on to elation.

Disruptive Forces

To not use Google is like choosing to use a horse and cart on the information highway.

To not use Wireless is like choosing to use a boat to deliver a trans-continental phone message.

To not use your own devices is like choosing to walk across gravel barefoot while holding your shoes.

We have disruptive forces within our reach and it is exciting to speculate just how far we can go… If we accept that these forces transformative, and use them as such!