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Okay. So what are you going to do about it?

by khingebjerg on 12/5/10, 4:55 PM with 17 comments

• by patio11 on 12/5/10, 5:38 PM

  If only there were a cheap, easy way to automatically send appointment reminders in Mandarin. ;)

  (Sadly, HIPAA -- American health privacy legislation -- means that there is a lot of uncertainty about whether they can actually use it or not, and since I'm not a lawyer and don't have an extra $100k lying around I can't resolve that ambiguity at the moment.)

• by raintrees on 12/5/10, 6:57 PM

  Unless I am listening to my wife. Usually, she doesn't want solutions from me, just an ear :)

  That, and no more lists...

• by vsync on 12/5/10, 6:34 PM

  Great post. This is similar to the idea of a site my friend and I put together called Lessons Learned (http://lessonslearnedby.us/).

  We've only just started coding on it again after focusing on ramping up another more easily monetizable project with investor interest, but even in its simplest form we found that it makes a huge difference when walking away from a situation to say not just "well that rocked/sucked" or even "won't do that again" but to ask ourselves "what lesson can I learn from this?"

  It seems being mindful and asking the right questions, consistently, pays immense dividends.

  I'm adding this question to my list. One could even say I've "learned" a "lesson" :)

• by edw519 on 12/5/10, 5:43 PM

  This is exactly what happened to me 2 days ago at my haircut. My barber and I enjoy talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers (American football). Somehow, our discussion turned into my nonstop complaining...

  "I hate when they run up the middle on first down!"

  "The referees call too many penalties!"

  "The kicker should go back to bagging groceries!"

  "The announcers don't understand the game!"

  "Instant replay ruins the experience!"

  "They should just pounce on fumbles instead of trying to pick them up and run with them!"

  Finally, he said, "Well then, what are you going to do about it?"

  I answered the only way I could, "I'm going to drink more beer and yell louder at the TV. Maybe, just maybe, someone will hear me and do what I say."

• by jharrison on 12/5/10, 8:49 PM

  What do you do when the answer is, "Nothing"? I find myself in situations that I really really want to change but can't come to a solution that I feel will work for everyone involved (family). My solution is basically to delay action and tell myself that THAT is my solution, for now. One of the comments in the post was to "change your mind". Maybe that's what I'm doing.

• by jonknee on 12/5/10, 6:42 PM

  I have come across this in my city--lots of people complaining and fewer people changing things (almost all of whom are quieter than the complainers). The easiest thing to do is complain and it's very rarely helpful. The reason why things aren't optimal (for you) isn't because no one has had the opportunity to complain.

• by ig1 on 12/6/10, 1:37 AM

  While I agree with the sentiments behind this post, complaining is often used as a way of venting frustrations that you can't do something about (trivially anyway).

  It helps people feel less frustrated if they can complain about it.

• by jeberle on 12/5/10, 9:35 PM

  A former boss of mine had a simple rule: you can't complain unless you can suggest an alternative. It was a great source of ideas.