Managing with Aloha a Lifehack?

Starting today, I will be writing an online Thursday column for Lifehack.org at the gracious invitation of Leon Ho. In keeping with my September Ho‘ohana, Lifelong Learning will be theme of the articles you’ll find there from me during this inaugural month of the column. The first one today is called 5 Things Employees Need to Learn—from You.

What is a Lifehack? On his blog The Glass is Too Big, J.Wynia offers the most detailed definition I’ve found, explaining that, “The term “lifehack” is derived (if a term still in its infancy needs derivation) from the technical hacks that programmers and other geeks have set up for themselves to make their lives easier.”

Lifehacks do tend to emerge mostly on the fat part of the bell curve as far as the way the lifehacker views the problem. What that means is that a good lifehack is really useful solution to a problem for lots of people, but not for people who experience the problem at a level other than the “normal” level of the problem. For people who view the problem as not being a problem at all, the lifehack is overkill. For those who deal with the problem on a large scale or professional level, the hack is inadequate. However, for the rest in the middle (the majority of us), the hack hits the sweet spot. It’s just enough to solve the problem without being the industrial/professional/enterprise solution that the pro’s need. It’s going to be obvious to the professional and overkill to the outsider.

Today, lifehacks are basically anything that is a solution to an everyday problem, frustration, etc. As a result, we’re seeing the term used to describe solutions to getting organized, losing weight, public speaking, doing your professional job better, time management, etc. As such, the current usage probably more accurately reflects the term itself.

“Life” is a generic term we all use to describe pretty much everything other than the thing we’re primarily paid for or really dedicated to. We often ask people how work and life are going and mean pretty much everything in that person’s “life”.
—J. Wynia, What is a LifeHack, or Lifehacking?

It’s a wonderful thought for me, that for many of you Managing with Aloha will “hit the sweet spot.” Those of you who do manage with aloha know how delectably sweet it is. You are not “normal,” you are extraordinary, and those you manage are blessed that you are.

I’ve been reading Lifehack.org for some time now, and I have found that Leon does a terrific job at aggregating a wide spectrum of resourceful lifehacks for us; he provides managers with a great service. I am most appreciative of this wonderful opportunity he’s given me to share with a larger audience the tenets of Managing with Aloha which add richness yet more simplicity to our lives. As I said in my first post, ultimately, everything is personal, and that includes work.

I encourage you to visit Leon at Lifehack.org and join me in the comment conversation of my articles there. J. As a service to you, my Ho‘ohana Community, you will now find a new index to the articles that I write for Lifehack.org in the left column of this page.
Rosa