Not exactly as Oliver Norvell Hardy would have said it...

Anyone, who have had the pleasure to see any of the many films that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (Laurel and Hardy, as they are commonly known, or for that sake Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy, if we are to stay with the names they were originally given) made together, will have met the almost proverbial sentence, which Hardy happily subject Laurel to at almost any given occasion:

Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into.

And I think it is a very normal reaction, which is so close to us: when something goes wrong, we start looking for outer reasons, through which our own innocence has been led so badly astray.
But I think there is a much better way to do things: rather than looking for the reasons outside of ourselves, we should look for inner reasons instead. Not to say that we at all costs should find an explanation in which we ourselves were the reason why something happened, but usually, there's always something that could have been done better - if nothing else, it is always interesting to delve into the question: what could I have done differently to avoid things going as wrong as they did.
Hereby, we indirectly get to use our observations constructively. They are not to be used to point fingers at oneself. On the contary, they can prove invaluable when striving to avoid repeating unfortunate situations.
(Translated from Ikke lige som Oliver Norvell Hardy ville have sagt det..., originally published May 24, 2009)

East is East, and West is West - and You and I are We

When it comes to opposites - regardless whether they are due to religion, countries of origin, gender or other differences - a lot of people feel about them as they read in Kipling's poem "The Ballad of East and West":

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment seat;

- and doing this, it is absolutely without importance whether they know the individual to which they thereby compare themselves.
But in that way, we not only neglect to acknowledge the indivitual, we also neglect the following two lines in the poem:

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

- that is: when two persons stand face to face, it is no longer possible to generalise. At this point, there really are only two individuals - who of course have their differences, but that should not be reason to let them be subject to generalisations; they should be seen as very special human beings - both of them.
Just as we ourselves like to be treated as individual human beings, we have a special duty to threat the people we meet in the same way.
(Translated from Øst er øst, og vest er vest - og du og jeg er vi, originally published May 1, 2018)

Flashing alarm lights in management

Not so long ago, I had a new job - changing from a larger workplace to a smaller one, where the development department I ended up in is the size of the HR department alone in my former workplace.
Not that I have ever doubted that I chose correctly by saying yes to my new job. I can certainly find things I miss - especially many excellent, now former colleagues - but if I will ever be really in doubt, I just have to look at the post-it note that I have placed in the front of my notebook - from a meeting at my old workplace where we discussed processes and improvements to them.
In all simplicity, it says:
Which part of my overhead is necessary - and which is just to please HR?
Now, when a company's employees seriously start asking themselves such questions, all warning lights should start flashing. In management - and especially in HR ...
Translated from Blinkende lygter på ledelsesgangen)

The alarm clock is my friend

The alarm clock is my friend.
There are times, when I am able to make it without its help, but it is invaluable when it calls upon me to do the things that I have prioritized to do, with a priority so high that I cannot allow myself to be late for them.
Some would think that these are the things that my surroundings have prioritized to make me do, with a priority so high that they cannot allow me to be late for them, but deep down inside, the choice is mine. And thereby, I have made it my priority.

Therefore, I should be grateful for the friendship of the alarm clock - because it helps me to fulfill my priorities. 

And yes, naturally: there are days, when I wish I could have stayed in bed a little longer. But most often, the reason is that I have been too busy the night before, doing things that I maybe should have prioritized a little less. Because it is an important ability to master: the art of saying no. Not least to say no to myself.

(Translated from Vækkeuret er min ven)

The straitjacket of complacency

Back in the eighties, I heard a Danish radio host say the following words: "Only rarely things go according to our dreams - and if they do, our dreams have been too small."
There quite a lot of truth in ths. We do wisely when we set goals for ourselves. Of course these goals shall not be unobtainable. But if they are too small and too easy to accomplish, and if we do not set gradually bigger goals, already while we are in the process of meeting the current goals, we are at risk becoming satisfied with too little, and then we end up catching ourselves in the straitjacket of complacency.
And that is no nice place to end up in.
(Translated from Selvtilfredshedens spændetrøje)