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- #76: The perfect time
#76: The perfect time
Shem Opolot
June 14, 2024
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Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
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I have over ten years of work experience in healthcare, program management, and data analytics on two continents. So, I know a little about helping you work smarter
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Hi! I'm Shem Opolot, and this is The Friday Fix, my weekly newsletter. If you've received it, you’re either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If you fit into the latter (yes, I’m the kind of person who uses words like “latter”) camp and want to subscribe, then click on the shiny button below:
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Happy Friday 🎉 An American bank fired over a dozen employees for “simulating keyboard activity.” Let me explain: Work from home (WFH) is mainstream now, but companies worry about employee productivity and implement measures to ensure employees stay clocked in during work hours. Naturally, some WFH-ers use 20-dollar “mouse movers” or “mouse jigglers” to prevent their PCs from falling asleep.
💡 Pro-tip: There are much easier ways to do this, but if you’re going to use a mouse mover, don’t plug it into the same computer you’re using to work. You didn’t get this from me. This message will self-destruct in 3, 2, 1…
***
A friend asked for the master playlist with all the songs I’ve had on The Friday Fix playlist. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that, but better late than never. This playlist will be the master if you’d like to save it. Otherwise, I’ll continue cycling songs in and out of the original playlist, which usually has around 25 songs every week.
LIFE.
Time and tidings.
Giphy
You can create the perfect time anytime.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
It’s unclear who coined that phrase, but all the possible candidates I’ve seen are contentious characters.
But they’re not wrong.
This week’s class reminded me of a framework that applies to health policy—any policy, really—and your life.
For many years, you complained about the work week: at least 5 days, at least 8 hours per day, and several out-of-office hours spent in traffic-laden, long commutes.
And you proposed solutions: a 4-day work week, siestas, remote work, etc.
But employers, possessing outsized leverage, ignored your pleas and insisted you clock in by 8.59 am daily.
But then COVID-19 happened.
Overnight, cities shut down, and you couldn’t go to the office, but your employer still demanded your pound of flesh.
So…remote work became entrenched.
For change to occur, three rivers must flow into the same source at the perfect time: the problem, the solution, and the will to solve the problem.
For remote work, the pandemic (the perfect time) galvanized the complaints about hectic work weeks (the problem), long-proposed pleas for grace (the solution), and desperate employers keen to keep the lights on (the will).
The perfect time.
How do you know when the time is perfect? You look for problems. For chaos. Tragedy even.
This is why an insane streak of personal growth and development usually comes after a woman is heartbroken. You break up with a woman on Tuesday, and when you check on her on Friday, she’s completing a doctorate, and her third business is having a launch party.
But you don’t have to suffer; it mustn’t be your problem or tragedy, and you needn’t wait for the perfect time.
Imagine lying on a large patch of grass, looking up at the vast sky, construing shapes among the clouds.
The same way you can turn a cloud into an elephant by tilting your head, you can reframe any problem to create urgency for a solution.
You can use an argument with a friend to redefine your boundaries. You can use this line to have that tough conversation with your loved one.
You can create the perfect time anytime.
THINGS.
An anecdote.
A picture
There were some spots at Dumbarton Oaks where some salacious scenes in Bridgerton must’ve been shot.
Another picture from Dumbarton Oaks
WORK.
A faster way to do research.
This one’s a bit niche, but it helps me so much that I had to share. If you find yourself doing academic research, this AI tool will make your life much easier.
FUN.
The Friday Fix Playlist
Shem’s picks
✅ Can you solve the martini glass puzzle?
✅ Why do babies in medieval paintings look so scary?
✅ Solid, liquid, or fire? What exactly is fire?
Have a great weekend,
— Shem
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