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Action ReAction

So, this curious thing happens with one of my cats, Curio.  She sometimes won't poop in the litter box.  There are 4 litter boxes.  It's only after I change the litter but before this other cat of mine pees in the box that she'll poop.

So, I just kind of thought about it and was sort of like... Who's at fault here?  Is Curio really the culprit for pooping outside of the box?  Or is she just not liking the smell of the other cat's pee and is then pooping outside the box?

Basically, there's two ways to look at what's going on.

You could look at her and say, it's her fault for not just "sucking it up" and using the box just like the the other cats...

Or you can say, if she lived on her own, she wouldn't poop outside the box.  She'd be a normal cat and use the box as is.

This really opens a whole box of thoughts to examine.  I mean, it's kind of like a microcosm for life.  You have the actor, and the reactor.

Sometimes someone who is better living alone, does NOT do well at all with roommates.  Some people are fine with roommates.

Same with work environments.  Some people work best solo in their own office with the door shut.  Others work great in an open office with their peers.

I'm probably more one of those solo people.  I work in an office with 2 other people in the same room.  It's fine, but the problem is I start yapping.  The same thing happens at camp.  I get all ADD and start yapping while other people are able to concentrate.  But when I'm in a room alone... I'm more likely to focus and do work.

One of the biggest issues with the whole world that I've noticed is that many of us fail to see that people don't fit a "one size fits all" mold.  We're all different and thrive under different conditions.

That's how life is naturally, be it my cat who would do better on her own minus the other two cats while the other two cats are not at all picky about the litter box, or some other example from nature.  Take the coffee plant... You can't grow coffee in Nebraska.  It just won't happen.

It's interesting because at work, while I don't really mind working in the office with 3 people... There's no questions REALLY asked about optimizing productivity in a more data driven approach.

I listen to podcasts often that discuss making data driven decisions to optimize productivity and what not... It's interesting to kind of have both sides, where I'll listen to a guy who works at Spotify discuss what worked for them, but then see in my own place of employment an entirely different approach to the work environment...

I'm not saying one is better than the other, ours works too, mostly because we have virtually no turnover.  It's been the same people in my department for, at least 5 years, maybe more... SO we just know one another.  It's more like just knowing what your friends or family are thinking without needing to really analyze WHY you know what you know.

So, things just carry on as is... Which is fine... And it works... But what I wonder too is maybe we could be more efficient if perhaps one day a week I work from home.  Or perhaps we have flex hours... Or perhaps we have single offices built off of one big main office.

SO, for example when I'm doing something like account creation, or configuring network equipment I could have that door shut space... But when I'm just helping students with password resets or what have you, I could have the main space and be in the big room with everyone else.

Or, I do account work from home one day a week.  Etc. etc.

The same thing is happening with our country as a whole... The fight between conservative and liberals... Everyone has a different view on the world depending on where you grew up.

Like I grew up with cats, so to me, I'm a fan of cats.  But some people grew up with dogs so they like dogs better.

It's all about what suits you and then trying to make a compromise to work for the best and most efficient outcome.

At least, I feel like that's how things should be.

Anyways at the moment I'm at home doing some work remotely between other things that I'm working on around the house.  I went to the bank today to consolidate an account into another one, and then I also picked up more cat food at the pet store.  These cats eat me out of house and home I tell ya!

But I feel as though the best way in any situation is to listen to what it is that makes people their best, or in my cats case, my cat... And try to figure out a better way to make things work.  I attempted to give my cat her own litter box away from the other cats... But it was no use, the other two still found and used that box.

This is also sometimes what happens with people.  Unintended consequences or outcomes happen ALL the time.  In game theory (nothing to do with video games, it's more, think, chess moves, or what happens in business negotiations or wars) there's this idea that rational decisions don't always lead to rational outcomes.

This is true, and the outcomes you get may take you in a completely different direction.

Which I've always found to be super interesting.  Like, you can't predict a lot of things, they just kind of happen unexpectedly.

But what I was really thinking about in all of this is, how much is blame actually placed in the wrong spot.  If the root of something is actually someone else taking an action that then causes the other person to have a reaction, but we only see the reaction and never the action...

Are we placing the blame on the wrong party?  With roommates, or coworkers, or someone in traffic or even a pet.

If the design of the whole system causes introverts and extroverts to crash and clash... Maybe the design of the system in place needs to be reworked or tweaked slightly?

Just kind of consider all the various variables when it comes to any events, or people or places or things or anything...

Maybe the reason why a coworker isn't doing their best is because they work great alone instead of in a team, or they are more productive from home or with flex hours... Or maybe the reason why someone is upset all the time is because they really value their own space and having a roommate who is always loud makes the home space into a place where they can't recharge.

I'm one of those people who likes to come home to a quiet space to recharge.  I don't mind going out places, but I like to have a calm and stable space to relax and recharge.  It's strange because living in the house I live in now, it feels the same as when I lived here with my mom.  It's that same relaxing "home" kind of feeling.  When other people are staying here though, it's not relaxing.  Like, I'll have house guests from time to time, but at the end of it... I'm just like okay, time for you to get in your car and go.

When it was just my mom and I here and she would be in the hospital, I'd be like, okay, time for you to come back home.  Although, that's definitely different because my mom was there for my ENTIRE life... So we could talk to each other in a way that no one else could talk.

It's definitely a bit strange though not having her around, almost like TOO quiet.  But her cats are still here so they kind of make it feel more like she's kind of here...

It's interesting though because if I have a roommate, like I did in college, or if I have a houseguest... Eventually, I need space.

But when there's like a significant other... Like when I was living with my girlfriend at the time in college, the whole space thing didn't seem to apply.

I guess if it's someone that I care a lot about, like my mom, or a significant other, that whole wanting to live or be alone rule doesn't apply.

Anyways...

I know people who love and thrive just being a wanderer.  A lot of the people who work at the summer camp I'm associated with are like that.  They basically have all their belongings in a suitcase and after camp is over, they go work a cruise ship, then after that's over they go work a winter teaching skiing in Canada.  They literally don't have a home and they thrive with roommates, they actually hate even sleeping alone in a room without other people in the room.  They don't even like having their own space for even a minute.  They always want other people around and they don't even really much care about personal belongings, they are always borrowing and lending out as if they have no real concept of ownership, and their bank accounts are almost always in the red and they are just basically living for the moment and paycheck to paycheck.

I'm the EXACT opposite.  I like my little couple weeks at the camp, and I don't mind even having a roommate for 2 weeks...

But boy, after those two weeks are over, you better believe when I get in my car and go home, I'm ready for it.

I love having backups and backups, I love having all my own stuff, I'm not a sharing person.  And not everyone is!  I did donate today when I was at the pet store and they asked if I wanted to donate to help pets in need... I said "sure".

So, it's not that I'm being SUPER selfish... Or maybe I am.... But I like the idea of ownership.  I like the idea of my space.  I like the idea of having my stuff.  I like the idea of trying to save as much of a paycheck as possible to be able to pay cash for things and never take out loans.  I like driving my own car, owning my own house...

Etc. etc.

I like my name on my stuff and other people's names on other people's stuff.

But that's the thing about it is we're all different people and we all are comfortable in our own zones.

I even do strange things like insure things and pay the insurance premium... But then when something needs to be fixed, I like to pay cash for it.  That's something my grandfather always did.  He would just basically pay the premiums for things and only use them for emergencies.

SO, like someone the other day was saying how you could claim this or that under insurance and get them to pay for part of it.. Even though it broke due to wear and tear, and I was just like, that's not how I operate.

I don't like to do anything that involves the idea of something like, "Oh, you know if you take that back to the store after using it for a month, you can just get your money back?  That's what I do, I buy it, use it for a month, then take it back and get a gift card and get something else..."

Instead, I'd rather buy something, pay cash for it, use it... Then if it still has value, sell it or possibly just give it to someone else.

I don't much care for the idea of taking advantage of a business to try and gain personally.

Although, yes, part of that is because I'm a shareholder in a lot of companies, so if you're ripping off Target for example, by abusing their return policy to get a new toy for your kid every week instead of ebaying the toy if the kid doesn't like it... Then you're ripping off me.

So, there are some things that should be considered such as that when saying, let's cater to everyone's individual preferences.  If the preferences cross the line into criminal... Or something where they are trying to work the system or take advantage for personal gain of a loophole... Like a wealthy business person trying to figure out a way to get out of paying taxes entirely that would normally go to help those less well off be educated, that needs to be considered.

But on the other end, if you're using money that was given to you to pay for education expenses to then pay for a trip to Vegas...

That's not what I'm talking about either when saying let's consider where people come from.

I'm more talking about things like introversion versus extroversion and such.

Or priorities that are different for each person.

Some people like their own defined belongings, and others are more into swapping their entire closet with their small group of friends.

Like, to each their own, within reason.  And as long as it improves things and doesn't make things worse.

All that from watching my cat poop outside the box... and then me having to clean up the mess.