Run it back

Prince released 1999 in 1982.

Back then, 1999 sounded like the future. We were all going to get there eventually and, according to Prince, we were going to party.

Well, we got there.

And now 1999 is 27 years ago.

Let that sink in for a minute.

In the 1980s, there was no wireless internet. When I went to school, there was no internet at all. There were barely computers in classrooms. Nobody was creating something on a laptop and wirelessly sending it to the copy machine down the hall.

Yet somehow, school happened.

Fast-forward to today. Our wireless internet at work has been down for a while, and suddenly I find myself teaching my staff how to work like it’s 1999.

No Wi-Fi? Okay. What can we do?

Can’t send something wirelessly to the copier? Find another way.

Can’t use the online tool you normally depend on? What’s the backup?

And somewhere between troubleshooting computers and figuring out how to keep a school moving without the technology we’ve gotten used to, I realized there was a bigger lesson here:

Adaptability.

We get very comfortable with the way things are supposed to work. Then something breaks. Technology fails. Plans change. People don’t show up. The thing we counted on suddenly isn’t available.

We can spend all our energy complaining that things aren’t working the way they’re supposed to—or we can adapt.

That doesn’t mean pretending the problem doesn’t matter. Believe me, I want my Wi-Fi back.

It means asking a different question:

Given what I have right now, how do I keep moving forward?

That’s a pretty useful question for technology, leadership, creativity, relationships, and just about everything else in life.

Sometimes moving forward means using the newest technology available.

What have you stopped doing because the usual way stopped working?

Here, I made this. My gift to you, for taking the time to read. → https://stan.store/aquafunkapus/p/friday-glimmers--find-the-good-in-your-week

Images are from my imagination, generated by AI. Writing is all me.