Leave the heroics to the actual heroes

"No need to thank me, it's what I do." - Captain Adorable, Gigglebiz

There are jobs out there that require genuine heroics on a daily basis. Most of us don't have them.

Working weekends, burning the midnight oil, churning out stuff to appease a deadline: these things are not heroics.

Firefighting has been taken on as a term to mean flailing around, holding excitable meetings or conference calls, and scrawling hieroglyphics on whiteboards. A little of this is okay, maybe even useful. As a way of living or working day to day it is disruptive and potentially addictive.

Firefighting and heroics have their place. If they are what you want to do, then that's fine, you'll probably get better at them. Just don't expect to produce anything useful at the same time.

Separate blame from reparation

"It's time to be a knight and do it right" - every episode of Mike the Knight

Today's tip comes from children's television. In the TV series Mike the Knight, in practically every episode, Mike will do something stupid, usually having been warned off his current course of action repeatedly by friends and family. Towards the end of the episode he'll realise his mistake, utter the phrase above, and see about sorting out whatever mess he has caused.

Honestly, it's a bit annoying but I guess I'm not target audience or something. There are a couple of lessons to be learned from it though. Firstly, Mike is never paralysed by self-blame or guilt; he just gets on with sorting out the situation. Secondly, his 'colleagues' always back him up, helping without blaming.

It's a lot easier to get to the heart of a problem if you're not looking to find someone to blame at the same time.