Writing down my thoughts here on the blog is both a record, an exclamation; and also an iteration. These words are a marker, that creates a line of sight to other thoughts and words. Now I have a frame of reference in which to work.

Working out loud is the same process. I move out into the world, and stake a claim, then I observe what happens as I am also participating in the next iteration. It is quite the experience. Very meta.

Living in this iteration, like a scene from Being John Malkovich, things can get a little confusing. Thus, I was taken with this tweet from Nick Shackleton-Jones:

Working out loud is to recognize that there are stories being told hither and thither, and not all of them align. They confabulate…

a memory disturbance, defined as the production of fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world, without the conscious intention to deceive.

This process of going all in for the week, living in the fishbowl under the stairs, has proven this out. I am not quite sure what is true and what is not. The whole process is thrillingly incoherent, and that’s ok because its only negative impacts would be on me anyway.

I tend to have to go far to go at all. I need to push my agenda hard in order to have any impact. Subtlety is hardly my forte. For now, I will retreat back to my corner desk by the window, I will allow the space under the stairs to revert back to its former role.

However, I shall continue to work out loud, I will continue to iterate that process of change and leadership and asking questions like how can I help? and what more can we do? I will move forward, looking for support and building out my network. I will be ready for the future of work.

Meanwhile, in the knowledge that fundamental change is so very difficult I will look for other – baby – steps to take. John Stepper’s 12-step WOL program – that’s sounds promising.

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