So, I was thinking about Marcus Lynch the other day. Yeah, the football player. Beast Mode. But it wasn’t really his running I was mulling over, it was how he handled himself, especially with all those media sessions. You remember, right? “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” Pure gold, that was. And it got me thinking, really thinking, about my own stuff, particularly at work.
I had this one particular project, see. We were building out a new feature for this clunky old internal system for a client – let’s call them “EverChange Inc.” because, man, did they live up to that name. Every week, new demands. Every meeting, a new “brilliant idea” that basically threw half our previous work in the bin. It was exhausting. My team lead was pulling his hair out, and I was just… tired. Tired of the endless email chains, the pointless debates in meetings that went nowhere.
My Little Experiment in Communication
That’s when Lynch popped into my head. Seriously. I thought, what if I just… did the bare minimum to not get “fined”? Not in a lazy way, mind you. But in a super-focused, no-BS way. Just the facts, ma’am. Just the work.
So, I decided to try it. My own quiet rebellion, you could say. Here’s what I did:
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Emails: I cut them down to the bone. Subject line: clear. Body: bullet points or short sentences. Action items, clear. No fluff, no “hope you’re having a great week,” none of that. Just the necessary info.
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Meetings: If I had to be there, I’d prepare my points beforehand. If someone started rambling or going off-topic, I’d (politely, mostly) steer it back. “Okay, so for item three on the agenda…” became my catchphrase. If a meeting didn’t have an agenda? I’d ask for one before accepting.
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Clarifications: Instead of getting dragged into long discussions about vague requests from EverChange Inc., I started asking very direct, almost blunt questions to get to what they actually needed. “So, to confirm, you want X, and this means Y will be delayed. Is that correct?”
Now, I wasn’t rude. That wasn’t the point. The point was to be incredibly efficient and to cut through the noise. To just be there to do the job, get the info, provide the updates, and move on. Like Lynch at the podium. He was there, he did what was contractually obligated, and that was that.
And you know what happened?
At first, I think a few colleagues were a bit taken aback. I’m usually a bit more chatty, more of a “let’s explore all the options” kind of guy. My project manager even asked if I was okay once. I just said, “Yeah, just trying to be more efficient.”
But then, things started to shift. My part of the project? It started moving smoother. Fewer misunderstandings because my communication was so direct. The client, EverChange Inc., actually started giving clearer instructions because they knew I’d pick apart any vagueness. It wasn’t a magic bullet, the project was still a pain, don’t get me wrong. But my little corner of it became a lot more manageable. I was less stressed, more focused on the actual coding and problem-solving instead of the corporate dance.
It’s funny, right? Taking a page from a guy famous for not wanting to talk much taught me how to communicate better in a way. Or maybe, it taught me to value my time and energy more. Just get to the point, do the work, and don’t get bogged down in stuff that doesn’t matter. It’s not a style for every situation, but when you’re drowning in corporate speak and endless revisions, sometimes a little bit of “I’m just here to get this done” is exactly what you need. Lynch might have been onto something bigger than just avoiding fines.
